Three down, two to go:
Cubs Kris Bryant signs for $19.5 million MLB confirms source confirms
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) January 15, 2021
This figure is above MLB Trade Rumors’ arb estimate for Kris Bryant, which was $18.6 million.
Still, it’s good that he and the Cubs came to an agreement before the deadline and avoided even the possibility of an arb hearing.
KB didn’t have a good shortened 2020 season, though most of that was due to injuries. The Cubs obviously hope he rebounds to pre-2020 form.
Below is some language I’m going to put in all the articles about Cubs 2021 arb player contracts, so bear with me, you’ll likely read it again.
Players and teams can still settle on a contract figure before going to an arb hearing, even if they exchanged figures Friday and didn’t settle. The last Cub to go to an arb hearing with the team was Justin Grimm in 2018. The Cubs “won” that when the arbitrator awarded Grimm the Cubs’ offer of $2.2 million instead of Grimm’s request of $2.475 million. Then the Cubs saved more money on Grimm by releasing him just before the date when they’d have had to pay him a larger portion of his contract.
“As always, we await developments.”