Report: Kris Bryant files grievance against Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs star third baseman, Kris Bryant, has filed a grievance against the team.

The Chicago Cubs in 2015, were the darling of Major League Baseball once again. With talented young players and a great manager, the Cubs look primed to be a contender in the National League for a very long time. While their future looks great, one of their young talented players has filed a grievance against the team.

According to Jeff Passan, Kris Bryant and the Philadelphia Phillies’ Maikel Franco have filed grievances against the Cubs over manipulation of service time, by keeping in the minor leagues for a while. One of the big talking points before the season in 2015, was the fact that the Cubs weren’t going to have Bryant on the Opening Day roster.

"Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant and Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco have filed grievances against their teams alleging they were kept in the minor leagues unnecessarily and had their service time manipulated to delay future free agency, multiple major league sources told Yahoo Sports."

Service-time manipulation has long been a problem in baseball, because teams want to be able to keep control on their young players for as long as possible. If the Cubs had put Bryant on the Opening Day roster, then they would have lost a year of his service, and he would have been eligible for free agency sooner.

While it’s likely that he wouldn’t have gone anywhere, as the Cubs have the money to make him a rich man one day, by delaying the process, his payday now is delayed by a year. He wasn’t called up until the middle of April, when the Cubs knew they wouldn’t have lost a year of control.

Bryant went on to have a great season for the Cubs and instantly became one of their best players. Franco is another young player in this league that the Phillies have a lot of faith in him, but like the Cubs and Bryant, the Phillies took their time in bringing him up to the main roster.

This is certainly a big issue that’s going to be addressed in the next CBA, and it could very well be a tipping point as they players try to make sure that they continue get their money and don’t have their inevitable paydays delayed, through practices as delaying service time for players.

Bryant might be the player that gets the ball rolling on the issue.