Cubs and Red Sox discussed blockbuster trade for Kris Bryant last summer

Kris Bryant was nearly shipped up to Boston last summer.

The Cubs are still shopping Bryant, who has one more year left on his deal before he hits free agency. Chicago is moving in a different direction, picking and choosing which members of its World Series core it’d like to build around moving forward. Bryant is on the losing end of that discussion after multiple injuries and sub-par production in 2019 and 2020 left his baseball future in disarray.

KB is still a solid defensive third baseman and, should he recover from a myriad of injuries, has All-Star potential in any given season. This is why the Cubs are shopping him, hoping to get a respectable return while they still can. As it turns out, they weren’t far from making a deal…last summer.

What would a Bryant-to-Boston deal have looked like?

That much is unsure. The Red Sox entering 2021 are far different than the Red Sox in the summer of 2020. Boston trade for Mookie Betts has clouded their own future. Unbeknownst to the baseball world is if Boston plans to rebuild. The Betts deal fetched the Red Sox intriguing young pieces in Alex Verdugo and Jeter Downs. Plus, they still have Rafael Devers at third base and Xander Boegarts at short.

At this point, it’d be a surprise if these two teams made a similar trade this offseason. The Red Sox have far too many holes, specifically in their rotation. Chris Sale’s return is a question mark. The bullpen is in shambles. Bryant would add a nice bat to the lineup, but where would he play? Would he be willing to play a consistent DH, or would he overtake Devers at the position?

These are questions Chaim Bloom probably doesn’t want to answer right now. Instead, the Red Sox can build from within.