Kris Bryant trade rumors heating up with surprise AL team

With the Kris Bryant trade rumors continuing to heat up, the Tampa Bay Rays have emerged as a surprise team in the hunt to try and land him. 

Now that the MLB trade deadline is only three days away, Chicago Cubs fans are bracing for star third baseman Kris Bryant to be shipped out of town. While he’s been linked to several clubs, including the New York Mets, one surprise team could be ready to make a move.

That team, according to MLB insider Jeff Passan, are the Tampa Bay Rays. Per Passan, the Rays and Cubs have had preliminary talks on a trade that would send Bryant to the reigning AL champs.

The Tampa Bay Rays are interested in trading for Kris Bryant

This of course is a massive update from Passan, as he also said in his report that Tampa Bay is eyeing a potential move for Nationals starter Max Scherzer as well. Tampa Bay is coming off an incredible season in 2020 and they’ve picked up right where they left off this campaign.

The Rays are currently 60-40 on the year and in a back-and-forth race with the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. Tampa Bay is 1.5 games back of the Fenway Park side. With the Rays hoping to win the division and potentially get back to the World Series this fall, it’s easy to see why they’re being aggressive ahead of the deadline.

Landing Bryant would be one thing, but if they were to also reel in Scherzer as well, fans would easily lose their minds. Anything can happen leading up to July 30. It’s looking more and more likely that Bryant will close out the season elsewhere. Soon enough, we’ll see if he’ll be saying goodbye to his Cubs jersey and rocking a Rays one instead.