MLB Trade: Giants acquire Kris Bryant from Cubs in monster blockbuster deal

The long terrible Kris Bryant trade nightmare for Cubs fans is over, but it’s a dream come true for Giants fans. 

As the MLB Trade Deadline approached, there might not have been a more miserable fan base than the Chicago Cubs.

Since winter, the trade rumor winds have been blowing with howls about fan favorites like Anthony Rizzo and Javy Baez being on the move. No name hurt to hear more than Kris Bryant, who has been rumored to be a trade candidate dating all the way back to last year’s trade deadline in August.

That other shoe officially dropped on Friday.

Like the series finale of a television series, one by one the Cubs traded Rizzo, Baez, and Craig Kimbrel. Bryant, who was homegrown talent that came up through the farm system and eventually helped win the Cubs a World Series, was saved for last.

What is downright painful for Cubs fans is an absolute party for San Francisco Giants fans, though. That’s where Bryant’s final destination was after all the months of speculation and rumors.

MLB Trade: Cubs trade Kris Bryant to Giants

A Bryant trade was always going to be massive, and the Giants certainly paid a price to land the former MVP.

San Francisco is sending two top prospects back to Chicago. Catcher Joey Bart and outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr are both going back to the Cubs in exchange for Bryant.

That’s a pretty decent return for the Cubs. Jed Hoyer might have ripped out the heart of fans by trading beloved stars like Rizzo, Baez, and Bryant, but he made up for it by putting in place pieces that could speed up the rebuild the team tried to say wasn’t happening.

What more can be said about the Cubs losing Bryant than has already been said?  He was the franchise superstar, the first MVP since Sammy Sosa in 1998, and the hero who fulfilled the destiny that so many franchise stars had failed to do for over a century. He was the Chosen One, and now all that remains of him in Wrigley is memories.

For the Giants, trading for Bryant quickly went from being a leg-up to becoming a necessity. After the Dodgers broke baseball by trading for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, the arms race became a sprint just to catch up to Los Angeles.

San Diego was leading the charge early, acquiring Adam Frazier and being in line to acquire Craig Kimbrel and Scherzer before falling all the way out of the race. San Francisco had initially had conversations with the Cubs that included Joey Bart going back to Chicago but it felt like a price too steep to pay — at the time.

In the time since, the Blue Jay, Yankees, Dodgers, Mets, and White Sox all traded premier top prospects — some teams trading multiple prospects — to land players at or slightly below Bryant’s level.