Steve Rosenbloom: What Cubs Fans Need Most

Chicago Tribune, by Steve Rosenbloom, who has a speciality of being cranky, gets this one right:

Now, wait. I lied. There’s only one way to view it, and a handy way to remember it is to do the opposite of what Scott Boras wants.

He’s Bryant’s agent. He’s a great agent. He’s doing what a great agent does: raising a stink because his potentially great young client likely won’t start the season on the Cubs’ major-league roster.

The Cubs don’t want to start Bryant’s major-league clock. They want to retain an extra season of control when he’s in his prime instead of now when neither Bryant nor the team are ready to win a World Series.

This is what smart teams do to maximize talent and give themselves a better chance at sustained success. Stupid teams listen to Boras.

If Bryant plays as well as everyone hopes, he would do well to compile a WAR of 6.0. That’s one win a month. Even if Bryant is brought up two weeks into the season, he still could account for that one win above a replacement player.

But the point is the Cubs don’t need a rookie Bryant as much this April as they hope to need him in two or three years in October. And the October after that. And after that. And . . .

Boras, of course, is having none of this newfangled Cubs thing called common sense. He’s trying to bully a franchise that he must think is still run by Tribune Co. wonks.