Kris Bryant all but says he regrets signing 7-year deal with Rockies

The supposed star of the Colorado Rockies is all but saying he regrets inking the largest free agent deal in club history just two years after signing.

Kris Bryant opened up in The Athletic on Thursday morning and among the eye-popping quotes were some where he shared that he wishes his free agency ahead of the 2022 season had played out differently. Bryant ended up in Colorado on a seven-year $182 million deal after a tumultuous winter that included a labor lockout. More importantly, Bryant admits he may have misjudged just how bad the Rockies were and how down the farm system was.

But because Spring Training opened up as the lockout ended, Bryant felt like he needed to report to a camp. So he picked purple.

“It’s like, ‘Oh shoot, I need to get there,’” Bryant said in the story. “There were other teams interested, but I didn’t want to wait around. … It was a completely different situation for a lot of free agents at the time. I guess I didn’t do as much research into the prospects as I could.”

The former National League MVP, who led the Chicago Cubs to an unthinkable end to their World Series curse once seemed destined to be a baseball great. Now he’s in the second half of his prime and it will largely be spent on a team that needs a miracle just to get to .500.

“There’s so much desire to be the best you can be. Be the best in the game. Get to the mountaintop,” Bryant told The Atheltic. “But at the same time, as I’m getting older, you have to have the right perspective to first get to that point. I think at certain times throughout my career, I’ve lost some perspective and it’s made me spiral more than I need to.”

Bryant has played in just 122 games over two seasons in Colorado, where the Rockies have lost a combined 197 games. The 32-year-old has spent a ton of time on the injured list with back, foot, glute, heel and finger injuries. When Bryant has been on the field it’s been pretty bad, as he’s amassed -0.6 fWAR in his Rockies career thus far. At the plate, he’s slashed .259/,335/.404 with 15 home runs and 45 RBI. While he was once a versatile fielder, who roamed from his primary third base to centerfield to even shortstop for Joe Maddon’s Cubs, Bryant has spent his Rockies career mostly as a corner outfielder and designated hitter. It’s expected in 2024 that Bryant will become the latest free agent signee the Rockies will move to first base, following in the footsteps of Ian Desmond, Daniel Murphy and Gerardo Parra.

The only people who may regret signing the deal more than Bryant could be Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt and owner Dick Monfort, the crew on the hook for yet another ludicrously bad contract.

“He was a good player to add with some of the young guys coming up, and what we had at the time,” said Schmidt in the story when questioned about Byrant being the only significant addition in the past few years “There’s nothing more than that.”

So here’s to another season of Rockies baseball that nobody is looking forward to, not even the team’s highest-paid player. Maybe he’s right for it though, the team is projected by many to be the worst in baseball, even worse than the seemingly purposely tanking Oakland A’s, who are seeking relocation.

But in a way, isn’t it good for Bryant that the Rockies aren’t worth paying attention to?

“As a player, it’s an easier spot to be in,” Bryant told The Athletic. “Because you don’t really have that outside pressure, like the Dodgers are going to have. They invest a lot of money in good players. So they have to go out there and win. For us, we can be someone that nobody talks about.”

Good news KB, even the patrons at Coors Field will not be talking about the Rockies this season, the attendees will be there for the opponents or the Rooftop.