Baseball’s process for handling hot prospects may be about to change forever. Cubs star Kris Bryant and Phillies slugger Maikel Franco are both filing grievances against their teams for holding them in the minors and costing them service time.
Service time is essential to players’ earning potential. MLB players must accrue six years’ worth of service time in the bigs before they can be eligible for free agency, which is why Bryant was not brought up until April 17 despite having a monstrous spring training, and being one of baseball’s most highly-touted young players. Bryant finished with 171 days of service, when 172 days constitutes a full season. That move delayed Bryant’s free agency by a full year.
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Franco is in the same boat. The Phillies optioned third baseman Cody Asche to the minors on May 12, but didn’t bring up Franco until the 15th, leaving him with 170 days of service time. Both players are claiming that their service time was “manipulated,” and that MLB clubs are not operating in “good faith,” according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo.
If these players are successful with their grievances, it could mean that in the future, MLB fans don’t have to watch lesser players while potential stars languish in the minors waiting to become cost-effective.
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“We want to see things geared toward winning, and this isn’t just the Phillies. It’s all teams. The fans deserve to see the best product on the field, and the players deserve the best team surrounding them so they can win,” Franco’s agent Ryan Royster said. Sources told Yahoo that Astros outfielder George Springer and Pirates outfielder Gregory Polanco also thought about filing grievances.
Bryant was the most outspoken about it since before Opening Day, when he learned he’d begin 2015 in Triple-A.
"We're told we can go out there and win a spot, and I really took that to heart at the beginning of spring. I came out here with a chip on my shoulder and wanted to play as hard as I can,” Bryant said in March. He initially filed this grievance in May, and the Cubs do not seem worried about it.
"We've known about this since May," general manager Jed Hoyer said. "We have a great relationship with Kris. We feel like we were in the right."
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