Kris Bryant feels relieved after being traded by Cubs

Kris Bryant comes from a place of relief after last year’s messy Cubs deadline and free hand.

Now in his first season with the Colorado RockiesKris Bryant is finally feeling well again.

Former NL MVP and World Series Champion of Chicago Cubs was traded around a year ago on the reporting date San Francisco Giants. He transitioned from the only organization he had ever played for to a new team vying for the pennant. Although the Giants fell to arch-rivals Los Angeles Dodgers with a check swing in the NLDS, the checks were cashed for Bryant during his MLB Free Agency.

Now that he knows he’ll be in Denver for the foreseeable future, Bryant can relax and get back to playing his brand of baseball.

Bryant spoke up Bally Sports’ Russell Dorsey about what it means to be off the block.

“Honestly, it doesn’t feel like every shot is a matter of life or death anymore,” Bryant told Bally Sports’ Russell Dorsey. “As you go freehand in a year where everything feels bigger than it needs to be.”

Bryant signed a massive Seven-year deal worth $182 million to spend his 30s with the Rockies.

“Somehow I find myself here again [in Colorado] now, and it’s not complacency or anything, but it’s nice to approach a bat for what it is and just try to play baseball instead of trying to play baseball while having so many other thoughts at the same time time racing through your head. It’s nice to feel free and to be who I know I am.”

While getting paid is great, Bryant will have to fight complacency to turn this loss-making franchise on its head.

Colorado Rockies: Kris Bryant is relieved to no longer live on the trading bloc

In Dorsey’s feature, Bryant kept mentioning that things would get better once he got the free hand. The financial security, the long-term deal, cool things of that nature. Of course, Bryant later admitted that the joy of receiving them was temporary. He would have to get back to his baseball game. The hope is that the style of play will help turn Colorado around.

While the Rockies are largely irrelevant this season, Bryant is said to be a franchise cornerstone for success they can build on for years to come. If he can be a big part of the first Cubs team to win a World Series in his lifetime, Bryant can help the Rockies win their first. Of course, playing in the same division as the Dodgers and Giants makes this more difficult.

For Bryant, signing with Colorado was not about 2022, but about the next seven years. He doesn’t need to win another World Series to have a successful career; he already has one. What matters is that his baseball legacy is influenced by what he does and doesn’t do in the next great seven while wearing a Colorado uniform. Win big and Bryant will be as revered as Larry Walker and Todd Helton.

Knowing he’s not likely to be traded any time soon, it’s time for Bryant to get to work.