Cubs’ Kris Bryant hitting like its 2016 again — and like he’ll command another extension offer

LOS ANGELES – Player agent Scott Boras was spotted this week at the Cubs’ team hotel in Los Angeles, raising an eyebrow or two, if not a question about whether he might be meeting with Cubs management on the trip.

Not quite.

At least not yet.

Boras was just checking with clients.

But one of those clients in particular, former MVP Kris Bryant, might have more to talk about with Boras than most.

The Cubs third baseman is looking increasingly like a candidate for one of those big contract extensions that became more common throughout baseball during spring training than relay drills.

His second home run Friday in as many nights against the vaunted Dodgers pitching staff only underscored the point for the two-time All-Star making $12.9 million this season.

“I’m open to it,” Bryant said. “I’m always open to hearing what they have to say. But I haven’t heard anything.”

The Cubs won’t comment on their intentions with players and possible moves or offers. Indications are they have no plans to talk with Bryant or anyone else during the season about extensions – even as the team jockeys atop the National League Central with the Milwaukee Brewers seeking a fifth consecutive trip to the playoffs.

But more than Boras’ appearance at the hotel lobby has made the issue topical in recent days.

With the $43 million signing of closer Craig Kimbrel last week to a three-year contract, the Cubs are showing renewed faith that the team’s young core has an extended window of contending baseball in its grasp.

Bryant, who turned down an extension offer two years ago, has said in recent years he is comfortable going year-to-year through his arbitration eligibility.

Could the message sent by the Kimbrel signing and the slow-moving free agent markets the last two years influence how the Cubs approach Bryant the next time around – and how he responds?

“Kris Bryant’s a franchise player,” Boras said. “He is a guy that I think organizations will look at and treat in a manner that is most likely independent of a lot of other considerations they have ongoing.”

Boras has made a career of successful free agency negotiations for his clients – even during this past winter securing a record $330 million total with the Phillies for Bryce Harper’s 13-year contract.

From the Cubs standpoint the calculus becomes increasingly significant if the trend of their core hitters this season holds and they continue to view the next two or three years as an opportunity for multiple championships to add to their 2016 title.

Four key Cubs all would be eligible for free agency after the 2021 season without extensions: Bryant, Javy Baez, Anthony Rizzo and Kyle Scharber.

Rizzo, who has two below-market club-option years left on his contract after this season, should be in line for an extension offer.

“I agree,” said Rizzo, who doesn’t expect to hear from the club anytime soon. “I have no rush. I’ve got some good money coming in the next couple years.”

A look across the field this weekend at a Dodgers team that has played in the last two World Series only highlights the Cubs’ task at hand in keeping up with the Joneses – not to mention the Andrew Friedmans running the likes of the Dodgers.

If the Cubs continue to perform well all season and make another run in October, Bryant could top the list for an aggressive effort.

“You look at his MVP season, and he’s right there, if not a little better in some areas – over a .900 OPS,” Boras said of Bryant’s bounce-back start from last year’s shoulder-injury-hampered season. “And you’ve got to remember this guy’s playing multiple positions, which is so rare for an elite talent.”

Will the Cubs make a priority of Bryant? What about Baez? And Rizzo and Schwarber – or Willson Contreras for that matter?

“You can never predict what an ownership will do,” Boras said. “All you know is that KB falls in that [franchise-player] category. Other players may fall in the category. And we have a new collective bargaining agreement that theoretically will be at the same time – and maybe earlier, who knows?

“So all kinds of things are happening. In all these situations, you kind of sit back and take direction from [the team] every offseason and what they want to do, and just listen, and take direction from Kris.”