“I said it before: I played with a little chip on my shoulder this year. It’s good to play that way sometimes.” – Kris Bryant, November 16, 2015
Kris Bryant was the NL Rookie of the Year in 2015 and likely played the entire season in subdued disappointment because he believed his employers manipulated his service time. The grievance he filed in December of that year is proof that, at the very least, baseball needed to be made aware of the types of shenanigans team executives employ to maximize service time. He has now lost that grievance and has been heavily involved in trade rumors since the Cubs were officially eliminated from the playoffs last September.