By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor 
While the news of the day has largely revolved around Stephen Strasburg re-signing with the Nationals on a record setting deal and the impact that deal will have on the market for Gerrit Cole, there was some Phillies news announced today.
The news was about a potential trade instead of a free agent the club may be pursuing, however.
Bruce Levine of WSCR the Score in Chicago reports that the Phillies have “had talks” with the Cubs about a potential deal that would send the 27-year old to Philadelphia.
Cubs have had talks with Phils on Bryant . Nothing there at the moment. Service time grievance still an issue .
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) December 9, 2019
What the Phillies would offer the Cubs is not known, but the team is currently operating with the belief that their two top prospects, Alec Bohm and Spencer Howard, will be contributing at the Major League level soon.
What would make the deal a bit odd is that the Phillies would likely want to acquire Bryant as more of a stop-gap (assuming they would not offer Bryant a contract extension shortly after the trade) to Bohm, effectively taking him off the table in trade talks.
That, of course, could change.
On Chicago’s end, there is still a service time issue and arbitrators have yet to decide whether Bryant will be a free agent in 2020 or 2021.
Bryant’s trade market is likely to develop further following Anthony Rendon, and possibly Josh Donaldson, making their free agent decisions.
In his five-year career, Bryant has slashed .284/.385/.515 with 138 home runs.
He has three All-Star selections, was the 2015 National League Rookie of the Year and the 2016 NL MVP.
