The Chicago Cubs reassigned Kris Bryant to their minor league camp on Monday, even though the prospect had an outstanding spring as far as hitting goes. The send down caused a threat of litigation from the MLB Players Association.

The 23-year-old dominated with a .425 average, nine home runs and 15 RBIs throughout 45 at-bats in the 2015 Cactus League. 

The deal is if Bryant spends 12 or more days in the minor leagues, then Chicago will get an extra year until he is eligible for free agency, according to baseball’s collective bargaining agreement.

"Today is a bad day for baseball," the Major League Baseball Players Association said. "I think we all know that even if Kris Bryant were a combination of the greatest players to play our game, and perhaps he will be before it's all said and done, the Cubs still would have made the decision they made today. This decision, and other similar decisions made by clubs will be addressed in litigation, bargaining or both."

The MLB did their part to defend the choice of the Cubs.

"In accordance with long established practice under the Basic Agreement, a club has an unfettered right to determine which players are part of its opening-day roster," MLB said in a statement. "This issue was discussed extensively in bargaining in 2011, and the principle was not changed. We do not believe that it is appropriate for the players' association to make the determination that Kris Bryant should be on the Cubs' 25-man roster while another player, who, unlike Bryant, is a member of its bargaining unit, should be cut or sent to the minor leagues."

The young slugger struggled defensively because of right shoulder soreness. It only makes sense to send him down to get the extra year and to allow him to fully recover.

"It's always difficult to send young players down because it is news they don't want to hear," Cubs president Theo Epstein said. "We entered camp with the presumptive move of sending him to Triple-A, and it is always the presumptive move for us with young players who haven't played in the big leagues yet. You see how camp develops and how the roster shapes up to see if there is grounds for an exception to the rule.

"In this case it was the right thing to do," Epstein said. "His performance really mattered, and he made a great first impression on Joe. It demonstrated clearly to everybody that he is really close to not just being in the big leagues but an important role on the team."

Scott Boras, Bryant’s agent, called the discussion not real and not genuine baseball.

"MLB is not the MLB without the best players," Boras said in a text message to The Associated Press. "Kris excelled at every level and earned the right of entry. The CBA is at the apogee of wrongs incentivizing clubs to create a product less than best. Bryant's situation is the badge for change to the CBA player service structure."

Joe Maddon, the brand-new manager of the Cubs, was looking forward to working with Bryant as both a person and as a player. Maddon understood that Bryant is young and it would be better to work with him for an extra 162 games guaranteed, rather than 12 games. He also acknowledged that Bryant had work to do in some areas, most likely the defensive side of the game.

"When you look at the entire picture of development you're still looking at a couple areas to improve a little bit," Maddon said Monday. "I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you wouldn't like to have him in your lineup. He's also 23. I'm looking forward to working with this guy for the next 15 years. "He's a brilliant talent. I'm not going to sit here and say things that are disingenuous. This guy is good. He's going to be really good."

Esptein and Maddon sent Javier Baez to Triple-A Iowa and they reassigned shortstop Addison Russell to MiLB camp.

Baez struggled in spring training, hitting .173 with 20 strikeouts in 52 at-bats. The 22-year-old seems very close to figuring it all out, but just needs more time to get locked and loaded for his MLB future.

Russell was acquired from the Oakland Athletics on July 5 when the Cubs traded away Jeff Samardzija. The 21-year-old dominated in the spring, hitting .324 over 37 at-bats.

"In a healthy organization there should be different opinions expressed, bounce ideas off each other, talk about different aspects of the game and how you weigh different variables," Epstein said. "These players were new to Joe so he is seeing them for the first time and we couldn't have had a healthier debate about it and in the end we all agreed. I think I could probably be in this game for a long time and not send down three players that talented on the same day ever again. Those three are pretty good."