SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Eight months ago, a blue-pinstripe-clad Kris Bryant sat outside Coors Field, telling reporters how honored he felt each time he put on the Cubs’ uniform.

On Thursday, he donned a Rockies warmup shirt in front of a locker bearing his name at Salt River Fields.

”It kind of has come full circle with the two teams that were really on me coming out of the draft,” Bryant said. ”I get a chance to play for both of them.”

The Cubs and Rockies play Friday at Sloan Park, pitting the team that drafted Bryant against the one that just signed him for the next seven years. Bryant doesn’t expect to be at that game. Veterans often get a home-game-heavy schedule in spring training.

If Bryant did show up Friday in Mesa, he wouldn’t recognize many players in the opposite dugout.

When the Cubs traded Bryant to the Giants at the trade deadline last season, they also sent Anthony Rizzo to the Yankees and Javy Baez to the Mets. The only players from the Cubs’ 2016 World Series team still on the roster are Willson Contreras, Jason Heyward and Kyle Hendricks.

”You can look at it like, hey, we’re all getting older, so there’s new people coming in,” Bryant said with a smile during a conversation Thursday with the Sun-Times. ”That’s the way I’m looking at it. Definitely a different era of Cubs baseball and wishing them the best of luck — just not against us.

”It’s always a special place for me, Chicago. We loved everything about our experience there, and we’re going to love our whole experience here in Colorado.”

Along with getting older, Bryant, Rizzo and Baez had reached their last year of club control. And the Cubs didn’t strike extensions with any of them. Rizzo memorably cut off negotiations ahead of Opening Day — a deadline he already had established — and held a news conference to say he was ”at peace” with the impasse.

Eventually, the Cubs charted a path without any of them, a decision that launched them into building back from a trade-deadline sell-off. Or, as the Cubs put it, building ”the next great Cubs team.”

Last week, Bryant signed a seven-year, $182 million contract, hoping to be part of the next great Rockies team.

”The Rockies, from the very beginning, were like, ‘We want you here,’ ” Bryant said. ”And that was a really good feeling, especially early on. And it made me excited about the opportunity here.”

The relationship went back much further than this offseason. Bryant thought he was going to be drafted by the Rockies at No. 3 overall, right after the Cubs’ pick, in 2013. And when the Rockies came courting Bryant this winter, they didn’t have to sell him on the stadium or facilities. During All-Star festivities last season, the home side of Coors Field blew Bryant away.

After news of Bryant’s signing got out, Cubs manager David Ross sent him a congratulatory text message. Chairman Tom Ricketts and president of baseball operations Crane Kenney also texted right away, Bryant said.

”To see what KB got,” Ross said, ”just from his text back, he seems pretty excited.”

The current Rockies reminded Bryant of the Cubs team he initially joined.

There are, of course, differences in market size. And it’s hard to ignore the Rockies’ trade saga involving Nolan Arenado or Trevor Story’s confusion when the team held on to him through the deadline last summer.

Take a step back, however, and the similarities in trajectory are clear. When the Cubs called Bryant up in 2015, they were in a six-year playoff drought and hadn’t won the World Series in more than a century. The Rockies’ last postseason appearance came in 2018, and they haven’t won the Fall Classic in their history.

”You bring in a lot of veteran dudes who have done it before and have that playoff experience,” Bryant said. ”And I certainly have that. There’s some guys in this room that do, too.

”But when you have someone that has been through the pressure cooker in a city that demanded a lot, I can use a lot of that experience, help answer questions here and lead by example. And just go out there and play, do what I know how to do. And hopefully we can write some history here, just like I did in Chicago.”

Nine miles from the Rockies’ spring-training site, the Cubs were also coming full circle.

President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer promised this phase wouldn’t be a repeat of 2012 and 2013. And the Cubs’ signings of Marcus Stroman and Seiya Suzuki, who is scheduled to make his spring-training debut Friday, have supported that commitment.

But Hoyer is borrowing some tactics from the playbook he and his predecessor, Theo Epstein, used when they first took charge of the Cubs’ baseball-operations department.

With Bryant hoping to play a Jon Lester-type role with the Rockies, which veterans will pry open the Cubs’ championship window? And might this trade-deadline play out for Contreras the same way last summer did for Baez, Rizzo and Bryant?

Asked what he had learned from experience in 2021, Bryant pondered for a moment.

”I don’t think he needs any advice,” Bryant said of Contreras. ”He’s going to go out there and play with heart and passion, and I’m sure he won’t even think about it the whole year. That’s just who Willson is. That’s why he’s fun to play with.”

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GLENDALE, Ariz. — Oh, what the White Sox rotation would look like if Carlos Rodon were still around.

The Sox weren’t willing to take a chance, at Rodon’s price, because of his health history.

When Rodon was good, he was Cy Young, no-hit caliber good. When he was hurt, he was, well, unavailable.

And so the Sox declined to give the free agent left-hander who battled back from elbow and shoulder surgeries a qualifying offer, and off he and agent Scot Boras went hunting for a big contract. They found one in San Francisco, with the Giants giving Rodon $44 million over two years.

“You get it,” Rodon said of the Sox’ decision to let him walk, talking after facing — as happenstance would have it — the Sox in his first Cactus League start Thursday. “As a kid you don’t understand, you just want to play baseball. And then you start understanding the business when you get into professional baseball. There’s only so much a team can do. It’s not like they didn’t want me on their team, the Sox wanted me. And I gladly would have come back, but sometimes you have to explore other options.”

One option was considerably more lucrative than what the Sox provided to their 2014 No. 3 overall draft pick, who averaged 95 innings in his seven seasons with the Sox, averaging 139 in his four best seasons.

And so the Sox will carry on with Michael Kopech filling Rodon’s spot. Kopech is equipped to probably give no more than 140 innings as they monitor his workload in his first season, about what Rodon (132 innings) gave them.

“You guys are in very good hands,” Rodon said. “Kopech is going to be very, very good for a very long time.”

There’s also Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Dylan Cease and Dallas Keuchel. And Reynaldo Lopez and Vince Velasquez. Lefty Sean Manaea of the Athletics seemed to be there for the taking in the right deal, but the Sox appear unwilling to give the Athletics the controllable young talent and prospects they want for one year of his services at $9.75 million before he hits free agency.

Rodon was in good spirits after facing the Sox, looking odd in Giants black and orange and talking with more Chicago media than San Francisco media. He allowed a home run to Eloy Jimenez and a single to Tim Anderson, but nothing else in 2 1/3 innings of work that saw him touch 98 mph on the scoreboard gun at Camelback Ranch. He used four-seam fastballs to strike out Luis Robert and Jose Abreu in the first inning, and also struck out Leury Garcia and Tim Anderson.

“It was cool,” Rodon said. “Some laughs, a little junk talk but it was fun.”

San Francisco seems a bit out of place for Rodon, an Indiana guy who loves to hunt. But he and his family will find a way to adapt for that kind of cash.

“It’s definitely life changing,” he said. “Like you said, generational wealth. Try to do well with all that money. The Lord has blessed me and my family with that money and there are a lot of good things we can do with what the Giants have given us.”

Rodon still looked like he was adapting to his new surroundings, his new team. Facing the Sox in his first spring appearance must have made it all so real.

“It’s hard to leave an organization that you played your whole career for but it’s part of the game, it’s part of the business and you move on,” he said. “I’m excited to be a Giant. This is a very, very good organization.”

Manager Tony La Russa said the Sox appreciated what he gave in his last season on the South Side. In baseball, you often tip your cap and move.

“I’m really happy he’s not in our league, that means I can pull for him,” La Russa said.

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GLENDALE, Ariz. — The White Sox claimed Yoan Aybar off waivers from the Yankees Thursday and placed righty Jonathan Stiever on the 60-day injured list.

Stiever, who had right lat surgery last August, made one start for the Sox last season and spent most of the year at Triple-A Charlotte.

Aybar, 24, was claimed off waivers by the Yankees from the Rockies March 20 after being designated for assignment to make room for Kris Bryant two days earlier. He spent all of 2021 in the Rockies organization, going 2-6 with a 6.22 ERA with 53 strikeouts and two saves over 46 1/3 innings. Almost all of it was at Double-A.

Signed by the Red Sox as an outfielder, Aybar possesses upper-90s mph velocity and is regarded as a high ceiling type who has struggled with command. He has averaged 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings since transitioning to pitching but owns a 5.06 ERA with 150 strikeouts and a 14.6 percent walk rate over 131 2/3 innings in 110 minor league appearances.

The Sox have lefties Aaron Bummer and Garrett Crochet in the bullpen, and could carry 14 or 15 pitchers with teams opening this season with expanded 28-man rosters, although Aybar might be hard-pressed to make the major league roster.

Aybar would give some needed lefty bullpen depth at the minor league level. Non-roster invitee Brandon Finnegan followed a scoreless debut by allowing four runs and four hits to the Rangers in a Cactus League game Wednesday.

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The Bears plan to sign Bills restricted free agent guard Ryan Bates to an offer sheet, the Sun-Times has confirmed. The Bills will have five days to match it or allow Bates to sign with the Bears.

The 6-4, 302-pound Bates would be the third offensive lineman Bears general manager Ryan Poles has signed in free agency. Previously, he signed Packers center Lucas Patrick to a two-year, $8 million contract and Vikings guard Dakota Dozier to a one-year contract.

Bates, 25, would likely get first shot at a starting guard position — and a good early test of Poles’ ability to project offensive linemen. A former undrafted free agent out of Penn State, Bates had primarily been a back-up in three NFL seasons before starting the Bills’ final five games last season.

He started at right guard in Week 15 when Cody Ford went on the reserve/COVID-19 list and left guard in Week 16 after starter Ike Boetgger injured his Achilles. Bates played well enough that he kept the job when injured veteran Jon Felicano returned late in the season — with Bates starting both of the Bills’ playoff games.

Though his five starts at the end of last season are a small sample-size, the Bears know Bates well. Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham was the Eagles’ assistant director of player personnel in 2019, when they signed Bates as an undrafted free agent.

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Monitoring new Bears general manager Ryan Poles’ moves:

March 24

11 a.m.: Bills offensive lineman Ryan Bates plans to sign an offer sheet with the Bears, a source confirmed Thursday. Because he’s an unrestricted free agent, the Bills have five days to match the deal and keep him — or let him leave and get nothing in return. Bates started the last three games of the regular season last year plus the Bills’ two playoff games. Four of the starts were at left guard and one was at right guard. He’s considered to have versatility to move all over the line.

March 23

4 p.m.: The Bears are signing former Vikings offensive lineman Dakota Dozier to a one-year contract. He started 16 games in 2020 and has 27 starts over seven seasons. The first four came with the Jets.

9 a.m.: Former Bears safety Deon Bush is signing with the Chiefs.

March 20

5:45 p.m.: The Bears have agreed to a one-year deal with former Titans fullback Khari Blasingame, a source said. The fullback led the way for Derrick Henry and totaled 10 catches for 97 yards and three rushes for six yards over 32 games in Nashville. He went to college in the same city, at Vanderbilt. It’s unclear what role a fullback will play in Luke Getsy’s offense, but Blasingame will have a chance to make an impact.

9 a.m.: Safety DeAndre Houston-Carson is re-signing with the Bears on a one-year contract, a source confirmed. Long a special teams stalwart, Houston contributed on defense last year, intercepting one pass, recovering two fumbles and starting the first three games of his career. A sixth-round draft pick in 2016, Houston-Carson has spent his entire career with the Bears.

March 18

3 p.m.: The Bears are signing former Colts defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad. The run-stuffer also had six sacks last year.

11 a.m.: The Bears rescinded their offer to defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobiafter he failed a physical Thursday and quickly moved on to contingencies.

March 17

7:30 p.m.: The Bears are signing former Chiefs receiver Byron Pringle to a one-year deal, a source confirmed. An undrafted free agent out of Kansas State, Pringle caught 42 passes for 568 yards and five touchdowns last year. New Bears general manager Ryan Poles saw it first-hand as a member of the Chiefs front office.

5:20 p.m.: The Bears are signing former Packers receiver Equanimeous St. Brown to a one-year deal, a source confirmed. He played about 26 percent of the Packers’ downs on both offense and special teams last season.

5 p.m.: Running back Damien Williams signed a one-year deal with the Falcons, a source confirmed. Williams had 40 carries for 164 yards, 16 catches for 103 yards and three touchdowns in his lone season with the Bears.

3 p.m.: The Raiders signed offensive lineman Alex Bars, who spent the last three years with the Bears.

2:45 p.m.: Receiver Allen Robinson agreed to join the defending Super Bowl champion Rams and star quarterback Matthew Stafford on a three-year deal worth $46.5 million, with $30.7 million fully guaranteed, a source confirmed. The move ends his four-year Bears career and gives Robinson a long-needed quarterback upgrade.

9 a.m.: Punter Pat O’Donnell, the longest-tenured Bears player, is signing with the Packers, a source confirmed. O’Donnell was drafted by Phil Emery in 2014 and had played with the Bears ever since, working under two GMs and three coaches — not counting Matt Eberflus and Ryan Poles.

March 16

3:15 p.m.: As expected, the Bears cut veteran linebacker Danny Trevathan. Trevathan was part of the Bears’ defensive rebuilding job when arriving in Chicago in 2016 but struggled the past two seasons. Last year, he played in only five games before being put on IR for the second time.

3 p.m.: When the NFL’s league year began, four Bears became free agents: tight end J.P. Holtz, guard Alex Bars, running back Ryan Nall and safety Teez Tabor.

9 a.m.: Former Bears cornerback Artie Burns is signing a one-year deal with the Seahawks, a source confirmed. He’ll join former Bears defensive coordinator Sean Desai there.

7:15 a.m.: Bilal Nichols, a Bears’ fifth-round pick four years ago, cashed in Wednesday when he agreed to sign a two-year, $11 million deal with the Raiders that featured $9 million guaranteed. Nichols had totaled eight sacks and 22 quarterback hits over the past two years combined. Last season, Nichols recovered two fumbles.

March 15

11:30 p.m.: Bears Pro Bowl return man Jakeem Grant is leaving to sign a three-year, $18 million deal with the Browns

10:30 p.m.: The Bears agreed to terms on a one-year deal with former Raiders linebacker Nicholas Morrow that can be worth up to $5 million, a source told the Sun-Times. Morrow started 11 games in 2020 but spent last year on injured reserve after hurting his ankle during the preseason.

10:30 p.m.: The Bears are signing former Packers interior offensive lineman Lucas Patrick to a two-year, $8 million deal with $4 million guaranteed, a source confirmed to the Sun-Times. Patrick can play either guard or center for a team that lost James Daniels to the Steelers earlier in the day.

10 p.m.: The Bears are re-signing long snapper Patrick Scales to a one-year contract, sources told the Sun-Tines.

10:30 a.m.: Former Bears offensive lineman James Daniels is leaving for the Steelers. Daniels agreed to a three-year, $26.5 million deal Tuesday, NFL Network reported.

Former Bears general manager Ryan Pace drafted Daniels at No. 39 overall in 2018, and he played 54 games over four seasons. The Bears moved him among both guard positions and center, and ultimately he did not impress new general manager Ryan Poles enough to re-sign him.

Click here for full story.

March 14

4 p.m.: The Bears officially cut defensive tackle Eddie Goldman. Friday, sources said they’d made the decision.

1 p.m.: As new Bears general manager Ryan Poles continues to rework the roster, the team is getting younger — and possibly better — on the defensive line.

The Bears agreed to a three-year, $40.5 million deal with former Bengals defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi in the opening hours of free agency Monday, NFL Network reported. He’ll get $26.4 million guaranteed.

Click here for full story.

March 11

5 p.m.: The Bears claimed running back Darrynton Evans, a third-round pick of the Titans just two years ago, off waivers. He has 16 career rushes for 61 yards.

3:30 p.m.: The Bears also plan to cut nose tackle Eddie Goldman, who had a disappointing 2021 and no longer fit their scheme.

11:30 a.m.: As expected, the Bears told running back Tarik Cohen they would be cutting him with an injury designation about a year-and-a-half after he tore knee ligaments returning a punt against the Falcons.

March 10

4 p.m.: In a franchise-altering move, the Bears agreed to trade edge rusher Khalil Mack, the face of the franchise, to the Chargers for a 2022 second-round pick and a 2023 sixth-rounder. Ryan Poles’ first major move as the Bears’ GM signified the start of a rebuild, while Mack’s Bears career ends as a risk worth taking.

March 8

5 p.m.: The Bears agreed to bring back center Sam Mustipher, tight end Jesper Horsted and guard Lachavious Simmons on one-year deals at the league minimum. All three are exclusive-rights free agents. Players with less than three seasons of experience must accept such contract tenders.

3 p.m.: The NFL’s deadline to apply the franchise tag came and went Wednesday without the Bears making anyone an offer. That means receiver Allen Robinson will hit free agency Monday after playing last year on the tag.

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GLENDALE, Ariz. — RHP Reynaldo Lopez feels great physically this spring. Looser because of a less weight, more reps weightlifting routine in the offseason.

Mentally, he’s in a good place. And with improved vision after having surgery last May on both corneas, he feels like it’s all coming together for him.

Which is a good thing for the White Sox, who, seemingly set on their current collection of pitchers, need all the starting depth they can get to navigate a season in which everyone fears arm issues due to the late start to spring training caused by the lockout.

Depth will be a premium commodity. Lopez, 28, says he’s equipped to do it with his plus fastball and four-pitch mix, feeling much better these days.

“Much better than the last three years,” Lopez said. “Now I’m loose. I didn’t try to do too much in the weight room, and I didn’t get so tight. My velo is 95, 97.”

Before surgery, Lopez said he struggled at times to see the catcher’s signs, which created an obvious distraction. That’s not a problem any more.

When Lopez was acquired with Lucas Giolito and Dane Dunning for Adam Eaton in 2016, he possessed the best arm of the threesome. In 2018, he was the Sox’ best starter, posting a 3.91 ERA over 32 starts. After regressing to ERAs of 5.38 and 6.49 in 2019 and 2020, with demotions to Triple-A Charlotte, Lopez bounced back to Chicago with a 3.43 ERA, 55 strikeouts and 13 walks over 57 2/3 innings.

The Sox will likely use him as a starter and in the bullpen, much like free-agent signee Vince Velasquez.

“They are very important pieces to the puzzle,” pitching coach Ethan Katz. “Especially when you’re looking at Michael [Kopech] right now, who off the year that he had we really have to be smart with his innings … we don’t push him too hard to get him ready. He might be a couple of innings behind others.

Lopez, expected to start and pitch two innings against the Giants and Carlos Rodon — who beat him out for the fifth starter’s spot last spring — in a Cactus League game in Glendale today.

Lopez was looking forward to being on the mound in the same game with Rodon. And he says he couldn’t be in a better place right now. He even felt comfortable enough to do an interview in English.

“My eyes, my arm, my mind,” Lopez said. “Everything is coming together.”

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A Round Lake Beach police officer fired at a juvenile who was pointing a gun at him, but the juvenile was not hit and the gun was later determined to be a replica “that looked exactly like a handgun,” authorities said.

Officers were sent to the 1300 block of Ridgeway Avenue around 6 p.m. Wednesday after someone called police and said the juvenile was pointing a gun at him, according to Deputy Police Chief Wayne Wilde Jr.

The officers confronted the juvenile, “who turned and pointed the firearm at them. One officer drew, then discharged his firearm at the juvenile, but the bullet did not strike the youth,” Wilde said in a statement.

Police determined the gun was a replica firearm that looked exactly like a handgun,” he said. The juvenile was taken into custody and was brought to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville for observation.

The officer was transported to Northwestern Emergency Medical Center in Grayslake, also for observation, and was released.

Wilde said the case remained under investigation.

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