MESA, Ariz. -- Kris Bryant exited his meeting with president of baseball operations Theo Epstein on Sunday with a mind put more at ease. The star third baseman got some things off his chest, and Epstein offered more insight into what fueled all those offseason trade rumors. What Bryant did

MESA, Ariz. -- Kris Bryant exited his meeting with president of baseball operations Theo Epstein on Sunday with a mind put more at ease. The star third baseman got some things off his chest, and Epstein offered more insight into what fueled all those offseason trade rumors.

What Bryant did not receive was a guarantee about his future, and he reiterated on Tuesday that he understands that the front office is not obligated to keep him looped in on any talks involving his name. That said, following his sit-down with Epstein, Bryant does believe he will be with the Cubs on Opening Day.

"Yes, I do," Bryant said.

Does he think he will be with the team through the July 31 Trade Deadline?

"Yep," he said succinctly. "I'm a Chicago Cub."

This comes in the wake of Bryant's 35-minute press conference on Saturday, when he spoke at length about all the white noise of the winter and made it clear that, of course, he would love to stay with Chicago long-term. He also said at the time that he would prefer to at least have some assurance from the front office that he would remain a Cub for Opening Day.

That set the stage for Sunday's closed-door conference between Bryant and Epstein, who had minimal contact throughout the offseason. Bryant said it was not all baseball business talk. They also chatted about Bryant's impending fatherhood, among other things. When the meeting was over, Bryant headed back to the clubhouse in a better mental place.

"Everything went great," he said. "It was the best meeting I've had with a superior. It was really good. ... The conversation I had was all that I needed for the questions that were asked in the press conference."

One of those questions centers on the idea of the Cubs finding common ground in extension talks with Bryant, who is one of the team's stars in line to hit free agency after the '21 season. That situation plays right into the trade chatter, considering that Chicago is trying to balance winning now and planning for the future.

The Cubs have also explored a long-term pact with shortstop Javier Báez, who said recently that talks were "up and down" over the offseason. In his gathering with the media on Monday, Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts was asked if there could be room in the budget for extending both Bryant and Báez.

"That's in Theo’s camp," Ricketts said. "That's his decision. We'd have to take a look at what that all would mean for us financially."

In addition to meeting with Epstein, Bryant got to hear new manager David Ross' first speech prior to Monday's first full-squad workout. Bryant "definitely" looks at Ross differently now, compared with when Ross was a veteran catcher and Bryant's teammate on the 2015-16 Cubs.

"We have a good relationship, and it's something that we built before this," Bryant said. "But now he's our manager. What he says goes. That's how I look at it. I'm not here to joke around with him. I mean, I'm going to have fun and smile with him, but when he's talking to you one on one, or when he's talking to the group, there's no nonsense. No joking. And I think it's up to us, too, to take that route."

Now Bryant can take that no-nonsense approach to the spring and just focus on training for the start of the season.

"Even if I didn't have that conversation, I still would be able to go out there and focus," he said. "I'm here with a lot of my special people in my life. It's very easy to go out and play with this group and focus and enjoy what I'm doing, you know? But having a conversation with Theo was awesome. Really good."

Then he smirked.

"Want to know what we talked about?" he asked reporters. "Nah, I've said enough."