MLB Rumors: Could Anthony Rizzo Return to the Chicago Cubs?
The Chicago Cubs are redefining themselves. They're no longer the team that won the 2016 World Series, nor are they even close to the team that secured a playoff berth in 2020.
The core is gone, Javy Baez is a Detroit Tiger, Kyle Schwarber is a Philadelphia Phillie, Kris Bryant is a Colorado Rockie and Jon Lester is retired.
But Anthony Rizzo is going to be a free agent, and he's just as close to the Cubs as he is with any other team in MLB. The Cubs have a hole at first base, Frank Schwindel did not work out to be the cornerstone piece the franchise had hoped, and Alfonso Rivas is little more than a stopgap.
Now, the club's hopes rest upon Matt Mervis, a former 39th-round draft pick turned breakout prospect. Can the Cubs really put their trust into this 24-year-old who started the 2022 season at High-A?
For a team looking to compete, a reunion with Rizzo might just be the sensible option. Even David Ross agreed that the Cubs need help, "there’s a big hole for me at first base," he said in an article from Gordon Wittenmeyer of NBCSports Chicago.
Rizzo has a player option once the season concludes, and after a year in which his OPS+ was 131, he'll get a much larger deal on the free agent market than the $16 million he's owed by the New York Yankees in 2023.
Besides a generational talent, the Cubs probably aren't looking to delve deep into the higher-tier of free agents this offseason, and Rizzo falls right into general manager Jed Hoyer's wheelhouse.
At age-33, the former World Champion will likely command an AAV somewhere in the range of $15-18 million over three to four years. The Cubs are a big market team ready to spend once again, and he'd be in their budget.
When the Cubs offered him a five-year, $70 million extension in the spring of 2021, Rizzo cut off talks in disappointment, but now two years more aged, he may be willing to revisit.
As recently as this summer Rizzo recalled how, "I expressed 100 different times how I wanted to be [in Chicago] for life.”
Now, he has the chance to make that wish a reality.
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