Anthony Rizzo is not coming back to the Chicago Cubs

It would be a really nice story to see Anthony Rizzo come back to the Chicago Cubs. After the way things went last summer, a lot of people would find true joy that a truly all-time great Cub came back. He was the one (out of Rizzo, Javier Baez, and Kris Bryant) that everyone thought would stay.

That didn’t happen and he was sent off to the New York Yankees at the trade deadline. He went there and then the Yankees lost the one-game Wild Card Game to the Boston Red Sox. It could have certainly gone better for him.

Now, there were some rumors flying around that the Cubs are going to bring him back when the current (and extremely annoying) lockout ends. That is just something that is not going to happen right now.

Few people are as plugged into the Chicago Cubs as David Kaplan of ESPN 1000 and NBC Sports Chicago. He made a Twitter video (with a bit of commentary on the Chicago Bulls) confirming that there is no truth to that rumor. He made note that Rizzo is one of his favorites but he is pretty confident in his conviction.

The Chicago Cubs should absolutely not bring back Anthony Rizzo for 2022.

To be honest, that would be a very bad idea for the Cubs. He is an aging first baseman that has dealt with some serious back trouble in recent years. When he is on the field, he can be extremely impactful but the Cubs just don’t need him anymore.

They need to keep adding young players and building for the future in this little retool that they are going through. They are probably going to be a really average team in 2022 (their starting rotation is actually pretty good) but Rizzo certainly isn’t going to push them over the edge anymore.

Rizzo shouldn’t want to come back either. They traded him. Move on. He needs to go to a team that needs a great first baseman and lefty bat in the middle of their order. It would be nice to get his bat in there while giving him rest on defense and both leagues should have a DH by the time the first pitch is thrown this year.

Yes, it would be cool to see this reunion but it just isn’t happening. That is at least right now. The Cubs would be much smarter to fully move into building for the future so they can get back to the playoffs and stay there. Bringing Rizzo back at this stage would be going backward.