Former Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo has a new MLB contract

The Chicago Cubs traded Anthony Rizzo at last year’s MLB Trade Deadline. It was a move that was met with both praise and criticism as the team tore apart the core that ended the 108 year World Series drought.

Rizzo ended up with the New York Yankees where he was welcomed with open arms. The regular season ended with them in a Wild Card berth which ended up being bad news. They fell to the Boston Red Sox in that game so Rizzo’s time in New York appeared to be short-lived.

It became clear that the Yankees wanted to sign Freddie Freeman to be the new first baseman. He is a clear upgrade over Rizzo but that also means that more teams are going after him. It made sense to think that Freeman would sign first but that is not how it went down.

Late on Tuesday night, it came out that the New York Yankees were going to re-sign Rizzo. He is going to go back to New York and try to win a division title with them there. It doesn’t feel like the right decision by either party but it is what it is.

Former Chicago Cubs superstar Anthony Rizzo is headed to the New York Yankees.

There were some rumors that he was going to be coming back to the Cubs but it felt like nonsense the whole time. The Cubs traded him away and there is nothing he can do about that. There is absolutely no point in either side going backward, only forward.

There is still a lot of opportunities to land other big free agents and the Yankees are all-in on a lot of them. They should be a pretty good team but nobody is sure that they are as good as the Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, or Toronto Blue Jays which is interesting.

If Rizzo plays well along with Josh Donaldson and some of the other usual suspects in New York, the Yankees could be good enough to win a division. This is an organization that hasn’t been under .500 in over 20 years so expect a fair amount of success at minimum.

It is a shame to see him continue playing away from Chicago. He brought so much to that Cubs team in 2016 that he has earned the right to make some money with the Yankees. With Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber still unsigned, the rumors are going to be wild. Don’t freak out about them until they happen.