Trading Anthony Rizzo might have actually been smart for Cubs

The New York Yankees have former Chicago Cubs star Anthony Rizzo as a very big piece of their starting lineup these days. They are a very good team with a lot of elite players but Rizzo has been very up and down with them so far.

On Thursday, the Yankees had a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Angels. They won them both and improved to 36-15 which is the best record in Major League Baseball.

In the first game, Anthony Rizzo went 0-4 with two strikeouts and left four men on base. In the second game, he wasn’t in the starting lineup. However, he made up for his bad first game with some late-inning heroics.

He pinch-hit for Kyle Higashioka in the 8th inning and had a hit that produced the tying and go-ahead run. The Yankees were able to hang on and take the sweep of the doubleheader and it was all thanks to the decision to pinch-hit Anthony Rizzo.

https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1532558753186422792

The Chicago Cubs were very wise to let Anthony Rizzo leave when they did.

However, this nice little moment doesn’t erase how tough 2022 has been for Rizzo so far. It is clear that the Chicago Cubs made a good decision by trading Anthony Rizzo last year instead of letting him walk for nothing or overpaying him to stay.

So far in 2022, Rizzo has a slash line of .213/.312/.466 for an OPS of .787. He has 11 home runs, 31 RBI, and 28 runs scored. Some of the stats are very good but the slash line is very average. A lot of the power numbers came within the first portion of the season.

He would still be the best player on the Cubs but he isn’t worth the money he was asking for as an aging first baseman with injury problems. The Cubs need to be building for the future and he clearly isn’t going to be a part of that.

Playing for the New York Yankees is much better for Rizzo at this point. They are a legit World Series contender and Rizzo could end up being a big part of it. That is better for him than playing for this sorry Cubs team that has a long way to go before they contend again.

It was a wise move to let him move on and be average elsewhere. The Cubs, if they want to get back into a contention window, need to continue adding good young pieces to the mix instead of looking back.