All the way back in 2007, the Boston Red Sox used a sixth-round draft pick, 204th overall, to take a 17-year-old, left-handed first baseman from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Now, 18 years and a 14-year Major League career with 1,644 career hits including 303 homers later, Anthony Rizzo finds himself in baseball purgatory.
Rizzo never played for the Red Sox. In 2010 they traded him, along with two other players, to the San Diego Padres for another first baseman, Adrian Gonzalez. After an abbreviated rookie season in San Diego, when he played only 49 games, the Friars shipped him to the Chicago Cubs. That’s where Rizzo made his biggest impact, as part of the nucleus of the Cubs team that in 2016 won the World Series for the first time since 1908.
At the 2021 trade deadline, the Cubs traded Rizzo to the New York Yankees, who then signed him as a free agent to a one-year, $16 million contract and then a two-year, $34 million deal the year after that.
Rizzo Now Without MLB Home
But after 2024 â when Rizzo played 92 games, his lowest total in a full season since 2012, and posted a career-worst .637 OPS â the Yankees gave Rizzo his contractual $6 million buyout rather than invoke a $17 million option that would keep the 35-year-old Rizzo a Yankee for another year.
The four-time All-Star has been a free agent ever since.
Rizzo has not retired, though he has admitted that he has contemplated that possibility. The lack of interest in Rizzo has been somewhat surprising. Former Kansas City Royals and Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer took to his X (formerly Twitter) account in late March to wonder what was going on.
“How we living in a world where the everyday LF and 1B for the New York Yankees World Series team donât have jobs after the first MLB game of the season,” Hosmer wrote. “Not even an offer for one of them!”
The left-fielder, Alex Verdugo, has since signed with the Atlanta Braves who sent him down to their Triple-A minor league affiliate. But Rizzo remains a man without a team, not an active player but not retired either.
A Player-Mentor Role Urged For Rizzo
On Thursday, Robert Casey of the Yankees fan blog Bleeding Yankee Blue had an idea that would bring Rizzo back the Bronx â as a “mentor” to the team’s younger players.
“Letâs be real â the Yankees can afford this. Giving Rizzo a one-year deal to be a mentor, a backup first baseman, and a dugout presence wouldnât break the bank,” Casey wrote. “Plus, imagine the impact he could have on the young guys. The man knows what it means to play under the bright lights of New York. He could teach the next generation how to handle the pressure, how to navigate slumps, and most importantly, how to carry yourself in the Bronx. Rizzoâs playing career might be on its last legs, but his baseball IQ and leadership? Those are still MVP-caliber.”
Other than the Yankees big free agent pitching acquisition of the offseason, former Atlanta left-hander Max Fried who threw six shutout innings in the decisive sixth game of the 2021 World Series for the Braves, Rizzo would be the only Yankees player to have won a World Series.
Rizzo would also be the only Yankees player to have played in two World Series, including the 2024 Series with the Yankees, experience that could add to Rizzo’s value as a mentor on a Yankees team expecting to reach the Fall Classic for a second straight year, and the record 42nd time in franchise history.
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