On Bended Knee - The Rizzo Thread

[17 Seconds]

ha that was fun back then when we weren't all utterly broken, but merely pretty broken

[Brian]

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[Named After Maddux]

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I’m fully aware that it may not make complete baseball-sense for a long term contract, but I will be very disappointed if Anthony Rizzo wears a non-Cubs jersey the rest of his career.

[WrigleyField 22]

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I’m fully aware that it may not make complete baseball-sense for a long term contract, but I will be very disappointed if Anthony Rizzo wears a non-Cubs jersey the rest of his career.

F it, one WS was enough. Make him a Cub for life.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Tony tony tony

[Cubswin11]

Get it done cowards

 

[Have a seat, Neifi]

Seeing reports on Twitter that it was a lowball offer (or at least perceived that way) and that negotiations didn’t get very far.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I promise not to spam this opinion every time the topic comes up, but extending Rizzo is a bad idea. Not only in the efficiency olympics sorta sense, but the track record of 1B only guys being worthwhile players past 30 or 31, regardless of salary, is really bad. Rizzo's defense helps a little, but his growing injury history makes him especially ripe to not buck the trend. If you want to say 'I love Rizzo and what he symbolizes and want to repay him for the contract he signed way back when even if it means he's a spot starting pinch hitter for half the deal' I won't begrudge anyone that sentiment, but we should also be eyes wide open that keeping Rizzo on anything resembling a long term deal would be objectively bad.

[jersey cubs fan]

you're not wrong

[Sammy Sofa]

It's just a watered down version of my brutalist, scorching "extending any of the current Cubs long term is a terrible idea" take.

[jersey cubs fan]

5 years ago you could be certain another team would end up giving the guy what he wanted. Nowadays you can't be certain. Aging stars coming back on a series of one year deals could become the new norm.

[Old Style]

Good luck with your next team, Tony. I hope you go to the Nationals too. :bye:

[UMFan83]

5 years ago you could be certain another team would end up giving the guy what he wanted. Nowadays you can't be certain. Aging stars coming back on a series of one year deals could become the new norm.

 

It sucks for Anthony since he took such a team friendly deal and is now looking for a fair market contract. But at the end of the day he agreed to the deal and he had his reasons for doing so. While you'd hope the organization you've spent nearly the entirety of your career with would reward you for being such a great representative of the organization, they are under no obligation to pay for past performance.

 

That said, the Cubs aren't likely to find a better option the next 3-4 years so I don't mind ponying up more than he may be worth to keep the face of the franchise.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

5 years ago you could be certain another team would end up giving the guy what he wanted. Nowadays you can't be certain. Aging stars coming back on a series of one year deals could become the new norm.

 

That's fair, and I think there are reasonable arguments that up to a 3 year deal could be worthwhile with the right specifics, even if I might not agree. The type of deal he'd sign before actually hitting the market feels real likely 4+ years and in the 'unambiguously bad idea' area, so I'm not gonna sweat any of the negotiation stuff breaking down at this point.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Sadly for Rizzo, his value on the open market likely isn't going to be extremely high. He will be a free agent at 32 years old, on a post-prime decline and at a position that is relatively easy to replace value. The Cubs may have made a perceived lowball offer, but it is probably closer to Rizzo's actual value than he would like to believe.

 

With that said, the Cubs still have to figure this out somehow and get a deal done, even if it means overpaying a bit. I think they underestimate the level of apathy that is forthcoming if they go into next year without all three (or even with only one) of Rizzo, Baez, and Bryant.

[CubinNY]

I feel bad for Rizzo. It's hard to put a value on how many kids/parents he draws for the Cubs that a Mark Canha type will never draw. I know my son's eyes lighted up when he saw Rizzo for the first time at Wrigley. it's not all about production.

[UMFan83]

Cubs Twitter is going crazy and trying to make #extendRizzo trending

[Have a seat, Neifi]

Cubs Twitter is going crazy and trying to make #extendRizzo trending

Yea. Rumors are the extension offer was somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 / $70 million.

[UMFan83]

 

For just a rando 32 year old 1B, $14m a year with a 5 year commitment seems like a reasonable starting offer doesn’t it? Or am I way off?

 

Looking at some recent contracts Lamahieu just signed 6/90 at age 32, Ozuna at 30 with 4/65. If they started Rizzo at 5/70 and settled at 5/85 that’s not terrible for either side is it?

 

Or am I an horsefeathers for lowballing tinyface?

[Tim]

 

For just a rando 32 year old 1B, $14m a year with a 5 year commitment seems like a reasonable starting offer doesn’t it? Or am I way off?

 

Looking at some recent contracts Lamahieu just signed 6/90 at age 32, Ozuna at 30 with 4/65. If they started Rizzo at 5/70 and settled at 5/85 that’s not terrible for either side is it?

 

Or am I an horsefeathers for lowballing tinyface?

You're more of a sentimental fool for offering that much (really, for that long).

[Radar3454]

Rizzo is my favorite player and I think it is a generous offer for a 32 year old first baseman with an iffy back. I was guessing 3 50. Hard time seeing him getting a significantly better offer.

[Cubswin11]

 

For just a rando 32 year old 1B, $14m a year with a 5 year commitment seems like a reasonable starting offer doesn’t it? Or am I way off?

 

Looking at some recent contracts Lamahieu just signed 6/90 at age 32, Ozuna at 30 with 4/65. If they started Rizzo at 5/70 and settled at 5/85 that’s not terrible for either side is it?

 

Or am I an horsefeathers for lowballing tinyface?

I think that’s a completely fair offer objectively. But Rizzo means more to the org than just being objective about it. The AAV on 5/70 is pretty insulting when guys like Castellanos, Moustakas and Abreu all recently got more AAV and similar guarantees along with the other names mentioned. Rizzo is worth a little bit of an irrational overpay, imo. 5-6 years at $90-105 mil or so seems right. Or going shorter years like Abreu at 3/50-60 with some options. It’s not going to kill you either like a Miggy/Pujols deal for 30+ AAV for 7 years or whatever.

[squally1313]

Unless I'm missing some obvious bat only dude in the minors who's ready to put up above average offensive numbers next year, pretty sure we're still going to be paying about $10m or so next year just to downgrade it anyways (Cubs projected for 3rd in fWAR at the position by FG this year, with all of it coming from Rizzo). Pay him.

[We Got The Whole 9]

I'd stand firm at 3/60. I think he should be happy with that. Maybe 4 years. Wouldn't want to go 5 or 6.

[squally1313]

I'd stand firm at 3/60. I think he should be happy with that. Maybe 4 years. Wouldn't want to go 5 or 6.

 

Almost 35 year old Carlos Santana just signed a 2 year, 17m deal after throwing up a .699 OPS last year and garbage defense since forever. Probably conflating posters around here, but all the people who wanted Nico to slug .300 every day because our pitching staff was built around ground balls has no problem dumping Rizz to pay a revolving door of fringe DH types to Roger Dorn ground balls and picks at first for the next few years.