The Yankees wasted no time bringing free agent Anthony Rizzo again to the Bronx this offseason.
The first baseman signed a two-year, $34 million deal earlier this week to return to the Yankees, and on Wednesday the membership held a press convention over Zoom to formally welcome him again. In 179 video games with the Yankees, Rizzo owns a .230/.338/.466 slash line (.804 OPS) with 40 house runs and a 127 wRC+.
“The main reason I wanted to come back is because I love being a Yankee,” Rizzo stated. “I’ve been very fortunate to spend a lot of time in Chicago with the Cubs, an iconic franchise there. Now to be a part of this iconic franchise is amazing. To be part of it for at least two more years is just an amazing feeling.”
Rizzo then added one thing that was certainly music to the entrance workplace’s ears as they now attempt to persuade different free brokers to signal on for all times in baseball’s most pressure-filled setting.
“To be in a big market, under the bright lights, to have that 24/7 scrutiny, is one of the many things I love about this game,” Rizzo stated.
During his transient digital press convention, Rizzo additionally confirmed that the Houston Astros had been displaying curiosity in including him to their World Series-winning squad, the identical one which rapidly ousted the Yankees from the 2022 postseason. While Rizzo stated he didn’t take any face-to-face conferences with different groups, he stated the Astros had been “taken into consideration” similar to each different group that got here calling.
“As a player, when teams reach out to you in this process, it just makes you feel good,” Rizzo acknowledged. “When teams call, they praise you. So each team that reached out, I really appreciated their words.”
With one veteran star again within the combine, the Yankees can and will put the total court docket press on Aaron Judge now. Rizzo and Judge have been very open about their friendship, resulting in pure hypothesis that the Yankees stand a greater probability of retaining Judge if Rizzo continues to be on the roster as properly. Even with one a part of that plan now taken care of, Rizzo thinks that the remainder is 100% as much as Judge and his household.
“I can’t really recruit him too hard,” Rizzo stated of the Yankees’ single-season house run king. “He knows everything, all the ins and outs here. I think he’s in such a beautiful position. He’s in the driver’s seat. This is a position that not too many guys get to be in. I think he’s going to enjoy this process. He’ll hear what teams have to say — and rightfully so because he’s earned this — and whatever he and [his wife] Sam think is the best decision, that’s where his heart should go.”
Rizzo, who has performed 12 massive league seasons to Judge’s seven however is lower than three years older than the large slugger, says the connection he’s constructed with Judge is powerful sufficient to endure no matter occurs within the coming months.
“Whatever is going to make him and Sam happy is most important,” Rizzo reiterated. “Obviously, I want to be his teammate. We’ve become good friends on and off the field and really enjoy playing with each other. At the end of all this, a friendship here or a friendship somewhere else, it’s still a friendship. You don’t have to be on the same team to be friends. Wherever he’s at, I try to respect his privacy and his space and let him come up with the decision on his own.”
As for himself, Rizzo was adamant about the truth that he and his spouse Emily actually do love New York City and the vitality that it brings, each of their every day life and on the stadium. He hopes that Judge chooses to embrace that vitality and agrees to maintain his pinstripes, whereas additionally lobbing a little bit of a grenade at Major League Baseball’s different entrance places of work that the Yankees will certainly be aware of.
“I hope Judge stays just for the sake of the game because you see a lot of franchise icons not get what they deserve from the team that they’ve done so much for.”
He additionally talked about that the again concern that hampered him within the common season is a non-factor proper now and didn’t have any impression on him within the playoffs or throughout his preliminary offseason exercises. Rizzo hit .276 with eight RBI in his 37 plate appearances in the course of the postseason and swatted a house run in every of the Yankees’ two collection. As of proper now, he’s additionally the one participant on the roster with a World Series ring, one thing he and all the Yankee universe clearly wish to change.
Getting an objectively nice participant who can also be very well-liked throughout the league to commit to 2 extra years is a good first step. But as Rizzo may attest to, the group has to maintain pushing ahead. His expertise in two of the sport’s largest markets provides the Yankees a confirmed and unflappable participant to depend on, in addition to somebody who understands what it takes to achieve media-heavy cities. The new guidelines about shifting will assist Rizzo’s outcomes on a person degree (one thing he addressed) however the 33-year-old additionally pointed to the truth that with the Yankees there “always be a chance to compete” for the final word prize, an attractive a part of being on the group.
“It’s hard to be that least team standing,” he stated. “I know that from firsthand experience. You just gotta keep going. This is what we play for.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com