The Yankees moved on from Anthony Rizzo over the winter, but the former All-Star first baseman still is looking for work as spring-training games have commenced.
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Try it freeThe 35-year-old Rizzo admits he has contemplated what would amount to a forced retirement if some MLB team does not come calling.
“I’ve definitely thought about it. I think I have a lot to give to the game still,” the 35-year-old Rizzo told The Athletic on Friday. “But at the same time, if teams are not going to want to pay a few million dollars for veterans, I’ve seen it the last 10 years of my career. It’s what happens to the older guys. They kind of get squeezed.
“You’ve seen it happen more and more. I’m not naive to it. It could be it.”
Rizzo has played 14 seasons in the majors, including the past three-plus with the Yankees following a 2021 trade deadline move from the Cubs.
The four-time Gold Glove winner was limited to 99 and 92 games respectively over the past two seasons due to injuries, however, and the Yankees declined his $17 million option for 2025.
They signed former MVP-winning first baseman Paul Goldschmidt in December to a one-year contract worth $12.5 million.
“Two years ago, I had kind of a weird year with the concussion. Then last year, I was hurt twice,” said Rizzo, who missed games in 2024 due to forearm and hand injuries. “My power numbers dropped. I’m surprised, but not like crazy-surprised just because I’m a realist in the game and you’re getting older.
“The fact that teams want you to play for basically league minimum ($760,000), I’m like, you guys are crazy. You’re almost trying to ruin the market for the next guy.”
Rizzo posted a career-worst .637 OPS with just eight home runs in 92 games last season, but he returned from the late-September hand injury after sitting out the AL Division Series.
The three-time All-Star appeared in 10 games in the ALCS and the World Series, batting .267 (8-for-30) with no home runs or RBIs.
Rizzo also described for the first time the numbing treatments he received throughout the postseason in order to be in the lineup in October.
“I’d be flushing it in the hyperbaric chamber, doing every treatment possible just to get that swelling out to be able to inject it again,” Rizzo said. “It was crazy.
“Obviously, during the regular season, you’re not doing anything like that. But you do anything, World Series or playoff time, to play. It was worth it.”
Rizzo also admitted he still laments his part in the pivotal play in a Game 5 loss to the Dodgers in the Fall Classic in which pitcher Gerrit Cole didn’t cover first base on a grounder to him at first.
“A hundred out of a hundred times I would do the exact same thing,” Rizzo said. “I don’t want to cry, ‘Woe is me,’ with my hand. But the guys on the inside know how bad my hand was.
“There’s so much extra that goes into that play. First off, you don’t want to (drop it). You have to catch that ball and secure it. It’s just one of those things where Gerrit was probably gassed.
“I always want the pitchers to go, and if I call ’em off, I call ’em off. But it was just a messed-up play. I don’t think I could have really charged it more because of the way the spin was. It was a pretty funky spin. And you had Mookie [Betts] busting out of the box because he’s a professional. That’s what he does. The play just wasn’t made.”
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Rizzo, who is expecting his first child with his wife Emily in June, insists he’s healthy now, but it’s a matter of a team taking a chance on him.
“I want to play,” he added. “I want to win. And I love talking the game with pitchers, with hitters. There’s so much to dive into.
“Everything that goes into it, on the field, off the field, I’ll still be talking about it with guys. We’ll just see if I continue playing.”