Anthony Rizzo finds ‘everything a lot easier’ as opt-out decision nears

Sunday October 2, 2022

NEW YORK — First baseman Anthony Rizzo has an opt-out clause in his contract that activates after the 2022 season. However, the three-time All-Star and defensive superstar looks set to continue with the Yankees.

In March 2022, the Yankees signed Anthony Rizzo for a two-year contract valued annually at $16 million. This offseason, the 33-year-old player has a decision to make if he wants to stay or opt out of the contract and look for a new team.

Anthony Rizzo said on Friday that he won’t think about the question until the winter. According to him, he had already held talks with his agents and wasn’t interested to have that again this November. He acknowledged that his focus was on “staying healthy and getting ready for the postseason.” However, he expressed readiness to talk about “the business side” in “the offseason.”

But Anthony Rizzo could choose to stay in New York for the second year of his contract. The 33-year-old player has thoroughly enjoyed his season and a half with the Yankees. The Yankees got him from the Chicago Cubs through a July deadline-day trade in 2021.

Anthony Rizzo admires the team as well as New York City. “I like the city; the team is good; it was interesting to come back,” He said, “It’s the guys in here, and we’re doing what we set out to do (to doing); it wasn’t easy, but we won the division; we made it look easy sometimes and like a circus other times; but we won the division in the end, which is one of our goals.”

A day after the Yankees secured their American League East title, manager Aaron Boone gave Anthony Rizzo permission to serve as his co-manager for the game against the Blue Jays on Wednesday. Players who haven’t assumed some kind of leadership role within the clubhouse shouldn’t expect to experience anything similar to that.

An elated Rizzo told the press:

“When you get to know your guys, when you get to know your teammates, you try to make them feel included and interact with everyone. Get to know them more. You get to know guys more on a personal level. You just be honest with them and have fun and you’ll get honesty back. You get to know guys and what makes them tick in the clubhouse or on the field and once you get a feel for guys and what you can say and what you can’t say and the boundaries, it makes everything a lot easier.”

Before the game on Friday, Rizzo was having an excellent season at the plate. He had tied the high mark for his career with 32 home runs after playing in 125 games. In addition to that, he was hitting .228 with 75 runs batted in and an OPS of .836.

However, he has also struggled with lower-back spasms that necessitated an epidural on September 1st. Following that, he suffered from headaches, which caused him to miss even more of the action.

Rizzo has stated that he has a lot of fun competing at Yankee Stadium.

“Every day you come to the park, you know there will be a lot of passionate, energetic fans, and it’s a lot of fun. I know it’s a short right field, but when I pull the ball, it’s usually in a good spot when it’s in the air. I’ve hit a few home runs here that were nice, and I’ve hit a few on the road that would have been home runs at Yankee Stadium. It’s fun to go to work every day here. I drive to work— I commute. It’s a lot of fun.”

Will Anthony Rizzo become an asset for the Yankees in the playoffs?