Anthony Rizzo, 36, to retire as Chicago Cub, become team ambassador
Anthony Rizzo will officially retire as a member of the Chicago Cubs on Saturday and will join the organization as team ambassador.
The 36-year-old Rizzo spent 10 of his 14 major league seasons with Chicago. The infielder hit .272 with 242 home runs and 784 RBIs for the Cubs and helped them win the World Series in 2016.
“Anthony Rizzo was the face of one of the most successful eras in Chicago Cubs history, and we are so excited he will be a part of our organization for many years to come,” Cubs executive chairman Tom Ricketts said in a statement.
Rizzo was a three-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove winner, one-time Platinum Glove winner and one-time Silver Slugger award winner for the Cubs. He played his rookie season with the San Diego Padres and spent his final seasons with the New York Yankees. He completes his major league career with 1,644 hits, 303 home runs and 965 RBIs in 1,727 games played.
The Cubs said Rizzo, who survived Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, has raised millions of dollars through the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation for cancer research and to help families dealing with the disease. He received the 2017 Roberto Clemente Award, the league’s highest community service honor.
Other Cubs ambassadors are Andre Dawson, Ryan Dempster, Fergie Jenkins, Lee Smith, Billy Williams, Kerry Wood and Ben Zobrist. In memoriam ambassadors include Ernie Banks, Ryne Sandberg and Ron Santo.
Aaron Boone's latest Anthony Volpe explanation has Yankees in full delusion mode
At this point, the entire world knows what's going on with Anthony Volpe. New York Yankees fans have unfortunately been beaten over the head with the topic so much that they're numb to it. It is what it is. The Yankees are not going to bench him, nor are they going to eat into his playing time significantly.
It literally doesn't matter how bad he is. Because it does not get worse than a .145/.165/.289 line over the last month. The Yankees have done little to nothing in order to alleviate the struggles. Not to mention, the defense! The defense. The defense still isn't good. Volpe leads the league with 19 errors.
So what's the recourse? Well, the logical option is to play Jose Caballero twice per week and sit Volpe against as many right-handed starters as possible but ... that's simply too logical for the Yankees. If the fans and media already suggested it's a good idea, they will never do it.
As for Aaron Boone — the manager of the Yankees — and his solution? He thinking ... and thinking ... and thinking ... three years later. On Tuesday's episode of Talkin' Yanks, Boone was asked about Volpe's struggles and the shortstop situation. Jomboy went as far to say both Jasson Dominguez and Austin Wells — two young players who have taken turns struggling on both sides of the ball this year — have lost playing time when Boone saw fit.
Boone dodged the Dominguez comparison, said the catching position is "different" than shortstop because of built-in off days (even though Wells got plenty of more games off than that), and said he hopes Anthony's best is still in front of him. "We want to get him going offensively."
Yeah man, so do we. Like last year.
Aaron Boone's latest Anthony Volpe explanation has Yankees in full delusion mode
To make it all the more hilarious, Boone said he doesn't "need to see" Caballero handling shortstop reps on an expanded basis. He already knows he's a good player and he's confident the speedster can handle it. "If I need to do something like that, I don't need to try it out."
OK ... great ... so then why don't you ... do it? We will reiterate: it currently does not get worse than Anthony Volpe. He is arguably the worst everyday player in all of baseball. It's no longer an exaggeration. If his play continues at this pace, he will finish with 2 fewer WAR than he did in each of his first two seasons. The poor play has caught up with him and there's no metric out there that justifies his inclusion in a starting lineup. We will also reiterate: we are not trying to be mean about this. But he has regressed in every aspect of the game except slugging percetange. That is it.
But what are to we expect here? Boone told reporters a week ago that he doesn't know "on what planet" a player like Volpe gets optioned to Triple-A. We know that this is a senstitive topic, but the Yankees continue to be brazen about this, which is only hurting Volpe's development and his relationship with the fanbase. It's getting all the more toxic while some of us are doing our best to keep it reasonable as we're stuck with the reality that it's a topic that cannot be avoided.
Boone made it harder on Tuesday, meaning the next Volpe stumble is going to enrage the fans that much more.
