NEW YORK — The Yankees wasted no time bringing free agent Anthony Rizzo back 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 club held a press conference over Zoom to officially welcome him back. In 179 games with the Yankees, Rizzo owns a .230/.338/.466 slash line (.804 OPS) with 40 home runs and a 127 wRC+.
“The main reason I wanted to come back is because I love being a Yankee,” Rizzo said. “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 something that was surely music to the front office’s ears as they now try to convince other free agents to sign on for life in baseball’s most pressure-filled environment.
“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 said.
During his brief virtual press conference, Rizzo also confirmed that the Houston Astros were showing interest in adding him to their World Series-winning squad, the same one that quickly ousted the Yankees from the 2022 postseason. While Rizzo said he did not take any face-to-face meetings with other teams, he said the Astros were “taken into consideration” just like every other team that came 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 back in the mix, the Yankees can and should put the full court press on Aaron Judge now. Rizzo and Judge have been very open about their friendship, leading to natural speculation that the Yankees stand a better chance of retaining Judge if Rizzo is still on the roster as well. Even with one part of that plan now taken care of, Rizzo thinks that the rest is 100% up to Judge and his family.
“I can’t really recruit him too hard,” Rizzo said of the Yankees’ single-season home 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 played 12 big league seasons to Judge’s seven but is less than three years older than the enormous slugger, says the relationship he’s built with Judge is strong enough to endure whatever happens in 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 fact that he and his wife Emily really do love New York City and the energy that it brings, both in their daily life and at the stadium. He hopes that Judge chooses to embrace that energy and agrees to keep his pinstripes, while also lobbing a bit of a grenade at Major League Baseball’s other front offices that the Yankees will surely take note 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 also mentioned that the back issue that hampered him in the regular season is a non-factor right now and did not have any impact on him in the playoffs or during his initial offseason workouts. Rizzo hit .276 with eight RBIs in his 37 plate appearances during the postseason and swatted a home run in each of the Yankees’ two series. As of right now, he is also the only player on the roster with a World Series ring, something he and the entire Yankee universe obviously want to change.
Getting an objectively great player who is also very well-liked across the league to commit to two more years is a great first step. But as Rizzo can also attest to, the team has to keep pushing forward. His experience in two of the game’s biggest markets gives the Yankees a proven and unflappable player to rely on, as well as someone who understands what it takes to succeed in media-heavy cities. The new rules about shifting will help Rizzo’s results on an individual level (something he addressed) but the 33-year-old also pointed to the fact that with the Yankees there “always be a chance to compete” for the ultimate prize, an enticing part of being on the team.
“It’s hard to be that least team standing,” he said. “I know that from firsthand experience. You just gotta keep going. This is what we play for.”
