ESPN: The Yankees are urged to reinstate the $17 million World Series champion as a “mentor” for the players.

In 2007, the Boston Red Sox selected a 17-year-old left-handed first baseman from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, with a sixth-round choice (204th overall). After 14 years in the Major Leagues and 1,644 hits, including 303 home runs, Anthony Rizzo is now in baseball purgatory at the age of 18.

Rizzo was never a Red Sox player. He and two other players were dealt to the San Diego Padres in 2010 in exchange for Adrian Gonzalez, another first baseman. He played just 49 games during his shortened debut season in San Diego before being traded by the Friars to the Chicago Cubs. Rizzo had his greatest influence there as a member of the core of the Cubs club that won the World Series in 2016 for the first time since 1908.

The New York Yankees signed Rizzo as a free agent to a one-year, $16 million contract at the 2021 trade deadline after the Cubs sold him to them. The following year, he inked a two-year, $34 million contract.

Rizzo No Longer Has an MLB Home
However, the Yankees granted Rizzo his contractual $6 million buyout instead of invoking a $17 million option that would have kept the 35-year-old Rizzo a Yankee for another season beyond 2024, when he played 92 games, his fewest in a complete season since 2012, and recorded a career-worst.637 OPS.

Since then, the four-time All-Star has been a free agent.

Rizzo has said that he has considered retiring, but he has not done so. It has been a little unexpected how little interest there has been in Rizzo. In late March, Eric Hosmer, a former first baseman for the Padres and Kansas City Royals, expressed his confusion on his X (previously Twitter) account.

After the first MLB game of the season, Hosmer commented, “How we live in a world where the everyday LF and 1B for the New York Yankees World Series team don’t have jobs.” “Not even one of them is being offered!”

After signing with the Atlanta Braves, Alex Verdugo, the left-fielder, was assigned to their Triple-A minor league affiliate. Rizzo, however, is still a man without a team; he is neither retired nor an active player.

Rizzo is urged to take on a player-mentor role.
The Yankees fan site Bleeding Yankee Blue’s Robert Casey came up with a plan on Thursday that would entice Rizzo back to the Bronx: serving as a “mentor” to the team’s younger players.

The Yankees can afford this, let’s face it. It wouldn’t be too expensive to provide Rizzo a one-year contract to serve as a mentor, a backup first baseman, and a presence in the dugout,” Casey wrote. Additionally, consider the effect he could have on the young men. The man is familiar with what it’s like to play in New York’s big lights. The next generation might learn from him how to deal with stress, deal with adversity, and most importantly, how to behave in the Bronx. Rizzo may be nearing the end of his playing career, but what about his leadership and baseball IQ? They are still worthy of an MVP.