Cubs

Cubs Reportedly Offered Anthony Rizzo Five-Year, $70 Million Contract Extension

The Cubs seemed to be low-balling star first baseman Anthony Rizzo with contract offers before extension talks halted.

by
marrasjoe
March 29, 2021

Photo: Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune

Contract extension talks between the Cubs and Anthony Rizzo have officially stalled and reports of the team’s initial offers to Rizzo have surfaced. According to Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation, the Cubs first offer was for only four years/$60 million before a subsequent offer of five years/$70 million.

Source: The five-year, $70 million offer from the Cubs to Anthony Rizzo was not their first offer.

Their first offer was for just $60 million over 4 years.
— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) March 30, 2021

What Does This Mean?

This series of events means the Cubs and Anthony Rizzo are going into the 2021 season without agreeing to a contract extension and talks will not take place during the season, according to Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. So the worst nightmare of Cubs fans everywhere might be coming true; Anthony Rizzo will presumably become a free agent after the 2021 season.

Anthony Rizzo confirms that contract talks with the Cubs have stalled to the point where there will likely be no pre-Opening Day extension, increasing the odds that he will play out the final season of his deal and test the free-agent market.
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) March 29, 2021

Putting extension talks on hold as the season starts so players can focus on performance is a common practice throughout baseball. But what isn’t typical about this situation is potentially letting the leader of your team walk away. Anthony Rizzo should be taken care of, and it is disappointing he and the Cubs weren’t able to come to an agreement before the start of the season.

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The Cubs Latest Offer is 5 years/$70 million

As outlined above, the Cubs’ first offer to Rizzo was only for four years/$60 million, which is an AAV of $15 million. That is the lowball of the century by the Cubs front office, there’s no other way to spin it.

Their latest offer of five years/$70 million equates to an AAV of $14 million, which is less than what Rizzo is set to make in 2020. I understand the initial offer is typically lower than what the sides end up agreeing on in negotiations, but Rizzo deserves better than typical negotiation tactics from the team he led to a World Series championship, ending the longest title drought in American sports.

Word is that Rizzo is looking for nine figures, and my estimate is that he will land roughly five years/ $100 million. Comparing him to his NL Central counterpart Paul Goldschmidt, who signed a five-year/ $130 million pact, Rizzo is in the same ballpark as Goldschmidt but not completely the player that he is. If Goldschmidt is worth five years/ $130 million, then Rizzo is easily worth five years/ $100 million.