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Cade Horton To Miss At Least One Playoff Series Due To Rib Fracture

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The Cubs will be without one of their top starters for at least the first round of the playoffs, as Cade Horton has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to September 25) due to a non-displaced right rib fracture.  Left-hander Jordan Wicks was called up to take Horton’s roster spot for the final two games of Chicago’s regular season.

Horton made an early exit from his last start on Tuesday due to back soreness, and a follow-up MRI revealed an unspecified issue in his ribcage, as manager Craig Counsell told reporters earlier this week.  Horton threw in the outfield yesterday and was slated to throw a bullpen session today, yet those positive signs have now been abruptly overshadowed by the news of the IL placement.

In the best-case scenario, Horton is now out of action until at least Game 5 of the NLDS, should the Cubs make it that deep into the second playoff round.  Given that narrow window for activation, it doesn’t seem likely that the Cubs would include him on an NLDS roster, so a more realistic scenario would see Horton return as part of the NLCS roster if he can get healthy.

Of course, Chicago’s chances at such a deep postseason run will be a lot more difficult without the rookie who has emerged as a key rotation piece.  Horton figures to get plenty of NL Rookie of the Year votes in the wake of a debut season that has seen the right-hander post a 2.67 ERA over his first 118 innings in the bigs.  A 4.26 SIERA reflects Horton’s underwhelming 20.4% strikeout rate and the good fortune he has enjoyed in the both of both a 78.3% strand rate and a .258 BABIP, but Horton’s 6.9% walk rate is very solid.

There’s also the fact that Horton (the seventh overall pick of the 2022 draft) was getting better as he gained more experience.  He posted a 4.45 ERA across his first 56 2/3 innings, but then delivered just a 1.03 ERA over his next 12 starts and 61 1/3 frames.  This was seemingly a good omen for Horton and the Cubs as the playoffs loomed, as the rookie had locked up a spot in Chicago’s postseason rotation.

The Cubs should have enough starting pitching options to get by, even if their depth chart has now been shortened.  Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd, and either Colin Rea or Jameson Taillon will be the starters for the best-of-three Wild Card Series, and that quartet should line up as the rotation for the remainder of the postseason.  Javier Assad is also in line to be at least a multi-inning reliever in October, and Counsell has indicated that he’ll use his entire pitching staff to navigate the playoffs, perhaps outside of traditional starter/reliever roles.

With two games left in the regular season, the Cubs are two games ahead of the Padres for the top NL wild card slot.  Unless the Cubs go 0-2 and the Padres go 2-0 the rest of the way, their NLWCS will be played in Chicago, with Game 1 set for Tuesday.

Cubs Activate Kyle Tucker, Option Carlos Santana

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11:49am: The Cubs have officially activated Tucker from the injured list. He’s hitting cleanup and serving as the designated hitter today. In a corresponding move, veteran first baseman Carlos Santana has consented to be optioned. He’ll be on the team’s taxi squad for the playoffs next week, per Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. Santana is a free agent at season’s end.

10:16am: After spending more than three weeks on the injured list due to a calf strain, Kyle Tucker is back for the final regular season series of the year. The Cubs outfielder himself tells ESPN’s Jesse Rogers that he’s in the lineup today — his first game since Sept. 2. The team hasn’t formally announced the move or a corresponding transaction yet.

The Cubs have already clinched a postseason berth, but these final three games will give Tucker a tune-up for their return to October baseball. The impending free agent has had a terrific season overall but will end up playing in, at most, 136 of the team’s 162 games due primarily to this calf strain. He’s hitting .270/.381/.472 (139 wRC+) with 22 home runs, 25 doubles, four triples, 25 steals and a matching 14.7% walk rate and 14.7% strikeout rate.

Tucker’s offensive numbers would likely be even more impressive had he not suffered a hairline fracture in his hand back in June. He gutted it out and played through the injury, which only came to light nearly three months later, after it had healed. Tucker hit well in June but saw his numbers drop precipitously in July. There’s no definitive way to know how much the small fracture impacted him, but he surely wasn’t playing at 100% throughout the entirety of the summer.

While Tucker was on the shelf, the Cubs went with a regular outfield of Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki, the latter of whom had most frequently served as the team’s designated hitter. That alignment opened the door for top catching prospect Moisés Ballesteros to step into the designated hitter spot on a regular basis, and he’s stepped up as one of the team’s most productive hitters this month. The 21-year-old slugger has taken 42 plate appearances since Tucker went down and turned in a stout .314/.429/.571 batting line. Ballesteros has been so productive, in fact, that he may have hit his way onto Chicago’s postseason roster.

“Moisés is playing at a really high level,” manager Craig Counsell tells Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. “Where he’s hitting in the lineup should tell you a lot. He’s contributing offensively significantly. That’s real. That matters. Absolutely, we’re taking note of it.”

Ballesteros has batted fourth or fifth in each of his past ten games and hasn’t hit lower than sixth since being recalled from the minors prior to the team’s game on Sept. 12. The Cubs have shielded him from left-handed pitching, giving him only three plate appearances versus fellow southpaws. Presumably, if he were indeed to secure a spot on the playoff roster, he’d be utilized in a platoon capacity. With a full complement of Happ, Crow-Armstrong, Tucker and Suzuki ticketed for outfield/designated hitter work and Carson Kelly standing as the everyday catcher, Ballesteros probably wouldn’t be in the starting lineup much, but he could provide a potent left-handed bat off the bench.

Cubs Hoping To Reinstate Kyle Tucker On Friday; Daniel Palencia Reinstated Today

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The Cubs are hoping to have outfielder Kyle Tucker back in the lineup on Friday. “I think we’re trending towards that,” manager Craig Counsell said today, per Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times. Tucker is on the 10-day injured list and would need to be officially reinstated, which would require a corresponding active roster move.

Tucker is one of the better players in the league, when healthy. That qualifier has become more significant in recent years. He hardly missed any time from 2020 through 2023. Last year, a fractured shin limited him to just 78 games.

Here in 2025, he has played far more, though it appears some minor injuries have been impacting his production. He was diagnosed with a hairline fracture in his right hand in June, though that issue didn’t become publicly known until August. He had a huge .284/.395/.524 slash line through June 1st when he jammed his finger sliding into a base. His production continued to be strong in the initial wake of that injury, as he hit .311/.404/.578 in June. But it seemed to catch up to him in July, as he hit .218/.380/.295 that month and .244/.346/.389 in August.

After appearing in just two September games, a left calf strain put him out of action. He wasn’t immediately placed on the IL, as the club seemingly held out hope of him quickly bouncing back. That didn’t come to pass, so he hit the shelf September 9th, retroactive to September 6th. It was hoped that he could make a fairly quick return but that also hasn’t come to pass, as the issue has now lingered for about three weeks in total.

The Cubs have already clinched a playoff spot but won’t be able to secure a first-round bye since the Brewers have the Central sewn up. That means the Cubs will be playing in the Wild Card round, which begins on Tuesday. Ideally, Tucker can indeed be activated on Friday, which would give him three contests to get reacquainted with major league game speed before the playoffs begin.

Given his talents, Tucker’s return will be very important for the Cubs as they look to engineer a deep playoff run. It’s also incredibly important for him personally, since he’s an impending free agent. From 2020 through 2023, he slashed .277/.350/.516 for a 136 wRC+ with 77 stolen bases and strong outfield grades. Last year, even though he missed time with the shin fracture, he had an even better .289/.408/.585 line and 179 wRC+.

He seemed to be trending towards a massive contract this winter, with some even suggesting he could top $500MM on a deal of a decade or longer. This year’s nagging injuries have cut into his momentum. His season-long line of .270/.381/.472 still translates to a strong 139 wRC+ but, as mentioned earlier, he was better before getting banged up. Quickly getting back on track and cranking out a few timely hits under the bright lights of the postseason would surely help ease any sudden doubts that teams may have about making a long commitment to him.

Elsewhere on the Cubs’ roster, the pitching staff is getting a boost. Right-hander Daniel Palencia has been reinstated from the IL today, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, with left-hander Jordan Wicks optioned out in a corresponding move.

Palencia hit the IL a couple of weeks back due to a shoulder strain. Prior to that, he was having a breakout season and took over the closer’s role in the process. He currently has 51 innings pitched on the year with a flat earned run average of 3.00. He has struck out 28.1% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 7.6% clip, recording 22 saves in the process.

Getting him back just before the playoffs is a nice bump for the playoffs but the pitching staff could also lose a notable member. Righty Cade Horton, who departed his most recent start due to back tightness, is set to undergo an MRI. Counsell relayed that update on 670 The Score, per Bruce Levine.

Horton has had an excellent debut this year with a 2.67 ERA, 20.4% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and 42.3% ground ball rate. If healthy, he would be in the mix for playoff starts alongside Shota Imanaga and Matthew Boyd. A notable injury would obviously take that off the table and lead to Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad and Colin Rea jumping up the depth chart.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Hui, Imagn Images

Cubs Release Nate Pearson

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The Cubs have released right-handed reliever Nate Pearson, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. The club had designated him for assignment on Saturday. He has made 11 appearances at the big-league level in 2025, most recently on August 8, before being optioned to Triple-A Iowa on August 12, where he has pitched since. He will now enter free agency with an eye toward a minor-league deal for 2026.

Pearson, 29, has not had much success in the majors this year, pitching to a 9.20 ERA in his 14 2/3 innings with the Cubs. In that small sample, he struck out just seven hitters while issuing 10 free passes and surrendering 22 hits. In his career, Pearson owns a 5.17 ERA over 156 2/3 innings with a more serviceable 23.1% strikeout rate and a 10.7% walk rate. The former first-round draft pick debuted in 2020 for the Blue Jays and made a total of 93 appearances for them from 2020-24, followed by 30 appearances with the Cubs.

The righty has fared much better in the minors this year. In 38 appearances with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate in Iowa, Pearson has pitched to a 2.22 ERA with 57 strikeouts in 44 2/3 innings. He still walked 24 batters, although the strikeouts may be appealing to clubs looking for relief depth in the offseason. Pearson has just over four years of service time and two years of arbitration control remaining. He might garner interest as a reclamation project, especially if his new club can harness the swing-and-miss potential while cutting back on the free passes.

Cubs Designate Nate Pearson For Assignment

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The Cubs designated Nate Pearson for assignment, according to the right-hander’s official MLB.com profile page.  The move clears a 40-man roster spot for right-hander Eli Morgan, who was activated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Iowa.

Pearson first joined the Cubs in a trade from the Blue Jays at the 2024 deadline, and he seemed to benefit from the change of scenery.  After posting a 5.63 ERA in 40 innings for Toronto prior to the deal, Pearson stabilized things and posted a 2.73 ERA across 26 1/3 innings for the Cubs.  Even though the secondary metrics had a less-favorable view of Pearson’s performance, it looked like he had earned himself a spot in Chicago’s bullpen picture for 2025.

However, Pearson got off to a rocky start and found himself optioned back to Triple-A by the middle of April.  He has been recalled and optioned down a couple of more times since, with the end result of an ugly 9.20 ERA and more walks (10) than strikeouts (seven) over 14 2/3 innings in the Show.  Pearson’s numbers in Iowa have been considerably better, yet even his 2.22 ERA and 30.6% strikeout rate over 44 2/3 Triple-A frames have come with the red flag of a 12.9% walk rate.

Walks have been a persistent issue throughout Pearson’s career, and his seemingly improved control in 2024 may have proven to be a mirage based on his 2025 numbers.  He has also had a lot of trouble keeping the ball in the yard, as Pearson has allowed 28 home runs over his 156 2/3 career innings in the majors.  Formerly one of baseball’s top pitching prospects during his time in the Jays’ farm system, Pearson battled injuries while in the minors, and a move to relief pitching still hasn’t allowed him to find a niche on a Major League roster.

Pearson has two years of arbitration eligibility remaining, so between that team control and his past prospect pedigree, there is a chance he might get claimed as a reclamation project.  Since the 29-year-old has more than three years of MLB service time, he has the right to elect free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A, assuming he clears waivers.  It seems probable that the Cubs might just release Pearson if he clears waivers — since he is a clear non-tender candidate anyway, an early release would give Pearson an early jump on the offseason free agent market.

Morgan posted a 12.27 ERA over 7 1/3 innings before his season was all but erased by an inflamed ulnar nerve in his throwing arm.  The righty’s last MLB appearance was on April 14, and a setback during a minor league rehab assignment in June pushed his clock back even further.

Finally returning to the mound in August, Morgan has looked quite sharp in posting a 1.69 ERA over 10 2/3 innings with the Cubs’ high-A and Triple-A affiliates.  With his 30-day rehab window over, he is now back on the 40-man roster and continuing his rehab work in Iowa, and it is unclear if he might get another look in the majors before 2025 is over.  Given his long layoff, it seems unlikely that Morgan would factor into Chicago’s playoff roster plans unless other pitchers get hurt.

Cubs’ GM Carter Hawkins No Longer In Consideration For Nationals’ Front Office Job

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Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins is no longer in the mix for the Nationals’ top baseball operations position, reports Grant Paulsen of 106.7 FM The Fan. Hawkins is expected to remain in Chicago, where he’ll continue to work as the team’s #2 executive under baseball operations president Jed Hoyer.

Hawkins reportedly interviewed with the Nats a couple weeks ago. He was viewed as one of the top candidates for the position. It now appears he’ll remain in Wrigleyville for a fifth season. Hawkins, a former assistant general manager with Cleveland, was hired as Hoyer’s top lieutenant during the 2021-22 offseason.

Andrew Golden of The Washington Post reported yesterday that the Nats have also interviewed Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman. Dodgers senior vice president Josh Byrnes, D-Backs AGM Amiel Sawdaye, and Red Sox AGM Paul Toboni have all been tied to the vacancy. It’s not clear whom from that trio, if anyone, has formally interviewed. Interim general manager Mike DeBartolo is also expected to get consideration. The Nationals fired former GM Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez in July.

Orioles Notes: Kantrovitz, Dubin, Ragsdale, Rutschman

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The Orioles reached out to Cubs VP of scouting Dan Kantrovitz about a possible interview for their general manager opening, according to 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine.  However, it appears as though Kantrovitz declined the offer, as he isn’t looking to leave the Cubs organization.

Kantrovitz has over 21 years of baseball operations experience, split over stints with the Cardinals, Athletics, and Cubs.  He has been in his current position since leaving Oakland for Wrigleyville in September 2019, and he received some interest from the Angels (in 2020) and Mets (in 2023) for higher-level front office positions.  There wasn’t any indication that he actually interviewed for those jobs either, yet it isn’t surprising that clubs keep showing interest considering the Cubs’ strong prospect depth

Since Kantrovitz started overseeing Chicago’s drafts, the team has amassed a farm system that many pundits rank among the game’s best.  Such homegrown names like Cade Horton and Matt Shaw are contributing to the Cubs’ success in 2025, and the club has also used its prospect depth to swing some prominent trades, such as last winter’s blockbuster with the Astros that saw 2024 first-rounder Cam Smith included as part of the package that landed Kyle Tucker.

There are some past ties between Kantrovitz and Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias, as the two worked together in the St. Louis front office from 2007-09.  This naturally doesn’t mean that the O’s are looking just for candidates Elias is personally familiar with, but Kantrovitz’s amateur scouting background is perhaps a hint about what the Orioles are prioritizing in their GM search.

It was only earlier this week that we learned a GM search was even underway, when news broke about Elias’ promotion to PBO last offseason and the Orioles’ plan to hire a general manager to act as Elias’ chief lieutenant in baseball ops.  Levine writes that Kantrovitz was a “short list” candidate for Baltimore, which indicates that the team might have moved beyond an initial stage of the process, even as they’re still rounding up interview candidates.

In other Orioles news, the club placed right-hander Shawn Dubin on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to September 13) due to right elbow discomfort.  Interim manager Tony Mansolino told the Baltimore Sun’s Jacob Calvin Meyer and other reporters that Dubin will undergo an MRI, and there is “some concern there” over a possible serious injury.

Dubin has been with the O’s for less than three weeks, since he was claimed off waivers from the Astros.  Now in his third MLB season, Dubin struggled to a 5.61 ERA over 25 2/3 innings with Houston this year, but he improved to a 3.38 ERA over eight innings and seven appearances since arriving in Baltimore.  Dubin didn’t allow a run over his first six outings as an Oriole, but in his final appearance before his IL placement, he was charged with three runs in 1 2/3 innings against the Blue Jays on Friday.

Injuries have been the larger story of Dubin’s season.  Shoulder problems and then a sprained ankle kept him sidelined through all of Spring Training and delayed his 2025 debut until May 11.  He later missed about seven weeks due to a forearm strain, and the combination of that forearm issue plus this new elbow discomfort raises the ominous specter of UCL damage.

To fill Dubin’s spot on the active roster, Carson Ragsdale was called up from Triple-A Norfolk, and the righty made his Major League debut in today’s 11-2 loss to the Blue Jays.  It was far from a dream debut for Ragsdale, as he allowed eight runs over three innings against the AL East leaders.

Ragsdale is another new arrival in the organization, as the Orioles claimed him off waivers from the Giants in early August.  A fourth-round pick for the Phillies in 2020 draft, Ragsdale struggled with San Francisco’s Triple-A affiliate over the last two seasons, though his bottom-line numbers picked up in Norfolk.  For the season as a whole, however, Ragsdale’s strikeout rate plummeted to 19.7% after posting K-rates of well over 30% in the lower minor league levels.  His homer rate also spiked during his time with Triple-A Sacramento and the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, but he had better luck in keeping the ball in the park during his brief time in Norfolk.

Finally, it looks like Adley Rutschman is on pace to make it back to the Orioles’ lineup before the season is over.  The catcher hasn’t played since August 17 due to a right oblique strain, but Mansolino said Rutschman is probably going to be starting a rehab assignment in the near future.

Though Baltimore is playing out the string, getting into a few more games will hopefully allow Rutschman to finish a tough year on some kind of high note.  The former All-Star has hit just .227/.310/.373 over 348 plate appearances, while missing extended periods of time due strains of both his right and left oblique.

Cubs Place Owen Caissie On 7-Day Concussion IL

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The Cubs announced this afternoon that they’ve placed outfielder Owen Caissie on the 7-day concussion-related injured list. Outfielder Kevin Alcantara was recalled from Triple-A to replace Caissie on the active roster.

The move comes just one day after the Cubs recalled Caissie to the big league roster and optioned Alcantara to the minors. Caissie started yesterday’s game against the Rays but exited the game after hitting his head against the outfield wall at Wrigley Field while making a catch. Manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Vinnie Duber of the Chicago Sun Times) that Caissie was being put through the concussion protocol after yesterday’s game. Evidently, Caissie’s symptoms were severe enough that they opted to place him on the shelf and get him time to recover.

That decision well might bring Caissie’s first season in the big leagues to an end, depending on the severity of his concussion symptoms. If that’s the case, he’ll end 2025 with just 12 games and 27 plate appearances in the big leagues, during which he collected five hits (including a double and a homer) and one walk against eleven strikeouts. That cup of coffee pairs with a strong performance with Iowa this year, where he slashed .286/.386/.551 with 22 homers and 28 doubles in just 99 games. A consensus top-50 prospect in the game, Caissie could get a lot more runway with the Cubs come next season if Kyle Tucker departs the club via free agency in the offseason.

For now, however, his roster spot will go to Alcantara. A fellow top Cubs prospect generally viewed as sitting near the back of the league-wide top 100, Alcantara has appeared in just three games this year. He’s gone 1-for-7 with three strikeouts this year and figures to serve mostly as a bench piece for the Cubs in the coming weeks, though injuries could offer him more opportunities. Both Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki are currently unavailable; Suzuki due to an illness that has left him day-to-day in recent days, and Tucker due to a calf issue that’s sent him to the injured list. Fellow top prospect Moises Ballesteros (7-for-28 with three extra base hits) is getting a look at DH at the moment, and that leaves right field open for some combination of Alcantara and Willi Castro until Suzuki is ready to return to games. Once Suzuki is back, Alcantara, Ballesteros, and Castro will all be competing for playing time until Tucker’s eventual return to the lineup.

That might not be for a while, as Counsell told reporters (including Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic) on Friday that Tucker returning as soon as he’s eligible to be activated on Tuesday is “unlikely right now.” Perhaps that stance could change in the coming days, but Tucker has not yet resumed running since he was placed on the injured list. While the Cubs aren’t in danger of losing their playoff spot at this point, getting the star’s 140 wRC+ bat back into the lineup with enough time for him to get settled in before the playoffs begin seems sure to be a top priority for the Cubs over the season’s final two weeks.

MLBTR Podcast: Talking Mariners With Jerry Dipoto

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto to discuss…

  • Seattle’s lack of spending on free agent position players (2:30)
  • The unique challenges of getting players to want to come to Seattle (4:40)
  • The club’s interest in re-signing Josh Naylor (8:15)
  • Do optics matter when making a move such as bringing back Eugenio Suárez or Jorge Polanco? (9:20)
  • The club’s ability to add talent at the deadline (13:25)
  • Does the expanded playoff field make it harder to trade prospects for major league talent? (16:30)

Plus, Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors joins the show to discuss…

And we answer your questions, including…

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Anthony Rizzo Retires

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The Cubs have announced that Anthony Rizzo will retire as a Cub and will be honored this Saturday at Wrigley Field as the club hosts the Rays. He will also serve as an ambassador for the organization. Jesse Rogers of ESPN was among those to relay the news.

Rizzo, now 36, was part of a few different organizations in his career but will always be primarily known as a Cub. He spent the bulk of his career, including essentially all of his prime, in Chicago. That stretch saw him emerge as a core piece as the team became a regular contender in the last half of the previous decade. The highlight came in 2016, when the Cubs finally won the World Series, breaking a 108-year drought.

There was talk of a potential dynasty on Chicago’s north side after that year, as that young core of Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Willson Contreras and Jorge Soler was controllable, affordable and formidable. The top of the rotation appeared set for years, with Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks all squarely in their primes and signed/controlled long-term. The Cubs indeed were competitive on a yearly basis for the remainder of the decade, but they fell to the Dodgers in the 2017 NLCS and haven’t advanced beyond the Wild Card round of postseason play since.

Before that legendary run, Rizzo had to pass through a few other places first. He was drafted by the Red Sox out of high school back in 2007. After a few years in Boston’s minor league system, he was flipped to the Padres as one of the players in the December 2010 deal that sent Adrián González to the Sox.

Rizzo got to make his big league debut with the Friars in 2011 but didn’t hit the ground running. He stepped to the plate 153 times over 49 games but struck out 30.1% of the time and produced a .141/.281/.242 line.

Going into 2012, the Padres decided to go in a different direction. They sent Mat Latos to the Reds for four players, one of whom was Yonder Alonso. With Alonso set to cover first base in San Diego, they then sent Rizzo and right-hander Zach Cates to the Cubs for righty Andrew Cashner and outfielder Kyung-Min Na.

That gambit clearly didn’t pan out for  San Diego. While Cashner had some modest success with the Padres, Alonso never found his power stroke at Petco Park and wound up delivering average offense over parts of four seasons. Yasmani Grandal, also acquired in that swap, struggled in San Diego before being sent to the Dodgers as part of the Matt Kemp trade.

Meanwhile, as all that played out, Rizzo broke out as one of the top first basemen in Major League Baseball. In parts of 10 seasons with the Cubs from 2012-21, Rizzo batted a combined .272/.372/.489 with 242 home runs. He made three All-Star teams, won four Gold Gloves, won a Silver Slugger and garnered MVP votes in five consecutive seasons — including a pair of consecutive fourth-place finishes in 2015-16, when he posted a combined .285/.386/.528 batting line (145 wRC+) and belted 63 home runs (31 in ’15, 32 in ’16). Rizzo struggled in the 2016 NLDS but erupted in both the NLCS and World Series, belting three homers and five doubles with an OPS north of 1.000 between those two series.

As that Cubs core continued to stall out over the years, however, the front office eventually determined there was a need for change. Rizzo, Bryant and Baez were all traded in the summer of 2021 — Baez to the Mets, Bryant to the Giants and Rizzo to the Yankees. Rizzo hit well for the Yankees down the stretch and stepped into a key leadership role, all of which convinced the team to re-sign him to a two-year deal with an option for a third season.

Rizzo went on to spend the final three full seasons of his career in the Bronx, hitting well in 2022 before slipping to about average in 2023 and struggling through injuries in 2024. His time in New York wasn’t nearly as productive, but he logged an overall .234/.326/.409 line as a Yankee and popped 32 home runs in his first full season in pinstripes.

All told, Rizzo’s excellent career will wrap up with a lifetime .261/.361/.467 batting line. He hit 303 home runs in the majors, scored 922 runs, plated 965 runs and even swiped 72 bases. Rizzo is one of just 164 players in major league history to reach 300 career home runs. His 338 doubles rank 352nd all-time, tied with Brady Anderson, Matt Williams, Robin Ventura and the aforementioned Kemp.

Rizzo also tallied 241 postseason plate appearances, and while his .225/.328/.397 line doesn’t stand up to his regular-season excellence, that’s skewed by a brutal showing in the 2015 playoffs. Starting with that NLCS breakout in ’16, Rizzo hit .260/.367/.455 in his final 180 turns at the plate in the playoffs.

Through an early-career extension with the Cubs and a free-agent deal to re-sign with the Yankees in the 2021-22 offseason, Rizzo earned more than $127MM in salary over parts of 14 seasons. FanGraphs valued his career at 35.9 wins above replacement, while Baseball-Reference is even more bullish at 40.4 WAR. Rizzo isn’t likely to be Cooperstown-bound, but he’ll be remembered as a cornerstone piece in an iconic era of Cubs franchise lore and a solid veteran pickup who helped drive some competitive Yankees clubs. Best wishes to Rizzo and his family in whatever the next chapter holds.

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