Cubs' Rizzo excited to play for Maddon

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo is in town, fighting both the cold weather and a head cold.

But the hot-stove season as well as some promotional work for a January charitable event are warming things up for Rizzo in Chicago this weekend.

The 25-year-old Rizzo enjoyed an all-star season in 2014 for the Cubs, and he'll enter 2015 with a new manager in Joe Maddon and yet another new hitting coach in John Mallee.

Rizzo said he reached out and called former manager Rick Renteria, who was fired in favor of Maddon despite helping to create and environment in which both Rizzo and shortstop Starlin Castro enjoyed bounce-back seasons.

Even so, Rizzo said he is eager to play for Maddon.

"Exciting," he said. "It's exciting news. It's obviously tough losing Rick. It's business. With Joe, I can't wait to start working with him."

Rizzo exited the 2014 season in bold fashion, saying the Cubs' goal for 2015 should be to win the National League Central. Team president Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer are working this off-season to add talent to a team that features good young players but one that needs starting pitching and veteran leadership.

"We already have impact players who can step up and emerge," Rizzo said. "But bringing in outside talent, as well, can never hurt. That's what the front office's job is. My job is to play baseball. But if we bring the team back that we had last year, I'm confident we'll win a lot more games than we did last year."

Rizzo had a batting line of .286/.386/.527 this past season with 32 home runs and 78 RBI in 140 games. A back strain he suffered in late August forced him to miss 18 games and no doubt cut into his home run and RBI totals. Still, he didn't want to focus on his own accomplishments.

"People are going to write if I do well or don't do well, but as long as the team wins, it doesn't matter," he said. "You look at the Royals, for instance, you see a few guys on their team who didn't have the best of seasons, but once the playoffs came around, they got into the playoffs and just went on a run, and that's what it's all about.

"Personally, I was just happy with myself being really consistent over the year. There weren't too many low points hitting wise. Defensively, I always want to get better. I'm not happy with not winning a Gold Glove, but that's one of my goals I want to do every year, win a Gold Glove. I just want to continue to keep getting better and growing up."

Rizzo's charity event is called "Laugh-Off for Cancer," Jan. 15 at American Junkie in Chicago. The event will be held the Thursday night before the annual Cubs fan convention. Headlining is comedian Tom Papa. The event will benefit the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation. For more information, go to cubs.com.

• Follow Bruce on Twitter @BruceMiles2112.