Cubs Rizzo moving up, but will he be moving out?
With his homer on Friday in Arizona, Anthony Rizzo moved into a tie for sixth place on the Cubs' all-time home run list with Aramis Ramirez at 239.
Rizzo also pulled ahead of Phil Cavarretta for 10th place on the Cubs' career list of extra base hits with 533.
Those achievements just reinforce the fact that Rizzo, now in his 10th season with the team, qualifies as one of the franchise's greatest hitters. Now like everyone else watching the team, Rizzo is wondering if these are the final days of his Cubs tenure.
"With Joc (Pederson) going (to Atlanta), it just heats up and intensifies everything," Rizzo said after Friday's game. "Just win today and have fun and enjoy it because when you lose your friends it stinks, and that's why I play this game to enjoy every single game, because you can't take it for granted."
Rizzo trails Ryne Sandberg by 43 for fifth place on the team's home run list, so he'd need to re-sign with the Cubs to keep moving up. It seems safe to say Rizzo will end his career as the team leader in being hit by a pitch, a category where he already ranks No. 1.
But everything is uncertain with Rizzo in the final year of his contract and the MLB trade deadline approaching on July 30.
"Right now, especially these two weeks, it's just day-to-day focusing on baseball," he said. "All the reports and rumors flying, from now until then, you could probably put a full scrapbook together and see the roller coaster it's going to take everyone on.
"So for me in my position, it's just staying one day at a time and not really worrying about what's going to happen. What's going to happen is going to happen and none of us have any control of it."
Rizzo admitted losing 11 of 13 heading into the all-star break didn't do much to help morale or anxiety.
"Going into the break, a lot of us were down," he said. "Having that reset and just winning (Friday), you pull on all your past experiences and knowing how this works from afar, you just know it's all going to be speculation until something actually happens."
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