Cubs: Three teams who could sign Anthony Rizzo in free agency

Cubs: Could Anthony Rizzo join former teammates in D.C.?

More from Cubbies Crib

• Cubs should keep close eye on non-tender candidate Cody Bellinger
• Cubs starting pitching has been thriving on the North Side
• Make no mistake: the Cubs are very much about power hitters
• Cubs are giving pitcher Javier Assad a deserved shot
• Cubs: It’s time to start thinking about potential September call-ups

Apparently Cubs players just love Dave Martinez. Because they keep ending up playing for their former bench coach. Martinez will have Starlin Castro, Kyle Schwarber and Jon Lester on his club in 2021 – all three of whom are in their final years of team control.

Washington went out and traded for Josh Bell to address their first base need this winter – then brought back franchise icon Ryan Zimmerman, to boot. But there’s a chasm between those guys and what they bring to the table and what you’d get in Rizzo.

With the CBA negotiations looming, we could see the designated hitter come to the National League in 2022. Such a move would allow the Nats to move Bell to the DH role and go after someone like Rizzo, who could lengthen this lineup that’s built around one of the best young players in the game in Juan Soto.

Hopefully, 12 months from now, we look back at today as a bad memory. But if that’s not the case and the Cubs refuse to pay him,  these three teams could make sense for Rizzo in the back half of his career.