Top 10 Chicago Cubs trade candidates, ranked

Chicago Cubs Trade Candidates: #9 – Anthony Rizzo

UPDATE: Anthony Rizzo was traded to the New York Yankees on July 29 in exchange for prospects OF Kevin Alcántara, RHP Alexander Vizcaino.

I never thought I’d see the day where the possibility of the Chicago Cubs trading Anthony Rizzo would be a real possibility, but after preseason extension talks collapsed, it felt pretty real.

A low-ball offer somewhere between $60 and $70 million over four years led to Rizzo walking away from talks and shutting down the possibility of the two sides picking up discussions during the season. On the heels of this recent 11-game losing streak, the thought has once again rose to the top of our minds: the Cubs trading their unofficial captain.

This season, Rizzo has battled a lingering back issue and hasn’t quite gotten back to the form we saw during this club’s peak run. Still, he’s overcome a .250 average with a .343 OBP, good enough for a 116 OPS+. Of course, he’s coming off a third consecutive Gold Glove at first base and brings all kinds of intangibles to a clubhouse.

I’ve got Rizzo ranked ninth, ahead of only Contreras because I still believe the team will try to work something out with him in free agency. He means too much to the organization, the city and the community, at large, for ownership to be content letting him walk.

That’s not to say they should overpay an almost-32-year-old first baseman with a nagging back, but I think a trade of Anthony Rizzo comes just about as close to unforgivable as it comes these days.