Chicago Cubs: Flies in the ointment, asking ‘where did it all go wrong?’

Chicago Cubs: Anthony Rizzo’s departure could have hurt worse

Bryant’s best friend and partner in the Bryzzo franchising operation, Anthony Rizzo, would probably still be a Cub if he had gotten his vaccination, or at least had never mentioned that he hadn’t.

That bit of candor cracked his shiny public image just enough that there weren’t riots in the streets when he failed to sign their (in hindsight, rather generous) take-it-or-leave-it contract of five years at $70 million, taking his declining bat skills and fading defensive prowess to the New York Yankees, for which the Cubs received outfielder Kevin Alcántara and right-hander Alexander Vizcaino, both of whom are on the same stair as Killian and Camargo.

Rizzo could conceivably return to the Cubs, who still need a lefty masher of some kind to complement the bat-to-ball skills people they currently populate their roster with, and to counter the imposing figure of Patrick Wisdom and his prodigious power displays and stratospheric strikeout totals.

Alfonso Rivas and Frank Schwindel might prove to duplicate or better Rizzo’s numbers, but even the engaging Frank the Tank will have a had time replacing Rizzo as the face of the franchise.