Four-Time Golden Glove Award Winner Opts Out; Yankees Return Still Possible

Anthony Rizzo, as expected, exercised the option of his two-year contract with the New York Yankees.

This means that the four-time Golden Gloves award winner will test the free-agent market, where he will likely target a deal that is more than the $16 million he had on the table had he opted in with the Yankees.

Rizzo is coming off a season, where he had 32 home runs and 75 RBIs.

However, he hit just .224 and was one of the players on the Yankees' side who did not hit for average during a season that included an American League East title.

New York fended off the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Division series but lost to the Houston Astros in the championship series.

In the postseason, the three-time All-Star made a good account of himself when he hit .276 with two home runs and eight RBIs.

After the Yankees were eliminated, Rizzo was non-committal about his future in New York and mentioned he would be discussing his future with his wife and his agents.

"At this point, I'll sit down my wife and I'll sit down my agents and we'll talk about all that," he said. "I've told [the Yankees] since signing the deal, we're not going to talk about it until after the season. Now in the next few weeks, it's time to talk about it."

Hence, Rizzo will weigh his options although a return to New York is not off the table.

But all that would depend on how adamant team manager Aaron Boone would be.

Boone had high regard for the Florida native who started his MLB career with the San Diego Padres and then played for the Chicago Cubs from 2012 to 2021 before joining the Yankees last year.

"He's been an amazing person in our clubhouse. An amazing teammate, an amazing leader, very productive on the field. I think very much cut out to play for our team, for the Yankees. I think he handles all that goes with playing here as one of the premium players and leaders so well. So yeah, I would love to have him back, of course," Boone said at the time.

The Yankees will be in for a busy offseason with several other players set to become free agents.

At the top of the list is Aaron Judge, someone who is likely to draw a lot of attention from other ballclubs.