SNY’s Andy Martino will be responding to and breaking down answers to Yankees questions from readers. Here’s the latest…
Can you see the Yankees extending Rizzo? – @Taconacho11 –
Anthony Rizzo is, of course, the flip slide of the Luke Voit reporting we shared on Thursday.
I have asked around about the possibility of Rizzo being more than a rental for the Yankees, and here’s what I know: Even though Rizzo will turn 32 this week, the team’s evaluators don’t see evidence of slower bat speed or other ominous signs of aging.
The Yanks actually noticed in evaluating a potential Rizzo trade that he has improved in a key area, hitting left-handed pitching. Rizzo’s career OPS against lefties is a perfectly respectable .789; this year, it’s .982. Scouts see that as more legit than fluky.
The rest of the season is a mutual audition between the Yankees and Rizzo. Clearly, it looked like a fit in the first week.
There are always practical factors to weigh. The luxury tax situation will likely change somewhat during offseason CBA negotiations, so that might give the Yanks more wiggle room to add (it’s too bad that this matters, but it does).
And despite what we said above about Rizzo improving, will the team actually award a contract of, say, five years to a player who will be in his late 30s at the end of it? We can tell you that they’re thinking about it.