MLB Trade Deadline: Did Anthony Rizzo get traded by the Cubs?

The Chicago Cubs fire sale has already claimed a few fan favorites at the MLB Trade Deadline, but what happened to Anthony Rizzo? 

As the MLB Trade Deadline approached faster and faster, the Chicago Cubs were put in a position of deciding whether to blow up its former World Series core or forge on.

It was kind of like that scene in The Perfect Storm where George Clooney asks his crew if they want to dump their haul and wait out the storm or take it on and see if they can survive (spoiler: they all died).

That’s what the Cubs are asking themselves. Chicago is pretty far out of the NL Wild Card chase and while there’s a lot of baseball left to be played it seems unlikely the stars will align enough to propel them from the bottom of the NL Central to a division winner.

Chicago held a ton of valuable trade chips leading up to the deadline, from mid-tier starters like Andrew Chafin and Joc Pederson to blockbuster stars like Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. The Cubs moved a few pieces before the deadline, but there might not have been a bigger fan favorite on the trade block than Anthony Rizzo.

MLB Trade Rumors: Did Anthony Rizo get traded?

The MLB Trade Deadline passes at 4 pm ET on Friday, but the Cubs did not wait until then to make a deal involving Rizzo.

After the Cubs lost to the Reds on Thursday afternoon, Chicago traded Rizzo to the New York Yankees.

Anthony Rizzo contract

One of the reasons he’s on the trade block is his contract. Anthony Rizzo is in the final year of his contract with the Cubs and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

Right now he’s being paid $16.5 million, money that the Cubs were probably going to be asked to help pay depending on what the return was in the trade with the Yankees.

For what it’s worth, the Yankees got the Texas Rangers to pay most of Joey Gallo’s salary when they struck a deal for him on Wednesday night.

And that’s exactly what the Yankees did in the Rizzo trade. The Cubs will be paying all of Rizzo’s remaining contract for this season.

Anthony Rizzo Draft history

One of the most cited Anthony Rizzo stats is the fact that he was originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox back in 2007. He never made a dent with Boston, as Rizzo was traded to the Padres as part of the monster Adrian Gonzalez deal before ending up with the Cubs.

So the fact that Rizzo is heading to the Bronx — especially after rumors that the Red Sox wanted to add him — is an extra wrinkle to the trade drama.