The Cubs have announced that will retire as a Cub and will be honored this Saturday at Wrigley Field as the club hosts the Rays. He will also serve as an amba sador for the organization. was among those to relay the news. Rizzo, now 36, was part of a few different organizations in his career but will always be primarily known as a Cub. He spent the bulk of his career, including e sentially all of his prime, in Chicago. That stretch saw him emerge as a core piece as the team became a regular contender in the last half of the previous decade. The highlight came in 2016, when the Cubs finally won the World Series, breaking a 108-year drought. There was talk of a potential dynasty on Chicagos north side after that year, as that young core of Rizzo, , , and was controllable, affordable and formidable. The top of the rotation appeared set for years, with , and all squarely in their primes and signed/controlled long-term. The Cubs indeed were competitive on a yearly basis for the remainder of the decade, but they fell to the Dodgers in the 2017 NLCS and havent advanced beyond the Wild Card round of postseason play since. Before that legendary run, Rizzo had to pa s through a few other places first. He was drafted by the Red Sox out of high school back in 2007. After a few Zen Michalski Jersey years in Bostons minor league system, he was flipped to the Padres as one of the players in that sent to the Sox. Rizzo got to make his big league debut with the Friars in 2011 but didnt hit the ground running. He stepped to the plate 153 times over 49 games but struck out 30.1% of the time and produced a .141/.281/.242 line. Going into 2012, the Padres decided to go in a different direction. They sent to the Reds , one of whom was . With Alonso set to cover first base in San Diego, they then sent Rizzo and right-hander for righty and outfielder . That gambit clearly didnt pan out for San Diego. While Cashner had some modest succe s with the Padres, Alonso never found his power stroke at Petco Park and wound up delivering average offense over parts of four seasons. , also acquired in that swap, struggled in San Diego before being sent to the Dodgers as part of the trade. Meanwhile, as all that played out, Rizzo broke out as one of the top first basemen in Major League Baseball. In parts of 10 seasons with the Cubs from 2012-21, Rizzo batted a combined .272/.372/.489 with 242 home runs. He made three All-Star teams, won four Gold Gloves, won a Silver Slugger and garnered MVP votes in five consecutive seasons including a pair of consecutive fourth-place finishes in 2015-16, when he posted a combined .285/.386/.528 batting line (145 wRC+) and belted 63 home runs (31 in 15, 32 in 16). Rizzo struggled in the 2016 NLDS but erupted in both the NLCS and World Series, belting three homers and five doubles with an OPS north of 1.000 between those two series. As that Cubs core continued to stall out over the years, however, the front office eventually determined there was a need for change. Rizzo, Bryant and Baez were all traded in the summer of 2021 Baez to the Mets, Bryant to the Giants and Rizzo to the Yankees. Rizzo hit well for the Yankees down the stretch and stepped into a key leadership role, all of which convinced the team to re-sign him to a two-year deal with an option for a third season. Rizzo went on to spend the final three full seasons of his career in the Bronx, hitting well in 2022 before slipping to about average in 2023 and struggling through injuries in 2024. His time in New York wasnt nearly as productive, but he logged an overall .234/.326/.409 line as a Yankee and popped 32 home runs in his first full season in pinstripes. All told, Rizzos excellent career will wrap up with a lifetime .261/.361/.467 batting line. He hit 303 home runs in the majors, scored 922 runs, plated 965 runs and even swiped 72 bases. Rizzo is one of just 164 players in major league history to reach 300 career home runs. His 338 doubles rank 352nd all-time, tied with , , and the aforementioned Kemp. Rizzo also tallied 241 postseason plate appearances, and while his .225/.328/.397 line doesnt stand up to his regular-season excellence, thats skewed by a brutal showing in the 2015 playoffs. Starting with that NLCS breakout in 16, Rizzo hit .260/.367/.455 in his final 180 turns at the plate in the playoffs. Through an early-career extension with the Cubs and a free-agent deal to re-sign with the Yankees in the 2021-22 offseason, Rizzo earned more than $127MM in salary over parts of 14 seasons. FanGraphs valued his career at 35.9 wins above replacement, while Baseball-Reference is even more bullish at 40.4 WAR. Rizzo isnt likely to be Cooperstown-bound, but hell be remembered as a cornerstone piece in an iconic era of Cubs franchise lore and a solid veteran pickup who helped drive some competitive Yankees clubs. Best wishes to Rizzo and his family in whatever the next chapter holds. Mario Landino Jersey