MLB trade deadline: Reviewing the impact of 2021 deadline trades
By Bill Felber
The Yankees get Rizzo
The Cubs, who figured in about half of the headline-grabbing 2021 deadline trades, sent Anthony Rizzo to the Yankees in exchange for a pair of minor leaguers.
Rizzo, who was 31 and would be a free agent at season’s end, did for New York about what he’d been doing for Chicago. Down the stretch he batted in the .240s with a .778 OPS, numbers that valued him at marginally above average.
The Yanks were good enough to make the postseason as a Wild Card, but not good enough to survive for long. They lost 6-2 to Boston in their one-game showdown and went home. Rizzo batted leadoff in that game, homered, and went 1-for-4, so he was hardly the reason they lost. At the same time, he never hit with a teammate on base ahead of him, so he had little of the postseason impact Yankee fans might have hoped for.
Still, the Yanks were impressed enough to re-sign Rizzo in March for two years at $32 million. The first two-thirds of his 2022 season reflects the kind of player Rizzo has become in Yankee Stadium: low-average, good power. His .228 average is offset by 215 home runs, amounting to a 142 OPS+.
He is, in short, part of the reason the Yanks are odds-on favorites to reach the World Series in 2022.
What did the Cubs get? The names are outfielder Kevin Alcantara and pitcher Alexander Vizcaino.
Alcantara has risen to become the team’s No. 4 prospect. Still only 20, he’s at Class A Myrtle Beach, where he is hitting .270 with a dozen homers and 11 steals. He has a 2024 projected arrival date.
Vizcaino, who is 25, has spent 2022 as a minor league cipher, sidelined by an injury.
Verdict: The Yankees got a veteran plug-in infield piece at the cost of two prospects who have not proven they will ever do anything in the majors. The trade was a win for New York.