The San Diego Padres have a roster full of superstars. Although they already possess some playoff experience, president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has been on the hunt for seasoned veterans who can provide leadership on the field.
One of the names the Padres were interested in was Anthony Rizzo, who had expressed interest in continuing to play despite his age.
According to reporting from Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Padres actively pursed adding Rizzo to the team before shifting their focus towards veteran outfielder Jason Heyward.
Rizzo is now 35 years old and played for the New York Yankees last season, though he is still available as a free agent and remains unsigned.
Rizzo has not lacked interest in his services; rather, he seems uncomfortable accepting a lower-value deal due to his age and the precedent it sets.
“I think I have a lot to give to the game still,” Rizzo told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Brendan Kuty.
“But at the same time, if teams are not going to want to pay a few million dollars for veterans, I’ve seen it the last 10 years of my career. It’s what happens to the older guys. They kind of get squeezed. You’ve seen it happen more and more. I’m not naive to it. It could be it.”
The 14-year veteran has played in fewer than 100 games over each of the past couple of seasons, battling concussion issues and other injuries that have plagued the latter half of his career.
His final year with the Yankees was abysmal, as he was below replacement level according to his WAR, and he posted a subpar 84 wRC+.
The Padres were likely deterred by his offensive statistics, believing they could obtain comparable veteran experience and leadership from Heyward at a more affordable cost.
Rizzo has recently been linked to the Boston Red Sox, who have a significant vacancy at first base and may offer the veteran the salary he desires.