Chicago Cubs star first baseman Anthony Rizzo is slated to become a free agent following the 2021 season. The Cubs recently have been negotiating a potential contract extension with Rizzo and he recently turned down an offer reportedly worth $70 million over five seasons.
During Tuesday's installment of "Nothing Personal with David Samson," the former Marlins president said he believes that the Cubs shouldn't have offered Rizzo a lower-scale contract and shouldn't have offered him a contract extension at all.
"By offering Rizzo such a low deal, they made one critical mistake that Theo (Epstein) never would've made," Samson said. "You don't make an offer to a franchise player that you know he's not going to accept. You don't making an insulting offer to a franchise player that's been part of a world championship when you know that you don't have space for him on your team. Instead, what you do is you make no offer. It is far better to be silent and to let there be a question as to your intentions then to talk and make your intentions clear."
Fellow Cubs Javier Baez and Kris Bryant are also set to become free agents following the 2021 season and they could be traded first if the Cubs don't compete during the 2021 MLB season.
Samson believes that the Cubs clearly aren't financially motivated to sign Rizzo, so it would've been better for the team to not offer a smaller deal and shut down the talks.
