So why aren't I happy?

My Cubs done good last night. The ball was flying off their bats and out of the park. Nico Hoerner is back from off-season surgery and looked just fine.

And yet ... and yet ... I am sad.

For the first time in 12 years, I watched an Opening Day without Anthony Rizzo. He doesn't have a team. The Yankees dropped him and he was unable to sign with anyone else.

Stroller shopping with his dog, Kevin

Some say he has only himself to blame. For a 35-year-old who is prone to injury, he has an awful lot of demands. His wife is pregnant with their first baby, due June 15, so he wants a no-trade clause. That way he can avoid disrupting his wife and new baby any more than necessary. He'd prefer not to play for a West Coast team because his parents live in Florida and he doesn't want to be that far away, but that eliminates at least five teams from his consideration. And then there's the money: He won't sign for less than $1,000,000. It's the principle.

If it was the money, he would have taken the $750,000 he's supposedly been offered. Also, the Yankees just paid him $6,000,000 to settle his contract. He's made approximately $135,000,000 throughout his career. It's never been about the money for him, anyway. As he said nine years ago while negotiating with the Cubs, "I'm 26 and I'm set for life." 

Anthony Rizzo has always insisted on being paid what he feels he's worth, what he believes he has earned in exchange for what he can contribute. He says he's not only doing this for himself, he's doing it for all the players who come after him. Major league baseball is a big business, with fortunes made off the backs of the players, and Rizz wants the workers to get their cut.

So now, instead of guarding the first base corner, he's at home preparing for a new baby. He's running his foundation, which is recognized for all it's done helping families facing pediatric cancer. He can still sign with a team – there's no rule against it – but it doesn't seem likely.

I hope he's happy. But I am sad.