Rizzo anticipates rumor ‘roller coaster' before deadline

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A lot could change for the Cubs in the next two weeks.

And in the meantime, there promises to be a lot of chatter around the team leading up to MLB’s July 30 trade deadline. 

“All the reports and rumors flying from now until then, you could probably put a full scrapbook together and see the roller coaster that it's going to take everyone on,” first baseman Anthony Rizzo said Friday. 

The roller coaster ride already started for Cubs fans, before the end of the All-Star break. Third baseman Kris Bryant was linked to the Mets and Nationals in trade rumors on Thursday.

Only hours after that, the Cubs dealt outfielder Joc Pederson to the Atlanta Braves.

It’s what the next few weeks have in store, with the Cubs in sell mode after an 11-game losing streak before the break that shifted their deadline direction. 

Bryant’s name is already on the rumor mill, and it’s inevitable the club’s other trade chips will follow over the next two weeks.

“Obviously, there’s going to be a lot of names thrown around here and there,” Rizzo said. “With Joc going, it just heats up, intensifies everything.”

As uncertainty hovers over the next two weeks, the Cubs will try to block out the noise. So far, so good.

RELATED: Rizzo on extension talks: ‘I’ve said my piece'

They won their first game out of the break, a 5-1 victory Friday over the Diamondbacks. Rizzo hit his 239th career home run with the Cubs, tying Aramis Ramirez for sixth in franchise history.

“It’s just staying one day at a time and not really worrying about what's going to happen,” Rizzo said. “What's going to happen is going to happen, and none of us have any control of it.”

Not to mention rumors and reports sometimes are nothing more than that.

“You pull all of your past experiences and being around and just knowing how this works from afar,” Rizzo said. 

“You just know it's all going to be speculation until something actually happens.”

Still, if there is a scrapbook to be made, you could start piecing it together now. 

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