Not often in the Chicago Cubs lengthy history have they gotten it right but this they did. Not once but twice. MLBTraderRumors is reporting that the Northsiders have inked super utility man Ben Zobrist to a 4 year $56 million dollar contract. As well, the Cubs will be making room for Zobrist by trading Starlin Castro to the New York Yankees for pitcher Adam Warren and infielder Brendan Ryan.
Both moves are huge strides forward for the Cubs and signal a very serious intent by them to go for it all this year. As per Trade Rumors, Ben Zobrist's deal looks like this, "Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Zobrist receives full no-trade protection in his first three years of the deal. The New York Post's Ken Davidoff reports that Zobrist can block trades to eight clubs in the final year of his deal (links to Twitter). He also adds that Zobrist receives a $2MM signing bonus, $10MM in 2016, $16MM in both 2017 and 2018, then $12MM in 2019."
Zobrist is the perfect fit for the Cubs and can play basically anywhere on the field and hit anywhere in the lineup. Be that as it may, the Cubs are signing him to play second base. That and right field are his two best positions. Despite the potential flash of Jason Heyward, many believe Zobrist was the best position player in this year's free agent crop. While he doesn't do one thing superbly, he does a lot of things great. Zobrist is the sum of his parts.
How good is Ben Zobrist? The past six years he has registered a +35 WAR. Among position players only Miguel Cabrera has been better among infielders. Fangraphs -
"Even after beginning the season hampered by a knee injury, Zobrist was still a pretty excellent player in 2015, especially once he returned from the DL.
Zobrist Before and After DL Stint
| Date | PA | BB% | K% | ISO | BABIP | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ |
| Pre-DL | 56 | 9% | 5% | 0.160 | 0.234 | 0.240 | 0.304 | 0.400 | 0.298 | 89 |
| Post-DL | 479 | 12% | 11% | 0.175 | 0.295 | 0.281 | 0.365 | 0.456 | 0.355 | 127 |
Before spending a month getting his knee healthy, Zobrist was mostly just trying to make contact, not hitting the ball with any real authority. After spending a month rehabbing, he came back and hit as well as he did during his 2009-2014 run, combining excellent contact skills with above average power. The 127 wRC+ he put up from the Memorial Day weekend through the end of the regular season suggests that a healthy Zobrist has experienced little decline to this point, with his core skills remaining in tact."
Although his defense took hit, one of the few times in his career, -11 UZR rating, as did baserunning but both of these could be explained away by the knee injury. Still with his age, Zobrist projects out to be a 3.0 + win player. By comparison, fellow free agent and fellow 2nd baseman Daniel Murphy figures out to 2.0 win player and that is with less positional flexibilty and offensive pop in his bat.
As well, since 2011 Zobrist has cut his strikeout totals from 128 to just 56 last year.. Though walks since 2012 have went down from a career high of 97 in 2012 to 62 last year.
Clearly, if there is a downside to this deal, you will have to be looking long and hard to find it.
As for the Yankees trade, last year Adam Warren started his most games year 17, while registering 43voverall appearance and131.1 total innings. While getting Brett Gardner would have served a great new, a potential leadoff hitter, in Warren, the Cubs added to their pitchng depth and clearly a guy who could slot in as a fourth starter.
The Cubs also pick up veteran infielder Brendan Ryan which surely means another trade is in the offing. Ryan will play a bench role, primarily as a middle infielder. It also makes either Javier Baez, Jorge Soler or Kyle Schwarber expendable; If the Cubs are pursuing a trade with Tampa Bay, it probably will not be Javier Baez as Tampa Bay doesn't have the need for a second baseman.
