NEWSLETTER
Today, Chicago Cubs players on expiring contracts became free agents. One of the guys on that list is Ben Zobrist.
As we discussed recently, Zobrist’s impending free agency wasn’t treated like a typical impending free agency, thanks to his age (38) and his time away from the team this year (most of the season with a personal/family matter). The way the year played out, it just never felt like a “oh, wow, this is his last year with the Cubs before free agency.” Instead, it more so felt like a “oh, wow, this is his last year with the Cubs before maybe retiring.”
But, like we saw at the end of the year, Zobrist was noncommittal on whether he was gonna hang ’em up for good, or if he was going to try to come back for another season in 2020.
Here’s our first hint on that front:
Ben Zobrist, the 2 time World Series champion who missed most of 2019 while going through divorce, is talking about playing again in 2020, though it’s not definitive. Versatile player is a Maddon favorite.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) October 31, 2019
I’m sure there would be no shortage of teams interested in SOME kind of deal with Zobrist in 2020, even as he turns 39 and is coming off of a down(?) 2019 season. But that kind of deal would seem most likely to be a one-year, small-dollar deal, or maybe even a minor league pact.
Here’s what we said previously about that, and about a return to the Cubs:
It’s really hard to know what you might be able to get out of Zobrist in 2020, given not only his age, but the fact that there isn’t much typical performance available from 2019 to evaluate.
On the year – basically a chunk at the start and a smaller chunk at the end – Zobrist hit just .260/.358/.313 (85 wRC+) over 176 plate appearances. He took his walks and didn’t strike out, but his batted ball rates were all terrible, from his groundball rate (55.1%) to his line drive rate (18.9%) to his fly ball rate (26.0%) to his soft contact rate (21.9%) to his hard contact rate (25.0%). The numbers matched the eye test, which said that, when Zobrist was able to play, he was not able to drive the ball with any kind of authority. Just a flukey health/distraction/time off thing, or the inevitable slowing of the wrists and loss of strength that comes with aging?
If Zobrist elects to make another go of it next year, he’s not going to find himself a huge contract out there, though there wouldn’t be a shortage of suitors looking to bring his veteran presence to Spring Training, at a minimum. And if he wanted to stick around with the Cubs on a non-guaranteed minor league deal, well then of course the Cubs would and should have interest. Why on earth would you NOT want to Zobrist around your club and seeing what he has to offer in the Spring?
But is that realistic? Do the Cubs bring back THE World Series MVP on a minor league deal under the circumstances of the past year? I’m not sure, at a human level, that’s going to be the right fit. Maybe a cheap guaranteed deal could make some sense, but there’s obviously some roster considerations there. As much as you might want Zobrist’s 2018 bat available in 2020, you very well might not get it, and you might get a guy who can really only play second base or left field at this point – spots that are going to be overflowing with options.
We’ll keep our eyes on Zobrist’s status, because obviously he remains beloved, and could also theoretically still be a useful, cost-effective, veteran bench option for the Cubs next year. Remember, the roster increases from 25 to 26 next year, so you have just a little more leeway in who you can carry.
