Long one of baseball’s most underappreciated players, Ben Zobrist now has nearly half of Major League Baseball chasing him in free agency.
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‘Very Strong’ Market for Zobrist
Thursday, Nov. 12
Chris Cotillo of SB Nation and ESPN’s Buster Olney highlighted the Kansas City Royals, Washington Nationals, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals as potential suitors. Cotillo put the number at “at least” 12 teams that have expressed interest in the utility man.
Zobrist, 34, hit .276/.359/.450 with 13 home runs and 56 RBI while splitting last season with the Royals and Oakland Athletics. While those numbers were solid, his overall contributions were his worst since 2008. His 2.1 wins above replacement were a 3.4-win drop from 2014 and mostly attributable to a surprising defensive regression, per FanGraphs.
After posting positive defensive metrics each of the previous six seasons—and at times being considered among the most versatile talents in the sport—Zobrist struggled in an inconsistent role. He spent most of 2015 bouncing back and forth between the outfield and second base, also spending four games at third.
It’s worth noting this was his first season not playing 81 games on the Tampa Bay turf, but most teams likely view his downturn as an outlier. Zobrist also helped increase his value with a strong postseason, hitting .303/.365/.515 with two home runs and six runs batted in as the Royals earned their first World Series in three decades.
“The way the front office runs things and the way the coaching staff runs things, it’s loose and fun but also structured,” Zobrist said of the Royals in August, per Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com. “It’s very professional. The way they go about everything is really good. It’s fun to be assimilated into a culture like that, because they’re already good. I don’t need to change anything. They’re already headed in the right direction. I just have to be a part of it.”
Signing a 34-year-old without much power or speed who is coming off his worst season in more than a half decade may seem like a risk. But given Zobrist’s track record, it’s probably one worth taking.
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