Thursday, November 19, 2015

Yankees to Pass on Zobrist and I Say…. Good!


Ben Zobrist, often imitated but never duplicated. Zobrist has been the epitome of money ball for multiple seasons now because he’s a switch hitter that can get on base and play multiple positions in the field on defense. Versatile, flexible and you can’t really shift on him or bring in a specialist relief pitcher against him. Any team would love to have him and often time’s teams try to acquire or develop talent like him. For the first time since finally being recognized for what he’s done all along Zobrist hits the free agency market thus giving teams the opportunity to not trade for a player like him, to not develop a player in his shadow but to acquire THE Ben Zobrist. According to recent reports though one of those teams will not be the New York Yankees and if you ask me, that’s good.

Sure Zobrist adds a lot to any team and would be especially helpful on this team. As I said he’s a switch hitter so he would help manager Joe Girardi stack up lefties against right-handed pitching and he could also help the team’s biggest flaw, hitting left-handed pitching. Zobrist plays good defense everywhere in the outfield and the infield (with the exception of catcher) but his natural position is second base, a position the Yankees face some uncertainty at going forward and Zobrist can hit anywhere and on the biggest stage, see his performance in the 2015 World Series. Zobrist has a laundry list of pro’s but the con’s may outweigh them all.


Zobrist is 34-years old and turns 35-years old in May. That would be fine on a short term deal, one or two years, but Zobrist is likely to want the final big contract of his career. Zobrist could be in the market for around four-years and $60 million this offseason after hitting 13 home runs and posting a .809 OPS between the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals. In a world where the importance of versatility and flexibility are key you may want to spend $15 million annually for Zobrist’s age 35-39 seasons but thankfully it looks like the New York Yankees will not. 

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)