Ben Zobrist has been a favorite of mine for many years now. The Mets are coming off their best season in ages, due in no small part to the moves made by the current front office. That same front office has made targeting Zobrist its number-one priority this offseason. Given that information, why is there not more joy around the news for me?

In a way, Zobrist is a little bit like Carlos Beltran. Both were players in their prime who could do a lot of things really well. Zobrist could hit, he could run and he could field. Certainly, he did not have the power of a Beltran. But you never saw Beltran play shortstop, either. The beauty of Zobrist is that you could play him in the field anywhere but catcher, hit him anywhere in the lineup and have an asset.

There are probably a bunch of guys who could do what Zobrist does but few ever get that chance. The conventional wisdom is if you have a star, you let him play one position, write his name in there and worry about other spots. But as Zobrist didn’t make the majors until age 25 and didn’t exceed 62 games in a season until age 28, he was treated a little differently than Beltran, who won Rookie of the Year at age 22.

It certainly didn’t hurt that his manager was Joe Maddon, a guy not afraid of doing things differently if he felt it would help the team. As baseball fans, we should be glad that Maddon and Zobrist got to work together for six full seasons. That pairing produced 35 fWAR from 2009-2014.

Last year was the first time that Zobrist had a manager other than Maddon. He went from a 5.5 fWAR in 2014 to a 2.1 fWAR this past season. However, an injured knee probably had more to do with the drop in value than a switch in managers. The knee really hampered him early in the year but by the time the Mets saw him in the World Series, he looked very much like the guy he had been the previous six campaigns.

When the Mets acquired Beltran, he was entering his age 28 season. Zobrist in 2016 will be entering his age 35 season. The Mets essentially acquired Beltran for the time that Zobrist has been a regular in the majors. Beltran is still out there, putting up solid seasons for a guy his age. But it’s nothing like the .904 OPS he put up in his final season in Queens.

Zobrist may be able to hit like he has previously going forward, but what are the odds he can run and field like he did previously? He had all of 3 SB last year and he rated negatively in the baserunning component of WAR. Defensively, he had a (-13.3) UZR/150 at 2B last year in about half a year’s worth of time at the position. Additionally, he had a (-7) DRS in the middle infield. The numbers were no better in the outfield, where in 380.2 innings, he put up a (-15.1) UZR/150 and a (-5) DRS. And he did not play a single inning at shortstop in 2015.

It’s wonderful to have the willingness to go out and play multiple positions. It’s not so great if you go out and can’t really play any of them. Have we reached that stage with Zobrist? The fact that he was playing with an injured knee gives hope for a rebound. But we have to balance that out with the knowledge that 35 year olds don’t recover as quickly as 25 year olds and have long passed their defensive peaks, even if they did.

However, the Mets would acquire Zobrist primarily to play 2B and perhaps act as an insurance policy for David Wright over at 3B. So, if we take outfield out of the equation, why would the Mets prefer Zobrist at age 35 to Daniel Murphy at age 31? The Mets offered Murphy arbitration and while they may have felt confident he would decline the offer, they had to at least be prepared for Murphy to accept and return in 2016.

Knowing that, do the Mets think that Murphy, at four years his junior, will simply age worse than Zobrist after one more year? Or do they think they can get Zobrist at significantly fewer dollars than a long-term deal for Murphy would cost? And what about the implications for Dilson Herrera? You can make the case – although I wouldn’t – that an extra year in the minors would be beneficial for Herrera. But why sign Zobrist to a three or four-year deal if you have someone ready in the system to take over at his best position?

Do the Mets feel that Zobrist would accept a reserve/super sub role better than Murphy? That’s certainly possible. But would you want to pay someone $15 million a year when your best judgment tells you he won’t be a starter at any position the final years (note the plural) of the contract? Everyone is rightfully upset over the $12.5 million due Michael Cuddyer this year – do we really want to repeat that experience?

As a fan, my preference is to see Zobrist get a nice payday and land in a good spot for the remainder of his career. It seems he’s earned that. It’s just hard to look at all of the information and determine that spot is in Queens.

Share this: Email

Facebook

Print

Reddit

Twitter

More

Pinterest

LinkedIn



Tumblr

