NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Chicago Cubs operate best in stealth mode, hiding in the wake of teams desperate for attention or thirsty for recognition or simply apathetic about the sanctity of discretion. When the Cubs want a player, they circle him, lavish him with attention, foist upon him love and do their best to make sure nobody knows a thing about it.

Which is how after weeks of blather about Ben Zobrist narrowing his list of teams to the Mets, Nationals, Giants and Dodgers, and maybe wanting to stay on the East Coast, and being the No. 1 priority of National League champion New York, and all the blah-blah-yada-yada-fart noise-fart noise that fuels the silly season, he ended up in the warm embrace of the Cubs.

They play no games, hide no balls. Chicago spent all offseason eyeing Zobrist and felt no need to let their chase be known. And as the trade market for second baseman Starlin Castro materialized as Zobrist neared his decision, the Cubs found a taker and viewed the whole thing like a Zobrist-for-Castro swap in which they even got a pitcher and a utilityman. The one-two punch of moves Tuesday night – agreeing to a four-year, $56 million contract with Zobrist and then trading Castro to the New York Yankees for right-hander Adam Warren and infielder Brendan Ryan – not only gut-punched a Mets team that ousted them in the NLCS but fortified the Cubs while leaving them nimble enough to consider their next move.

View photos Ben Zobrist agreed to a four-year, $56 million deal with the Cubs. (AP) More

Zobrist, 34, was the key to the day's maneuvers, the pair of jeans that fits just right. His hallmarks – versatility, on-base acumen, low strikeout totals – dovetail nicely with the Cubs' internal goals. His detriments – mainly his age and its effects on his ability to play multiple positions – were mitigated by the palatable cost relative to a market heaping money upon free agents.

He delivers Chicago the sort of player manager Joe Maddon loves – a love, in Zobrist's case, fostered by the nine seasons they spent together with the Tampa Bay Rays. As much as any manager, Maddon excels at taking multiposition players and constructing lineups around the options they provide. Zobrist, mainly a second baseman and corner outfielder, has logged time at third base and shortstop, too. And while scouts noted his limited defensive range during a championship run with the Kansas City Royals, Zobrist figures to be the Cubs' Swiss Army knife until his body says otherwise.

In the meantime, Zobrist slots into a Cubs lineup that will feature some mixture of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Jorge Soler, Javier Baez, Miguel Montero, Russell and a yet-to-be-determined center fielder. Perhaps Chicago now uses the financial flexibility born of dumping the $38 million left on Castro's contract to go after Jason Heyward, who could conceivably play center for a year or two, or lock down right field and allow the Cubs to deal Soler.

The possibilities in Chicago right now seem endless because the Cubs have positioned themselves in such deft fashion. Their run to the NLCS in 2015 came a year earlier than the team's internal expectations and validated the discipline with which they built this roster. The Cubs aren't a bloated $200 million monster with bad contracts; they are lean and self-made, and even the Zobrist deal and the two-year, $32 million contract to which they inked starting pitcher John Lackey look good as the rest of the industry goes all drunken sailor.

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