Zobrist Hopes To Decide This Week; “Focused On” Mets, Nats, Giants

Few free agents have generated as much buzz as Ben Zobrist this offseason, and yesterday’s news suggests he could be close to a decision about his new team.  Here’s the latest…

• A decision is expected within the next 48 hours, Morosi tweets.
• It “appears” that Zobrist would prefer to be installed at second base, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports tweets. That would appear to suggest that Washington and New York present better fits than do the Giants.
• Zobrist has expressed interest in holding down a somewhat regular job at one position, Mets AGM John Ricco told reporters, including Marc Carig of Newsday (via Twitter). New York could plug him in as the more-or-less everyday second baseman, of course. The club met with his agents again today in what could be the final meeting between the sides, Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com tweets.
• Nationals GM Mike Rizzo also noted in his media session that he’d see Zobrist mostly as a second baseman in Washington, as Mark Zuckerman of CSNmidatlantic tweets. Rizzo did add that he also likes that Zobrist could contribute in the outfield and “spoke glowingly” of the free agent.
• Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that Zobrist would like to make a decision by the time the Winter Meetings conclude on Thursday. Zobrist is currently focused on the Mets, Nationals and Giants, according to Rosenthal, who says it’d be difficult at this point for the Dodgers to pry him away from one of those clubs.

Earlier Updates

• The Dodgers are the mystery fourth team in the Zobrist race, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman tweets.  Los Angeles joins the Mets, Nationals and Giants as the teams who are apparently the deepest in pursuit of the veteran.  All parties seem to understand it will require a four-year contract to land Zobrist at this point.  Despite Zobrist’s versatility, there isn’t as obvious a position for him in L.A. as the other cities, Heyman notes, especially since Chase Utley just re-signed with the club to join the second base mix.  Then again, Andrew Friedman knows all about how to creatively deploy Zobrist from their days together in Tampa Bay.
• The Braves were a somewhat surprising bidder for Zobrist’s services, though David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution outlines why the team feels the 34-year-old is a fit for a seemingly rebuilding club.  Firstly, the Braves don’t intend to be in a rebuild stage for long, as they’re still targeting 2017 (and the opening of their new ballpark) for a return to contention.  Moving Shelby Miller for a package of players could address enough needs that it would free up payroll room to ink Zobrist, possibly on a backloaded contract.  While the Braves aren’t as close to contending as Zobrist’s other suitors, O’Brien points out that Atlanta is within four hours of Zobrist’s home in Tennessee.