The Cubs have been without utilityman Ben Zobrist since May 8 as he deals with a divorce, but they’re “open” to welcoming him back “later in the season,” president of baseball operations Theo Epstein told Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com and other reporters Thursday.
If the 38-year-old Zobrist does return in 2019, it’s “likely” to come toward the end of the season – possibly in September – a source tells Rogers. Notably, the Cubs won’t have to pay Zobrist for however long he stays away from the team. The club has already saved upward of $2MM since Zobrist’s leave began, and it’ll continue to pocket the same amount per month while he’s out. The money the Cubs haven’t had to shell out for Zobrist helped them sign free-agent closer Craig Kimbrel to a three-year, $43MM contract last week.
The Kimbrel addition has been a benefit of Zobrist’s disappearance, yet it’s not surprising that Epstein is hopeful the respected veteran will return. The four-year, $56MM contract the Cubs handed Zobrist entering the 2016 season likely stands as one of the smartest moves Epstein has made atop their baseball department. The switch-hitting, defensively versatile Zobrist has been one of the Cubs’ MVPs for a sizable portion of his tenure, and he played an important role in their drought-breaking World Series championship during his first year in their uniform.
Now in the last season of his deal, Zobrist did get off to a slow start on the field while dealing with a distracting situation off it. He opened 2019 with a .241/.343/.253 line (69 wRC+), no home runs and a nearly nonexistent .012 ISO in 99 plate appearances before going on the restricted list. If Zobrist does return toward year’s end and the contending Cubs are in position to clinch another postseason berth, he may need to log much better numbers than he has so far in order to earn a spot on their playoff roster. Fellow Cubs second basemen David Bote and Addison Russell have recorded far superior production to Zobrist in 2019, while the same holds true for the corner outfield-capable group of Kris Bryant, Jason Heyward, Kyle Schwarber and even the just-added Carlos Gonzalez.
Guarantee to the couple million saved on Zobrist had nothing to do with signing Kimbrel as the owners are fking billionaires.
After listening to a couple of interviews with Joe Ricketts, it’s very clear that he doesn’t care whether the Cubs win or lose. Winning to him is the number at the bottom of the profit/loss statement.
That’d be great if Joe mattered, he doesn’t. Tom runs the team. And owns it.
Great to hear, love the Zorbrist story from being a undrafted guy to Big Leaguer
He was a 6th round draft pick. Nowhere near undrafted.
Low enough for Ully to register as undrafted, haha.
No too many 6th rounders end up as a WS MVP.
Id love to hear the story…
He must be the first MLB player to go through a divorce during the season.
Guys such a beta.
Much better than being an omega.
Go Delta
People who call people betas on the internet are such betas.
He’s a ‘beta’ putting his family first, so I respect him a lot more than any ‘alpha’ who’d put his day job over his kids.
But then I’m an adult, so I don’t care about such things in the first place…
Adults have gone through a divorce while not stepping away from their job. It has been done.
And some have
Doesn’t mean we need to denigrate those who do
No denigrating here.
Sandberg.
Goddamn. How messy of a divorce could this possibly be
I know, I mean he’s 38 years old in the final year of his lucrative contract, has two rings, a World Series MVP, 1500 hits, three ASG’s, etc. How dare he be a father and be there for his kids in a time like this, he has baseball to play!
How many employers would give their employee time off for a divorce, and than let them come back to work?
Maybe if you were one of the best 100-200 people in the world at your job, your employer would want you back, too.
That’s not how the world works.
Well, I would guess every front office for every professional sports team would do the same thing. Especially considering what he has done for the franchise.
If his employers are fine with it then what’s the problem? He’s willing to forfeit the money while he’s gone and they’re willing to welcome him back whenever. He prioritized his children over playing. He could choose to retire right now if he wanted and may end up doing that, who knows. But it’s a mutual agreement between employer and employee.
Many, many more than you’d probably believe. It called a ‘leave of absence’ and you can ask for one in literally any profession. And your employer is allowed to grant it if they wish.
Join a union and find out what’s possible….
His wife supposedly had an affair.
I’m assuming he’s trying to prevent the divorce.
If reports are to be believed, he’s the one who filed for it.
They both did, each in different states.
Likely fighting for full custody of the kids after she cheated. I doubt he comes back at all. He’s retired and a full time Dad
I suspected something like this when this story first broke. Why else would he need to leave the team? He can’t argue for custody of the kids playing 81 road games.
If true, good luck to him.
He is also the bread winner.
Translation: he comes back for a couple of games and gets a good sendoff into retirement as the World Series MVP
so many divorces happen in all sports during the season. this is just odd.
Weak minded.
You dont know anything.
If you have the inside scoop than enlighten us.
to call him weak minded would suggest you have a scoop of your own, or is that just slander?
Putting your kids over your day job strikes me as the opposite of weak minded
Calling others weak minded on the internet for not making your hobby their life’s priority strikes me as a very good definition of weak minded…
“Weak” comment, Judge Judy.
What loophole are the Cubs using to get around a guaranteed contract? And why doesn’t the overall value of the contract still count toward the luxury tax cap? You would think more teams would use “divorce” as an excuse to get rid of a contract if they are near the cap.
Contracts, yes are 100% guaranteed in baseball. Except for personal time. Only exception. Personal time is at the players choice which allows every club to get out of the paying. Career ending injuries alla Prince Filelder? Guaranteed… Tigers and Rangers just finished paying that, or will this season.
Actually, there usually are some stipulations in baseball. Code of conduct. If a player were to commit a crime and be suspended through the remainder of their contract or banished, the player wouldn’t be compensated. There are also often conditions based on fitness level, activities, etc. We don’t really hear about those as it seems like no team wants to open those cans of worms and a lot of larger contracts remove special code of conduct provisions from my understanding.
It’s not a loophole. He’s getting paid to play baseball. He isn’t by choice as opposed to injury. Therefore the Cubs don’t have to pay him. Contracts require both sides meet obligations, or neither is required to.
Any truth to the rumor she cheated w a cub teammate? That would explain my t wanting to be in the clubhouse.
We’ll know when the Cubs suddenly make a trade to open the door for Zobrist to return. If more than one player is involved in a deal, it means it’s not the guy with the higher salary.
No. That’s a joke going back to the Tune Sandberg/rafeal palmiero incident
But you just said no. So is it a joke or are you taking the comment seriously? Which one is it?
My comment was pretty clear, so why do you you just reread it?
I did. And it sucked.
this might hurt if it came from someone who’s opinions ever had value
so yeah, not so effective in this case
The Cubs are saying all the right stuff publicly. I’d bet money that the Cubs will DFA him after a 20 day rehab stint if Zobrist did try to return.
How much money, because I’ll take that bet.
They could have gotten kimbrel either way. They have plenty of money to spend and spare.