The Cubs sign Ben Zobrist to a four-year contract and then make a trade to make space for him on the infield:
A person familiar with the negotiations says the contract is worth $56 million. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the terms were not announced.
…
With the agreement, the Cubs then traded infielder Starlin Castro to the New York Yankees for right-hander Adam Warren and a player to be named.
So the Cubs are looking for Zobrist to average about two WAR a year as his career winds down. That’s a pretty good bet. Zobrist is one of those players who produced a lot more than he was paid in his career. He produced at least 4.6 WAR a season from 2009 to 2014, averaging six WAR a season. Today that would be worth around $40 million a year. Zobrist came up late, however, and signed an early extension with the Rays that paid him about $32 million. He might have been better off letting arbitration play out.
The Cubs send their problem player to the Yankees, giving New York a young and rather dynamic keystone combination. New York controls him through the 2020 season, so they’ll capture most of his prime. Didi Gregorious is the same age, so the Yankees should be set at two important positions for a while. New York has to hope that the change to scenery does Castro some good.
Warren can start or relieve, and gives up few walks and few home runs. The Cubs obviously think Castro is not going to be good long term, or they would not have spent the money on Zobrist. If the Yankees prove them wrong, this will be a tremendous trade for New York.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/1U0Uqbp
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