A very dejected John Ricco spoke with reporters at the Winter Meetings and admitted he was disappointed at how the Ben Zobrist situation unraveled.
Ricco said Zobrist called him with his decision and said ultimately it was not about the money, but it was his desire to be closer to home and his connection to Cubs manager Joe Maddon.
“It’s disappointing. I’m going to be honest,” Ricco said. “He’s a guy that we thought fit very well for us, so I will say that. But again, we’ve been through many situations where you have to adjust and adapt, and that’s why you have a plan and have multiple options and don’t go all-in on any one of them.”
“We knew this was a possibility all along. It’s not a complete shock. I don’t think this was about money. It was about him finding a place that fit.”
The Mets will now focus their attention to Daniel Murphy who they view as Plan B. “We’ve been in contact with them and continue to stay in contact with them and we’ll see where that goes.”
The Mets also have some interest in Neil Walker of the Pittsburgh Pirates, but Ricco said he’s skeptical that a deal can come together.
The bottom line says Ricco, “We’ll move on and we’ll be alright. We have a plan to move forward from this.”
In an odd twist, the Cubs and Zobrist already had a deal done on Monday night, and were waiting on the physical which Zobrist completed today.
So over the last 24 hours while the Mets were gushing very publicly that Zobrist was as good as done – and Terry Collins held a press conference saying Zobrist would bat second – and Jeff Wilpon flew down to make the Zobrist announcement – the Cubs already knew Zobrist was coming to them the entire time. If that’s true, egg meet face.
