It is fair to believe that if the Mets had won the Ben Zobrist sweepstakes this past offseason, this team would be vastly different than the one we currently see on the field today. John Harper of the NY Daily News takes a look at how Plan B became Plan A and worked out for the best.
In early December, mere hours before Zobrist ultimately chose Chicago over New York, the Mets were considered the front runners to land their biggest want. As time slowly passed, a mystery team entered the fray. The Cubs swooped in at the very last minute and sniped Zobrist from the Mets on a four-year, $56 million deal. The Mets were said to have offered more dollars to obtain the utility man, but ultimately Ben took less to play for the Cubs.
A blessing in disguise. Signing Zobrist would have all but sealed the deal on the exit of Yoenis Cespedes. With $15 million being allocated just to Zobrist there would be next to no chance of a reunion with “La Potencia.” There is an argument that also could have spelled any chance of Neil Walker making his way over to New York, with the Mets possibly opting to keep Dilson Herrera up in the majors to fill the void at second left by Daniel Murphy. A rival exec layed out just how nicely the non-signing worked out for Sandy Alderson.
“Sometimes Plan B turns out to be better than Plan A. The Mets thought they had Zobrist — they were letting people know that at the Winter Meetings,’’ the exec said. “They were stunned when the Cubs swooped in to get him.”
The Mets always had a back-up plan. On December 8th, the Cubs would get Zobrist, the Mets turned right around the following day and swapped Jon Niese for Walker. The team was prepared to strike right away.
“So you can say they got lucky, but you have to give them credit because they were prepared, the exec said. “As strongly as they targeted Zobrist, they were ready with their Plan B and they executed it quickly to make the trade for Walker. To me that said a lot about how prepared they were, especially since Sandy Alderson wasn’t there.’’
Alderson had missed the winter meetings due to a diagnosis of an unknown type of cancer. His contingency plan though was already in place. Acquiring Neil Walker has worked out quite well thus far. Walker has only gone on to have a torrid April at the plate. He has produced a nice slash line of .315/.345/.620. Walker has hit nine homers with 19 RBI. For comparison’s sake, Zobrist, has not been as impressive. He has produced a slash line of .250/.389/.342. Ben has hit one homer with 10 RBI.
Where would Yo be?
Signing Zobrist could have cleared the way for the Washington Nationals to sign Cespedes without any fight from the Mets. The “Yo Show” returned to Queens for reportedly less years than the Nationals had offered. It was believed that Yoenis had a five-year offer on the table to bring his talents to the nation’s capital and join playoff superhero, Murphy. Instead, Cespedes stayed in his favorite “Citi,” agreeing to a three-year, $75 million deal.
“I would have to agree they probably don’t wind up re-signing Cespedes if they have Zobrist,’’ the exec said. “They add his salary. They still have Niese’s money, and I think they would have signed (Asdrubal) Cabrera anyway, because they needed a shortstop. So they probably don’t stay in touch with Cespedes and there’s never any momentum for a short-term deal. He probably signs with someone else.’’
In the early going, Cespedes, again has proven his ability to carry this offense when he must. He has so far produced a great slash of .292/.363/1.029. Yo has hit seven bombs so far this season with 23 RBI. He combined with Michael Conforto have produced one of the best 3-4 punches in all of baseball.
The move that never was can truly be the biggest acquisition a team sees in an offseason. Interesting to think where the Mets may now be if Zobrist was a Met.
