The Giants need outfield help and could get Zobrist for that, while the Nationals have a hole at shortstop and also in the outfield. DeGrom and Wheeler become eligible for arbitration after 2017, and suddenly, the Mets’ rotation will start to become cost-prohibitive. While the Mets have made no indication yet if they are going to select a player, they do have a 40 man roster spot open in case someone piques their interest.
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“A lot of what we talked about with him was his workout regimen, his diet, all those things you want to hear from a player if he’s going to have a chance to play later in his career that would tell you he has a chance to do that”, Ricco said.
The Mets pushed hard for Granderson and ultimately went a little further than they initially planned because of his profile.
During his previous visit, Ricco said Zobrist mentioned a desire to play mostly at second base on a “semi-regular basis”. But the Mets realize they can’t predict what will happen then.
And as of Monday, there was a sense the Zobrist sweepstakes was coming down to those two teams.
“It’s unlikely right now that he ends up a Met”, Ricco said to reporters at the winter meetings.
Heyman added that the Nationals, Giants and Mets are better fits for Zobrist over the Dodgers, but LA could push the other teams out by offering a more lucrative deal. Ken Rosenthal reports that Zobrist “wants to make decision at meetings” and that he is “focused” on “NYM, WAS, SF” and that it could be “difficult” for the Dodgers to get him this late in the game. Since 2006, he has swung at just 23.3% of pitches out of the strike zone, seventh-best among all players with at least 5,000 plate appearances over that span. His walk rate of 12% ranks eighth.
In an offseason that will see them lose Yoenis Cespedes and Daniel Murphy in all likelihood, the Mets have gone to the Winter Meetings with one clear goal: To sign Ben Zobrist.
Those abilities tend not to deteriorate with age quite as rapidly as others, like power and hard-hit percentage. “From our perspective that’s a great fit and kind of lines up with what he’s looking for”. “He’s very self-confident. I don’t think he’ll have any problem at all”.
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Zobrist reportedly will meet in person with the Washington Nationals on Tuesday. They also highlighted the merits of a veteran-laden clubhouse, which could ease some of the expectations that would come attached with a major free-agent deal.
