Chicago Cubs: What is Ben Zobrist’s role moving forward?

With two years left on his contract and coming off a down year, Ben Zobrist’s role with the Chicago Cubs moving forward is a bit cloudy.

When the Chicago Cubs signed Ben Zobrist ahead of the 2016 season, it marked the end of Starlin Castro‘s time on the North Side. Castro’s career with the Cubs was filled with ambivalence from fans.

For years he was one of the few bright spots on some truly atrocious Chicago Cubs teams. But his tenure with them wasn’t without periods of unnecessary drama. So when they traded him to New York in order to give Zobrist the job, it was a sign that the Cubs were deadly serious about ending their record-long championship drought imminently.

Now, two years later, Zobrist’s place with the Cubs is met with a significant degree of uncertainty. While he was widely known as a utility player before signing with the Cubs, one condition of his before inking a deal was that he’d primarily play second base. That positional security is no longer guaranteed for Zobrist. In fact, his role as a full-time starter may be waning.

Looking at the numbers

Ben Zobrist’s career could best be described with one word: dependable. His numbers generally don’t stand out, and he’s not known as a flashy player. But at every position he plays and on both sides of the plate (he’s a switch hitter), he’s as reliable as they come. He rarely makes mistakes. For the most part, you know exactly what to expect from the 12-year veteran.

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The 2017 season was a bit of a different story, though. His defense was sound as usual, but he took a fairly sizable step back at the plate. His offensive regression could simply be seen as nothing more than a down year. But Zobrist will turn 37 before next season begins, so it’s only natural to wonder if his age is playing a role in this decline.

Struggles abound in 2017

Zobrist has posted a robust career slash line of .263/.355/.428 with 157 home runs and 693 RBI. After being named an All-Star for the third time in his career in 2016, Zobrist slashed .232/.318/.375 with 12 home runs and 50 RBI this past season.

A 123 wRC+ player in 2016, he was merely an 82 wRC+ player in 2017. Disregarding his first couple of seasons when he was just breaking into the league, 2017 was by far the worst season of his career. Over the course of his career, Zobrist has been worth an average of 3.6 WAR per year. He was worth a paltry 0.3 WAR in 2017.

Again, this could be nothing more than a down year. Or it could be he’s entering the twilight years of his career. The more likely explanation is that both things are true. Sure, some players do slip through the cracks and dominate into their late thirties. But they’re the exception, not the norm.

 The times they are a-changin’

Zobrist is seeing less time at second base and more time in the outfield. That’s probably going to continue into 2018. Being even more of a utility player looks to be his role at this point. Baez has his flaws at the plate, but he’s young and may yet figure things out. But regardless, he looks to be the superior defender at second base.

One could argue Baez is just as reliable as Zobrist when playing second base. But Baez also has a certain expeditiousness to his game that Zobrist does not. He may well be the best tagger in all of baseball. The duo of Baez and Willson Contreras on throw-downs is absolutely lethal. The Cubs should justifiably want more of that.

Next: Grading Tommy La Stella

At least for this year, Zobrist probably isn’t going anywhere. But he may begin to see more of a diminished role. This means less starts at second base and more appearances in the outfield. Possibly even less starts overall. That will depend on whether or not he rebounds with the bat.