NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The dominos started falling for the Cubs on Tuesday night at the Opryland, signing Ben Zobrist to a four-year, $56 million deal and flipping Starlin Castro to the New York Yankees.
The Cubs made the moves in concert at the winter meetings, landing the super-utility guy who’s been one of Joe Maddon’s all-time favorite players and trading a three-time All-Star shortstop for pitcher Adam Warren and a player to be named later (reportedly infielder Brendan Ryan).
The Cubs tried to acquire Zobrist twice within the last year – but couldn’t make a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays or Oakland A’s – and needed to get creative to pull off this deal.