The Bernstein Brief: Cubs' Moves Were A Long Time Coming
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) Neither one of the Cubs' deals Tuesday at the Winter Meetings was any kind of surprise, and the fact that they made them connectedly only served to underscore that.
Their desire to trade infielder Starlin Castro had been one of baseball's worst-kept secrets for some time, with this regime never fully trusting him either on the field or off despite their best efforts to shore up both. His late surge after his benching last year only provided more impetus to find a taker who might see a glimpse of renewed value.
The Cubs have coveted Ben Zobrist forever, always seeing him as versatile veteran glue for a young lineup. The advanced-metrics darling brings his 36.8 career fWAR to Chicago, but it's curious that he got four years and a no-trade clause for the first three seasons. He'll be 35 in May and is coming off the least productive full season of his career in terms of WAR. Zobrist hit .276 with 13 homers and 56 RBIs in 126 games split between the Athletics and Royals.
On both fronts, though, the Cubs got what they have wanted.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.