The Cubs have been without utilityman Ben Zobrist since May 8 because of a personal matter. Three weeks later, they remain unsure whether Zobrist will return this season, according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Teammates and manager Joe Maddon are among those lamenting the respected Zobrist’s absence, as detailed in Wittenmyer’s piece. Asked if Zobrist won’t come back in 2019, Maddon admitted, “I have to think that way, absolutely,” adding the Cubs must “mentally be prepared” that his season is over. Even if Zobrist does return, Maddon noted that “it’s going to take him a while to get back up to speed.”
Zobrist is in the last season of his contract with the Cubs, who signed him to a four-year, $56MM pact entering the 2016 campaign. He’s on a $12MM salary this year, but it’s unclear if Zobrist is collecting that money while he’s on the restricted list. This season’s issues notwithstanding, the contract has worked out swimmingly for the Cubs.
The switch-hitting, multi-positional Zobrist was one of the Cubs’ most valuable players from 2016-18, including when he helped the team to its first World Series title since 1908 in the initial season of the deal. The 38-year-old got off to a rough start on the field this season before going on leave, however, and now it’s unknown whether he’ll suit up for the Cubs again.
I hope he comes back this year, he is needed by the Cubs.
Honestly, I feel for the guy. I have been in a somewhat similar situation myself. He was out working all around the country making (In Zobrists case) millions of dollars a year while likely having temptation thrown at him over and over again. He turns it down every time, not because he didn’t want to (every man has at least 1 part of their body always telling them to), but because he respected his wife, his children and the overall state of his family. He then comes home to find out that the wife (who unquestionably had far less frequent temptation) whom he had supported with an extraordinarily lavish lifestyle stabbed him in the back while either thinking they could get away with it and lie to him or just didn’t care about keeping her own family together for their children. I know men do this to women all the time, but my guess is that I would be hard pressed to find someone a man that was married to a woman with this much loyalty/fidelity for their family whom also made $12+ million annually to support them all and cheated on her behind her back. I know she probably made a mistake and might regret it but he was likely giving her more than any man she ever met could/would. He likely dealt with a lot more temptation and stayed loyal out of respect for her. Why couldn’t she relax in her mansion and return the favor to him. He would look terrible if he tolerated that. It is not a burden he should ever have to bare. Now their children have a broken home and family. And for what?
What makes you so sure he’s the only victim here, that he’s never once cheated, and has resisted temptation while his wife can’t? Second, you honestly think you’d be “hard-pressed” to find a man making millions of dollars who would cheat on his wife? I’d wager that millionaires are the MOST likely to cheat.
Well said Britt
I hope he gets his personal life straightened out. Much more important than the Cubs.
This is weird, and I bet there is more to this that comes out later.
Sounds to most like the wife cheated and he’s fighting for custody based on that. He’s retired and going to raise his kids. Has enough money even splitting it with her.
Good on him if that’s the case. I feel for the guy. Hopefully he can turn it into a positive and give his kids a great life while knowing he had a great career.
Just talked to a relatively new neighbor of mine who hadn’t struck me as being particularly friendly before tonight and even sometimes dowright sour.
Turns out he’s been going through a nightmare of a divorce.
I realize this is a non-baseball comment but coupled with Zobrist’s story reminded me how everyone’s got problems now and then. Hope all is well with Ben, whatever he decides baseball-wise.
I sincerely hope he gets on track soon and finds a space in life where he feels good again. This is certainly a reminder that, even though these sportspeople seem superhuman, they are still people that are no less susceptible to life challenges than you or I. Often, the limelight makes it worse.
I know he’s a cub employee, but I hope his personal life information stays private. Tough situation, hope everything turns for the best.
If the speculation that he’s halted his career to raise and support his kids is true, my respect for him has grown.
Of course. Heyward has to try and pick up Zobrists slack any way he can.
Actually, it’s been Addison Russell who is doing tbat, in a baseball sense, that is.
The moral of the story is don’t get married.
I’ve been married for a long time. My wife and I didn’t cheat on each other. We have two great sons who are now adults living great lives. Marriage still works.
That’s awesome IMO. I’ve never been married myself. I hope to some day, but I want to make sure it’s real first. I think people get married to quick these days and as a result get divorced too often. It’s almost like marriages and divorces have become a fad. My parents have been married for over 40 years and I just recently met a couple while they were celebrating their 75th anniversary. That almost seems impossible nowadays. I’m not a particularly religious man but I brought it up because my guess is that Zobrist is (based on the fact that I read his wife was a Christian music performer). The serious Christian guys I have met take their marriages a lot more seriously than some other people do… Especially if there are children involved. They wouldn’t cheat on their wives with a supermodel for all the money in the world. If Zobrist is that kind of guy, I really feel for him. It’s even worse if it happens when the cheater is being very well taken care of by the loyal person they are cheating on.
Anyone remember there were Zobrist trade rumors in offseason? Also does anyone realize he was hitting .241 with 0 home runs and a -0.2 WAR this year? I think it’s possible he needed a mental break from baseball whether it was due to a divorce or not. Cubs have plenty of depth in Russell, Bote, Descalso, Heyward, Bryant in the positions he mostly played so I think this was the nice of way of keeping him around rather than being forced to release him.
Anyone want to bet that if a couple significant injuries occur to Cubs or if Russell, Schwarber, etc get traded that somehow Zobrist will back around then?
His clubhouse presence is probably what is missed the most. Having been a part of close locker rooms in my time I can’t express how important a loss it is to lose a veteran with a strong clubhouse presence. They have plenty of depth and talent to win ball games, but it’s the examples that he sets and how well he picks up his teammates that is missed on a daily basis. I hope he does what is best for himself and his family.
Ok, so for 12 mil this year he’ll be the veteran pep talker?!?!
Maddon is getting the pom poms ready hoping for a Zobrist return!
Come on man, this is baseball and there’s no ring in baseball!
He doesn’t get paid since he left .
Cubs beat reporter said they were paying him right after he left but he didn’t think they were now.
This is so personal. Leave the guy alone, people!
One of the best people in the game. He is up there with Granderson with how much he does for the community and the respect he plays the game with.
Hopefully he is back on the diamond soon.
First let me say if the rumors are true, Ben has been dealt a terrible hand here. All the respect for him as a class act. I believe that he is retiring and at his age and what he has accomplished, I don’t blame him. However, if the Cubs are paying him, this is not what happens in the real world. Can you imagine if you take 3 weeks (and counting) off at your job without actually being physically incapacitated? If the Cubs aren’t paying him, are they continually going to hide behind the salary cap defense in not acquiring some type of relief help this season ? (You can’t count on Morrow…he might try to put his pants on again and injure himself) They are PRINTING money in Wrigley Field. Theo made some terrible signings, he’s deflecting the blame to Maddon and now we, as fans, have to pay by watching a defective roster. Based on what we have seen recently, I am sorry to say that some of the gloomy pre-season predictions might end up coming true.
The MLB Rule #15 covers the situations pertaining to what reasons may qualify a player to be put on the ‘Restricted List’. Alcohol abuse rehab, drug abuse rehab, legal problems with the law, and personal distressing issues are some of them. He fits under the personal.
Do most people take off work because they are going thru a divorce?
Maybe a day or 2 for court dates. Can’t blame him for feeling devastated though.
He may not be such an angel. There are two sides to every story.
This is none of my business. I hope he comes back, but that’s me being selfish as a fan and watching Descalso be terrible in every game now.
She’s a dog
Anyone else hearing the possibility of this being a teammate. Something not right with the fact he has left the team for this long.
With her father being an Evangelist minister and all in Iowa City, I can’t help but wonder what his position on all of this is. I’ve known a few Evangelists in my time and one thing I’ll say about them is that you never know what they’ll do at any given time. I’ve seen them be very compassionate and understanding with outsiders, friends and strangers. Counseling without judgment or criticism. But then they’ll go ballistic with their own family members. I even knew one who kicked his 16 year daughter out of the family home and told her to never return because she had gotten pregnant by her boyfriend. So I wonder what her father has had to say to her regarding her adultery.