Chicago Cubs: Ben Zobrist’s return fills a need for team

Ben Zobrist has been away from the Chicago Cubs since early May. His return comes at the perfect time as the trade deadline looms.

If Ben Zobrist‘s departure from the team indicated anything, it was a glimpse of what the Chicago Cubs might look like in 2020. He’s been away from team since May 8 dealing with a personal matter at home and it’s being reported that he could begin a rehab start as soon as next weekend.

Zobrist, 38, signed a 4-year contract during the 2015 offseason, fresh off helping the Kansas City Royals win their first World Series since 1985. He along with Jon Lester are arguably the two best free agent signings this franchise has ever signed. Yes, I know they signed Andre Dawson way back when, but Dawson didn’t result in a World Series championship on the north side.

If you recall, Zobrist smacked the game-winning double down the left-field line in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, thus ending the 108 championship drought. He was named MVP of the Fall Classic for his efforts and the Cubs are hoping he can deliver again.

It was painfully obvious that the team missed his presence on the field and in the clubhouse as the team utilized Daniel Descalso, David Bote, Addison Russell, and Robel Garcia at second base attempting to fill his spot. Garcia is far too early to make a determination on but the other three have yielded minimal results at best.

Descalso has had the worst half-season of his career and has just 5 plate appearances in the second half of the season. Russell was recently sent down to Iowa due to his disastrous game on Saturday, followed by his comments that he’s still learning the signs five years into the league.

With the MLB trade deadline on Wednesday, the Cubs were still searching for options to replace Zobrist. Eric Sogard, David Peralta, Whit Merrifield, and Nick Castellanos have all been mentioned as players the Cubs were rumored to have interest in. Now that’s not to say they still don’t have some level of interest despite Zobrist returning, it’s just as big of a need right now.

In a sense, Zobrist’s return is like a trade deadline acquisition without having to give up something in return. I still expect the Cubs to be aggressive prior to Wednesday’s deadline but they aren’t forced to give up one of their top prospects.

Now we anxiously wait to see how Zobrist returns from his personal matters and if he can focus on baseball. The Cubs will be relying on him in his final year under contract with the team to make another deep postseason run.