Thanks for the memories: Mets likely out on Cespedes

On Tuesday night, the Chicago Cubs were able to swoop in and sign Zobrist to a four-year, $56 million deal. Friedman, now the President of Baseball Operations with the Dodgers, was in the Rays front office when Zobrist was with Tampa. Zobrist is expected to become the everyday second baseman which means the Cubs will have to trade either Javier Baez or Starlin Castro to clear room for Zobrist to get everyday at-bats. The Nationals and Giants were among the other teams that had shown strong interest in Zobrist in recent days. “He felt we did a good job, but he chose to go in a different direction, which we knew all along could be a possibility”.

“He mentioned to us, at this stage, although he’s versatile, it’s easier to have a place to go on a semi-regular basis and then move around”, Ricco said.

Although the team partly addressed that by firing manager Matt Williams and replacing him with veteran skipper Dusty Baker, it would be natural for Zobrist to wonder what sort of situation he’s entering.

The Mets really seemed to be all-in on trying to sign Zobrist, who was a major reason why the Mets lost in the World Series.

“It’s disappointing. I’m going to be honest”, Ricco said.

“I’ve talked to his people, I haven’t spoken to him directly, but we’ve spoken to his people on several occasions over the week”, he explained. “I think that it could be as early as the [Winter] Meetings, but it could drag on past the Meetings”.

Heyman added that the Nationals, Giants and Mets are better fits for Zobrist over the Dodgers, but LA could push the other teams out by offering a more lucrative deal. Ken Rosenthal reports that Zobrist “wants to make decision at meetings” and that he is “focused” on “NYM, WAS, SF” and that it could be “difficult” for the Dodgers to get him this late in the game. Team officials arrived at these Winter Meetings with no defined Plan B behind Zobrist, whom they believed would be an upgrade over free-agent Daniel Murphy at second base.

“We’ve been in contact with him and continue to stay in contact”, Ricco said.

There have also been rumors about the Mets looking to acquire Neil Walker from the Pittsburgh Pirates to fill the void left by Murphy.

The New York Mets were just three wins away from a World Series title in 2015.