3. Bye Bye Castro, Hello Zo
When Castro was traded to the Yankees in December of 2015, the Cubs were almost complete with their rebuild. The Yankees, on the other hand, were in the midst of rebuilding their own club. So when Theo Epstein spoke with Yankees GM Brian Cashman during the winter meetings in 2015, both sides had something to offer.
The teams struck a deal that sent Starlin Castro to New York for Adam Warren and Brendan Ryan but the financial part of that deal was key to clearing space for future World Series MVP, Ben Zobrist. A total of $38MM remained on the seven-year, $60MM contract extension Castro signed in 2012 to which the Yankees assumed the entire remainder of that deal.
By clearing that cap space, the Cubs were able to sign Ben Zobrist the very next day to a four-year, $56 million dollar deal.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20 looking at the Castro deal so it’s tough to say that Castro should be credited for pulling the trigger on his own trade (which he shouldn’t) but nobody can deny the fact that had Castro not been traded at that point, Ben Zobrist would never of been a Cub — hence, a World Series run would have been MUCH more difficult without Zobrist.
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I’m hoping when Castro steps in for his first at-bat today around 1:24 PM the Cubs fan base will give him the standing ovation that he deserves. I’ll be honest, Castro frustrated the shit out of me with his defensive lapses at short stop but I loved the fact that I never heard about him being a bad teammate — even during the “dark years” of Cubs baseball.
