Giants Interested In Ben Zobrist

The San Francisco Giants may be interested in Tampa Bay Rays infielder Ben Zobrist to add depth to both their infield and outfield.

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The Giants were reported to have interest in Ben Zobrist at the trade deadline last season when they appeared to be hurting for a new second baseman. The trade never materialized and the Giants ended up making a call-up in now second baseman Joe Panik.

However, they appear to be targeting Zobrist again, according to a story by Hard Ball Talk. Despite the team’s obvious decision in Panik at second, they still need both infield and outfield depth. Zobrist has around 1,000 defensive innings played in the outfield and infield over the course of his nine-year career. He has played second base, shortstop and right field in that span.

The Giants obviously don’t need help in right field as they have Hunter Pence, who constantly has a streak of most games played in a row going on. However, they could use him in left field over Gregor Blanco, who is the only option there, now that they’ve lost Michael Morse.

He can also take over at third base when Casey McGehee gets a day off, or even shortstop to fill in for Brandon Crawford, who sometimes gets random days off due to match-up problems that manager Bruce Bochy doesn’t like.

Zobrist is 33 and entering the final year of his contract in 2015. He had 654 plate appearances in 2014 and batted .272/.354/.395 with 10 home runs, 52 RBI and 10 stolen bases. He is worth 4.6 wins above replacement over his past six seasons according to Baseball Reference.

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