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Cubs News: Theo Epstein on possible return of Ben Zobrist


by - Senior Editor -

Where's Zo?

Cubs veteran utility player Ben Zobrist has been on the restricted list for most of the season as he works through a divorce.

Cubs President of Operations Theo Epstein was on 670 The Score Friday and gave the latest on the possibility of Zobrist's return to the Cubs for the second half of the season.

"We're going to know something more in about a week, and that will be when it's time to ultimately make a decision," Epstein said on the radio show. "Because he'll need to really ramp up baseball activities or not. It's still at the point where we're not counting on this at all.

"We're approaching the point where he'll be all in or it'll be ruled out through mutual agreement because there's a requisite amount of time where he'll have to get back into real, full baseball activities and play a bunch of minor league games," he said. "So we're getting there. He's well aware of that, and we are too. Like I said, we're not counting on it. We're not going to plan our roster around it, but if he does give us that word that things will allow him to give a full commitment and come back, then you look into September and hopefully October and that's an addition that can only help us in a variety of ways."

Cubs manager Maddon would love to have 38-year-old Zobrist back in the lineup.

"Overall, if you could maybe just add that element where one more consistent bat in there — a real pro at-bat," Maddon said recently to the media. "Like, we're missing Zobrist. That's a perfect guy, but he's not here anytime soon. Zo fits into what we're doing so well. We miss that, I believe."

Zobrist is hitting .241 with zero homers, one extra-base hit, and 10 RBIs in 26 games (83 total at-bats) in 2019.

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