Mr. EFL Answer Man

The Jaso Gambit

Dear Mr. EFL Answer Man:

I want Ben Zobrist so badly.  Now he’s been traded, along with Yunel Escobar, to the A’s for major leaguer John Jaso and two minor leaguers.  I have three burning questions:  

1.) Does this affect my ability to snag Zobrist in the free agent draft?

2.) I didn’t realize the A’s had any minor leaguers left.

3.) Why do the M’s always get stuck with Ruggiano/Smith monsters of mediocrity while the A’s always get the underrated stars?

— Hypothetical EFL Owner

Dear Hypo:

Let’s take your insightful questions one at a time.

1.  Zobrist is already on our free agent list because his contract with the Dragons expired last fall. His MLB contract for 2015 is 1 year at $7.5 million, making the minimum bid for most of us $7,750,000 for one year, $6,000,000 for two years, $4.5 million for 3, or $5,000,000 for four. (The Dragons can begin the bidding, if they want, by matching the value of Zobrist’s current MLB contract, since they have matching rights.)

However, this deal does open a sneaky second path toward snagging Zobrist. John Jaso is also available in the free agent draft, with Cottage having matching rights.

We don’t yet know how much Jaso’s MLB contract will be  — he’s slated to go through arbitration later this month — but mlbtraderumors.com projects that he’ll get a contract worth about $3.3 million.  So if someone were to put up Jaso before Zobrist, he could potentially win that bid and then immediately trade Jaso for Zobrist.

That sneaky owner would be on the hook for the rest of the draft for either Zobrist’s $7.5 million, or whatever he bidded for Jaso, whichever was highest.  If Jaso was the higher figure, the new Zobrist owner’s obligation to him would expire after the draft. Either way, the sneaky Zobrist owner would be on the hook for $7.5 million for the rest of the year.

What about Escobar?  He is a Cheese, on a contract expiring next fall.  The Cheese would have the option of throwing him into the deal — and can wait to decide about that until the Jaso for Zobrist trade is announced.  This might complicate the sneaky owner’s plans since maybe he wouldn’t want Escobar at $4,750,000 for a year.  Or the Cheese could hold him out of the deal, so the sneaky owner would just get Zobrist.  Or the Cheese could negotiate with the new Zobrist owner about whether to include or exclude Escobar.  (Of course, this gives the Cheese an advantage if anyone tries the Jaso Gambit, since only Cottage doesn’t have to worry about accidentally acquiring a moderately expensive shortstop.)

Of course this whole scenario makes less sense if the sneaky owner wants Zobrist for more than one year.

2.  Are you saying the A’s are the clown car of the major leagues? I advise you to be more careful about what you post on the web.

3.  Clearly Billy Beane has more access to the wily insights of EFL owners than Jack Z does.  Tom — isn’t it about time you started having weekly coffees with Mr. Zduriencik? And I wonder who the A’s mole is within the EFL…

— Mr. Answer Man

3 Comments

  • Hey! Wait a minute! So long as Seth Smith bats only against righties, he’s pretty good. No “monster of mediocrity” he!

  • Hey! Wait a minute! Are you saying that if somebody acquires Jaso and trades him for Zobrist, that I can force Escobar’s contract on him?

  • Dave — anyone who takes the Jaso Gambit route to get Zobrist is taking the risk that he’ll have to take Escobar, too.