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Zobrist, Escobar Headed to Oakland

The Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics reached a deal that will apparently ship Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar to Oakland, in exchange for John Jaso and prospects Daniel Robertson and Boog Powell.  Several reports haven broken the story Saturday afternoon including Ken Rosenthal or Fox Sports and Keith Law of ESPN.

The Rays were thought to be shopping one or both of Zobrist and Escobar after reaching a deal with free agent Asdrubal Cabrera at the end of December.

Zobrist, 33, has played all nine of his major league seasons in Tampa.  A former 6th round pick of the Houston Astros back in 2004, hit .272 last season with an on-base-percentage of .354.  It was rumored that several teams were looking to acquire his services for two reasons.  One he can play pretty much anywhere on the field, and two he is in the final year of his contract and is only owed $7.5 million.

Escobar, 32, was acquired by the Rays in the 2012 offseason and spent the last two seasons there playing both short stop and the outfield.

The Oakland A’s have been busy this offseason with trades and signings like only Billy Beane can.  They had to give up their #1 prospect according to MLB.com in Daniel Robertson and outfield prospect Boog Powell, as well as veteran John Jaso.  MLBTradeRumors was mentioning that Jaso will act as the primary designated hitter for the Rays while also filling in as catcher.

 

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