J.J. Hardy bypassing free agency to sign a three-year, $40 million contract extension with the Orioles yesterday has further weakened the always shallow pool of free agent shortstops.
All of which makes this interesting: Asdrubal Cabrera, who’s been a shortstop for most of his career, indicated that he’d like to re-sign with the Nationals after playing second base for Washington down the stretch.
Cabrera’s agent will probably get in his ear and point out that he’d be one of the only veteran shortstops on the market and might be able to coax some team into overpaying, but here’s what Cabrera told James Wagner of the Washington Post:
Wagner specifically asked Cabrera if he’d be willing to play second base to remain with the Nationals and he replied “I don’t know, it depends” while mentioning wanting to win a World Series.
Cabrera is 29 years old and defensive metrics no longer think he’s much of a shortstop, so second base is where most teams should want him, but supply and demand may dictate remaining at shortstop and getting paid a whole bunch to do so.