Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Eduardo Escobar
Position: INF
Bats/Throws: S/R
Age: 32 (1/5/1989)
Traditional Stats: 146 games, .253/.314/.472, 26 2B’s, 28 HR’s, 90 RBI
Advanced Stats: 107 wRC+, 3.0 fWAR, .334 WOBA
Defensive Stats: 2.0 UZR, -2 OAA
Rundown
After all the trade deadline rumors, and J.D. Davis’ comments towards the end of the year, it seems more and more likely he will not be back with the Mets next season. If that does end up being the case, they’ll certainly be in the market for a new third baseman this winter.
Kris Bryant, Carlos Correa, Trevor Story, and the rest of the big-name infielders will certainly garner most of the attention. However, one of the more underrated infielders and power bats on the market the Mets should strongly consider looking into is Eduardo Escobar.
Escobar is heading into his twelfth season at the big league level. He first broke into the league in 2011 with the Chicago White Sox. He spent a year and a half there before being shipped over to the Minnesota Twins.
Escobar finally began to come into his own in a Twins uniform. In 2014, he set a new career-high with 35 doubles and hit .275 with a .721 OPS. From there he took off, and eventually put together a breakout season in 2017.
Escobar hit 16 doubles and ripped 21 homers while driving in 73 runs over 129 games. He spent the first half of 2018 with the Twins before being traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks at the deadline.
He re-signed with the D-Backs over the offseason and enjoyed a monster year in his first full season in Arizona. Escobar had a .820 OPS, and ripped a career-high 35 homers with 118 RBI over 158 games.
He was named to his first All-Star team in 2021, and with his contract set to expire was again traded at the deadline, this time to the Milwaukee Brewers. Escobar slotted into the middle of their order perfectly, hitting six homers and posting a .800 OPS.
He finished the year with 26 doubles and 28 homers while driving in 90 runs over 146 games. All three of these marks would’ve ranked second amongst the struggling Mets offense for the season.
For his career, he has a .777 OPS, 108 OPS+, .321 OBP, and he’s a .277 hitter against left-handed pitching. Defensively, he has spent time at second, third, shortstop, first base, and even the outfield.
Escobar has been one of the more underrated infielders in the game on both sides of the ball over the past few seasons.
Contract
Escobar will be playing next season at 33-years old. After another strong year both at the plate and in the field, he will likely be looking for one last bigger payday in his big league career.
The last contract he signed, which expired this year, was a three-year, $21 million deal with the Diamondbacks. He may be looking for something similar, possibly for a little more money, as he hits the open market again this off-season.
Escobar figures to have many suitors, but around a two-year deal worth about $16-18 million ($8-10 annually) could be what he ends up receiving. Michael Ginnitti of Spotrac projects he’ll sign a three-year deal worth around $30 million.
Escobar is represented by DJ Rengifo Y Associates who has other clients such as Ildemaro Vargas and Alexi Amarista amongst others.
Recommendation
If the Mets were to look to spend big in other areas, and shop in the second-tier for third base, Escobar would make a ton of sense for them.
With his pop and past success against left-handed pitching, he’d be a tremendous addition to the middle of the Mets order. On top of that, his defensive versatility is certainly something that could be very valuable for this Mets team.
The Mets also severely lacked a veteran presence on last season’s team. Escobar alone may not be the complete answer, but he certainly would be a step in the right direction and a great addition to this locker room.
On top of that, a two or three-year deal would make a ton of sense for the Mets. Escobar would be an immediate upgrade over Davis at third, and the two-to-three-year window would allow him to hold down the fort until top prospect Brett Baty is big-league ready.
If Baty were to be ready to take over full-time at the hot corner before the contract expires, Escobar’s versatility would make it easy to make things work.
If you flashback to the 2014 trading deadline, Escobar actually could’ve been a Met. The Twins had interest in either starting pitchers Dillon Gee or Bartolo Colon in exchange for Escobar, but Sandy Alderson and the Mets had no interest and Minnesota decided to move on.
It’s not too late for Alderson and his gang to make things right this time around. If they decide to allocate their resources elsewhere, I’d love to see Escobar as a fallback option to take over at the hot corner in Queens.
