The Orioles announced this afternoon that veteran shortstop Alcides Escobar, who had been in camp as a non-roster invitee, has been granted his release. He’s now a free agent.
Escobar went 7-for-32 with a pair of doubles, four strikeouts and four walks in his brief time with the Orioles this spring before exercising an opt-out clause in his contract. He’ll now search for another club in need of some infield depth. With Escobar now out of the picture, both of Baltimore’s Rule 5 picks — Richie Martin and Drew Jackson — stand an increased chance of breaking camp with the team.
The 32-year-old Escobar has spent the past eight seasons with the Royals organization, generally providing Kansas City with quality defense and baserunning but significantly below-average offensive output. He’s a carer .258/.293/.343 hitter in 5702 Major League plate appearances, including a dismal .242/.275/.338 slash in 1160 PAs over the past two seasons. Given that lack of offense, Escobar isn’t likely to land another shot as a regular, but his speed-and-defense approach to the game could make him a useful bench piece — particularly if he is amenable to moving around the diamond a bit, as he did in his final season with the Royals.
The end of his overrated career?
*you spelled underrated wrong
He was never considered great to be overrated?
Well, he was an all star with a .600 ops, and a lead off hitter for a World Series team with a sub .300 obp. If he wasn’t overrated by all of you, then he certainly was by the Royals, but I guess they did win a World Series.
Wasn’t everyone on that roster an “all star” because Royals and Royals fans stuffed the ballots with their guys?
Yep, but Escobar was by far the worst. Probably a big reason why they modified the voting format.
Yep, I remember after the Padres were in the 1984 WS, the next season Padres fans stuffed the ballot box too, and 5 Padres started the ’85 ASG, four of them (Gwynn, Garvey, Nettles and Kennedy) voted by the fans and the starting pitcher, LaMarr Hoyt, was named to start. It was silly – only Gwynn and Nettles were deserving – but, hey, the NL won. Fun fact about the 1985 ASG – 8 of the 9 AL starters are in the Hall of Fame, and the 9th, Lou Whitaker, should be. Only two of the NL starters (Gwynn and Smith) are in the Hall, and none of the rest deserve to be in.
Champions live forever.
And he wasn’t just along for the ride, he had a monster ALCS in 2014. I was one of Esky’s biggest critics the last few years, but I don’t feel robbed as a Royals fan for him having been on the team.
Though as an O’s fan I do feel robbed (referring to that ALCS of course) ;-)
I think he might be the first ever player to be the most underrated overrated player
Your not even Rated
Looks like Hanser Alberto made the team!
Doubtful. Drew Jackson will probably serve as a super utility.
He wasn’t even worth that, a non-roster invite, due to the wasted paper involved .
ABOUT TIME!
Whoever thought he was good was fooled big time.
Ned Yost.
who?
He will find somewhere to play.
Sugarland Skeeters maybe
If Jose Iglesias had to settle for a MiLB deal, Escobar isn’t going to find anybody who wants him on a MLB roster. -0.3 fWAR doesn’t make for a lot of opportunity.
this guy will be in a pirates uniform sometime in 2019