The White Sox have signed shortstop Alcides Escobar to a minor league contract, the team announced to reporters (Twitter link via The Athletic’s James Fegan). He won’t, however, report to big league camp and is expected to open the season as infield depth in Triple-A.
Escobar, 32, is no stranger to the AL Central, having spent the past eight seasons with the Royals. He’s provided Kansas City with quality defense and baserunning but significantly below-average offense, as evidenced by his career .258/.293/.343 slash line in 5702 MLB plate appearance. His bat has actually trended down over the past couple of seasons, when he hit .242/.275/.338 in 1160 PAs.
The White Sox’ infield currently projects to have Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson and Yolmer Sanchez line up at third base, shortstop and second base, respectively, which are the three main positions Escobar can play. Jose Rondon is the primary utility infield option, though Leury Garcia typically sees a bit of time around the infield in addition to logging significant innings in the outfield.
And i thought the braves did a cannon ball into the dumpster signing tomlin…until this post.
Organizational depth move. Creates a nice cushion to at least get a Major League ready glove in case if injury/suspension. Not too much to read into here folks.
Not a big deal. Although you still have to wonder why a team that clearly isn’t going to compete would waste minor league ABs on a guy like Escobar instead of young guys.
Bench role.
Perhaps because the White Sox don’t have an elite SS prospect in their system and none of their top-30 ones are ticketed for AAA duty to begin the 2019 season. Escobar is clearly an insurance policy in case of an injury to Tim Anderson and might also become the White Sox primary utility infielder should Jose Rondon struggle in that role to begin the season.
They might have a second baseman who might be on a fast-track to the south side who they think might learn something by playing next to an experienced great defensive major league shortstop…
Except that Nick Madrigal figures to begin the 2019 season at AA Birmingham and get plenty of great mentoring from new manager Omar Vizquel. Madrigal is on a fast-track and could conceivably see AAA later this summer with an outside chance of making his MLB debut as well.
Manny Machado, eat your heart out!
We don’t have enough players that can’t hit i guess
This is a coaching role that gets a roster spot. Nothing more. Escobar has been done for 2 years now. He’s just there to teach young guys how to play defense.
Dumpster Diving Hahn