The Cubs have agreed to a contract with left-hander Edwin Escobar, according to reporter Luis Enrique Morales (X link). The details of the deal are not currently known, though Escobar has updated his personal Instagram page to reflect his new team.
Escobar, 32 in April, was a consensus top-100 prospect prior to the 2014 season. After making his professional debut in the Rangers organization, Escobar spent several years with the Giants before being swapped to the Red Sox in the deal that sent Jake Peavy to San Francisco at the 2014 trade deadline. Escobar made his MLB debut with Boston later that year, allowing one run on one hit and a hit batter while striking out two and walking none. After spending the 2015 season in the minors, Escobar resurfaced with the Diamondbacks in 2016 and struggled badly with a 7.23 ERA and 5.93 FIP in 23 2/3 innings of work.
While Escobar was claimed off waivers by Cleveland early in the 2016-17 offseason, he was released later that same offseason to pursue opportunities overseas. Since then, Escobar has spent seven seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, pitching for the Yokohama Bay Stars and Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. In that time, he’s logged 395 appearances overseas with a 3.17 ERA and a 23.3% strikeout rate in 392 1/3 innings of work. Since the start of the 2019 season, he’s been even more impressive with a 2.71 ERA and a 24% strikeout rate.
Now, Escobar is set to return to stateside ball for the first time since the 2016 season. He’ll do so with a Cubs team that’s in clear need of bullpen upgrades; Chicago’s relief corps was middle-of-the-pack last season in terms of ERA (3.85), FIP (4.05), and fWAR (4.4) while posting the league’s second-highest walk rate (11%).
Adbert Alzolay performed respectably as the Cubs’ closer. It’s certainly feasible that right-handers Mark Leiter Jr. and Julian Merryweather will be able to contribute once again in 2024, but the club’s bullpen has little certainty beyond those provisional top three arms, particularly if Javier Assad’s services are required in the starting rotation). Escobar also provides the club with some needed left-handed depth, after Brandon Hughes was non-tendered last week.
I got scared for a second thinking they signed Eduardo Escobar.
Ditto
Angry – Not me, I got scared because I thought they signed Pablo Escobar.
Scared? Scared they signed bones? Pablo will be dead 30 yrs in 1 week.
Plata o Plomo!!!
His Hippos are still doing well.
Actually, I think they’ve gone about trying to cull them again.
30 years. Wow.
The Guardians were runner-ups.
Source?
Ya me too. I had them being more aggressive this off-season. Just a minor depth move though. Eduardo feels more like a one year to a team like the Nats this year.
That would be a good signing for them.
Hopefully Edwin Escobar is not the only former Nippon Professional Baseball player the Cubs sign this offseason. ⚾️
This is not the Ham Fighter you were looking for.
Just to be “that guy”, they’re the Fighters. Nippon Ham is the name of the company that sponsors, or used to sponsor, the team.
Continuing to be “that other guy”, here is the full history of your Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokkaido_Nippon-Ham_Fighters
Thanks Captain Obvious !
The Cubs may corner the market on former Nippon-Ham Fighters. They could also sign FA reliever Anthony Bass and re-acquire SP Yu Darvish. The top of their priority list will be a certain unicorn.
I’ll settle for Escobar, Shohei Ohtani and former Orix Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto. 🙂
Darvish back to chi is an interesting trade/possibility even with his no trade clause. No doubt the new ownership in sdp will be looking to cut salary and long-term fiscal commitments.
I thought only the White Sox signed players who were good 10 years ago.
No, Cardinals too.
Except he wasn’t good 10 years ago.
Actually he’s been much better recently in Japan than he was in MLB 10 years ago. He’s not like that at all.
“Actually he’s been much better recently in Japan”
Generally speaking:
Great in Japan translates to great in America.
Okay in Japan translates to AAAA.
No. The White Sox sign former Indians specifically from the 90s: Alomars (plural), Thome, Manny, Albert, Vizquel, Kenny, Bartolo, Bryan Shaw
This might be a pretty good move. I was kind of hoping for a Chafin reunion, but I’m sure they did their homework here. Those numbers are encouraging.
I dunno, he did not look good last year.
Seems like a decent signing. Not sure how much he’s being paid, but shoring up the bullpen is a good move.
I laughed knowing that’s true then realized Escobar wasn’t good ten years ago.
I will take 2 more from across the left coast, please!! One already resides here!
Cubs fans thought they were going after Ohtani rofl…
Yeah. I don’t think this was the relief P signing that’s exciting enough to get Ohtani here. Although I have no idea why Ohtani is worried about who the relievers ARE in the first place since he’s not pitching this year.
He’ll want to sign with a team that has a good bullpen if his goal is to win a world series championship somewhere.
Why are so many fans of other teams worried about what the Cubs do? Do you think this signing precludes the Cubs from going after Ohtani?
Well I am a Cub fan and I never even thought the Cubs had a shot at Ohtani before about a week ago. I still put the odds at no better than 25 or 30 % at best. Since Ohtani has imposed some kind of gag order on negotiations all you have is this kind of speculation. Hoyer spent time in Japan scouting lots of guys over there. It’s getting obvious they still view Luke Little as a starter and haven’t got much faith in Horn and they traded Brendan Little away and let Hughes walk. Hoyer always goes cheap on relievers, It’s his M.O.
I believe its an indication of the Cubs direction, signing cheap players
@VegasSDfan
Yeah, it isn’t. But have fun trading Soto and having an even older more injury-prone starting staff.
You swung and missed worse than Patrick Wisdom…
Me? How? If Hoyer is signing cheap LH relief P’s then he obviously doesn’t like what he has. I’m pretty sure they still believe Leiter can get out Lefties and Little was a starter up until June last year when they switched him because it was obvious Hughes lost something. Counsell must want a certain mixture of P’s for his bullpen so it remains to be seen who or what he wants because that’s probably his greatest strength as a Manager and Ross’s worst. At 6’8″ Little could end up being the Ace of the staff as a starter, Seems kind of a waste to put him in the pen unless there is no other option.
Leiter is good, just was overworked last season. For some reason, Ross just kept going to the same few relievers all the time, regardless of the score. Liked Ross but he decimated the bullpen down the stretch.
I wasn’t referring to you Mike, the Padres fan who laughed at this signing despite his team making a very similar and success move (Nick Martinez) a few years prior.
However, I don’t care the Hoyer is “cheap” on the bullpen. Most relievers are not good enough/consistent enough to invest big money in.
I just happened to be in here when it posted and Pads fan 2nd comment hadn’t shown up yet. I thought maybe you were referring to my Wisdom hatred. LOL Hoyer has been pretty good at signing low cost relievers, But I’m not sure this is a season to go cheap. Not every signing is going to be a gem, I get it.
Yeah, because signing a cheap reliever from Japan totally excludes the Cubs from signing upper tier talent right? Lol, I’d be more worried about what your Padres do.
Yeah I agree. the Cubs are going to make a splash on at least 2 guys. It’s obvious that everybody is holding their cards close to the vest until the top 2 names fall. Or to be more exact, Whoever each teams top 2 guys fall. Once that happens bodies will fall like dominoes. I’m more interested in what Hoyer does at the winter meetings because that’s when most important trades get done. I think the Cubs might get more done in trades than FA. Just a feeling. Every signing doesn’t have to be a blockbuster to be successful. This is a guy nobody has seen pitch stateside in 7 years but the Cubs scout extensively around the World.
wtf bro hes ass, wisdom is better at 3b then this dude
Patrick Wisdom sucks at 3B but I’ll concede he’s likely better at the hot corner than reliever Edwin Escobar if only because the latter is a southpaw. 🙂
You must be mistaking him for Eduardo Escobar, the infielder.
That or he meant to comment on the Christopher Morel article which had plenty of discussion regarding Patrick Wisdom’s defensive acumen or lack of it.
yea I only read the name lmao, mb this is a rly soild pickup
Why does this site repeat transactions, didn’t this appear on here a week ago?
No. This is new.
@ Mike: Ohtani is not coming to Chicago. He wants a consistent winner first and the West Coast second. So why would he not sign with the Dodgers? They offer both. The Cubs offer neither. It doesn’t make sense. Think about it. And I’m a Cubs fan who would LOVE to see him in a Cubs uni. Ain’t gonna happen. He’s either going to sign with the Dodgers (winning & west coast); Rangers (winning) or stay with the Angels (where he’s comfortable and won’t get bombarded with media).
Well, no one “knows” what this guy wants. If all he wanted was to play for a winner he would signed originally with the Dodgers over the Angels. We’ll know soon enough.
At the time the DH was not in the national league, had the DH be around then when Otani was available he would have signed with the Dodgers then.
Who knows? But we all will see what happens and who signs where in the upcoming months.
If the NL had the DH the Cubs were ahead of the Dodgers on his list at the time. In fact the Cubs were totally in on Ohtani from the beginning and had a World Series team at the time. Until Moreno hurled himself into the bidding with an open checkbook and thought he was at a strip joint.
Hey. Lefties can play 3B. Just ask Mike Squires. LOL
He did win a GG for the Sox when he played 1st base.
Geez you watch – almost every offseason the Cubs are said to be shopping at Whole Foods when they always end up at Walmart.
By far the biggest name that will come from the NPB this off-season!
I like ham.
But do you like fighting hams?
I’m not prejudiced. I don’t care what my ham does before I eat it.
Probably a minor league deal, his peripheral stats took a tumble during the 2022-2023 seasons compared to his previous NPB numbers