Brewers: 3 Trade Targets To Track During The Season

3. Eduardo Escobar, 3B

Once again, we look at the hot corner as a position that might need to be altered if things don’t shake out the way David Stearns wants them to. This time we look at Eduardo Escobar, current third baseman for the Arizona Diamondbacks. And this isn’t the first time we’ve mentioned Escobar as a potential fit for the Crew.

Similar to Kyle Seager, he’s been in the league for 10 years and is about to enter the last year of his current contract. Acquiring Escobar if the current options at third base don’t work out may not move the needle and make Milwaukee instant World Series contenders, but he has a nice track record and would more than likely provide a spark.

In 2020 he didn’t really display the kind of power numbers you’d like from your third baseman but in 2019, Escobar was a wrecking ball. That year, he slashed .269/.320/.511 with an OPS+ of 110, 35 home runs, 118 RBI’s and an MLB-leading 10 triples. In a year that was wacky for plenty of the top players in the game, I don’t buy into his 2020 numbers too much as he even posted solid years leading up to his breakout in ‘19.

He is pretty well below average at third base defensively, committing the third most errors at third base in all of the MLB last year with eight. And according to Baseball Savant he was in the 24th percentile in ‘Outs Above Average’. So defense isn’t his specialty by any means, but if the Crew could revitalize the 2019 version of Escobar, it could still pay major dividends.

A trade package for Escobar would look fairly similar to what was discussed in the first hypothetical including Kyle Seager.

David Stearns would probably look at a prospect towards the middle to back half of the Top 30 list and considering the lack of outfield depth for Arizona right now.

Corey Ray is a viable option who’s had his struggles moving up the ranks but a change of scenery may prove beneficial. If the D-Backs were looking for someone more MLB ready maybe they’d take a chance on Tyrone Taylor who’s playing pretty well in Spring along with another prospect or two.

A final point on Escobar is his versatility at the plate as a switch hitter, providing balance for Craig Counsell wherever he would decide to put him in the lineup. As mentioned before, the Brewers upper management would have to be quite displeased with their situation at third base to make a move like this, but it is a possibility with the unsteadiness that the four players mentioned above have shown with the bat.

These three guys will more than likely be moved at some point during the season. And the question isn’t whether they’ll produce this year, but rather where they’ll do that producing come Fall.