TIme to cut ties with Escobar?

[jsnpritchett]

He also hit .215/.284/.329 in Sept/Oct of last year--so perhaps this is an ongoing trend, rather than an aberration? Though he's also a .249/.312/.359 career hitter in April (vs. .282/.349/.384 overall for his career), so who the hell knows?

[Troll Daddy]

Just now, Stradling said:

Well currently our leadoff hitter is hitting .230.  So replacing that shouldn't be difficult and guess what, you get a glove at third instead of Escobar. 

You yourself said you would of picked up his option. So after one month you're giving up on a player who will probably bat close .300 this season. 

You're a terrible GM

[Stradling]

I think he would be a solid 1b/DH option.  Someone like Victor Martinez, but with less pop.  I am sure he will find his bat, but at some point 34-35 year old players regress, so it is natural to worry that that might be happening.  Since he doesn't bring value defensively, once he regressing with the bat, then he is pretty much useless. 

[Junkballer]

4 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

That was done in the off season. Giving up on players one month into a season is shear stupidity. 

If this is a an intentional typo alluding to Escobar's fashionista toolbox, sheerly brilliant.  

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, Troll Daddy said:

You yourself said you would of picked up his option. So after one month you're giving up on a player who will probably bat close .300 this season. 

You're a terrible GM

Yes I would have picked up his option and used him exactly as I have said I would use him.  You on the other hand would extend him, which is laughable or very trollish.

[tomsred]

6 minutes ago, Angels#1Fan said:

What most people don't seem to get is that if you get rid of Escobar it will take two players to replace him..a third baseman and a lead-off hitter and as far as I can see the only Angel on the roster that can lead-off is Trout and I don't think that would be prudent. I'm far more concerned about the pitching than Escobar.

 

Thank you.  This is a point we keep glossing over. If you remove him from the lead off spot you break down the rest of the order right now.  Cowart is not a lead off hitter.  If you replace Espinosa and Escobar with Cowart (hitting eight) and a second baseman like Sherman Johnson hitting leadoff maybe that would work, but that's a big gamble.  If the team was eight games under .500 right now, I might risk it.  But the season is only one month old, Espinosa and Escobar have a better chance of getting better than Cowart and Johnson have of providing immediate help.  Let's hope Cowart and Johnson prove themselves over a series of months at AAA, we are going to need them next year.

I too am more concerned about the pitching, right now we are too thin.  One or two more injuries and we might go right over the cliff.

[Angels#1Fan]

I wish we had a better option at third than Escobar but throwing out the baby with the bath water after only one month is not smart. So the guy is in a slump, every player goes through them.

We could bring up Cowart to play third and get better defense but the guy hasn't shown he can hit ML pitching and how long would it take for people to start complaining about Cowart hitting .180 and killing every rally?

Right now I'm more concerned about how to replace Richards, Skaggs, Street, etc.

[Troll Daddy]

6 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Yes I would have picked up his option and used him exactly as I have said I would use him.  You on the other hand would extend him, which is laughable or very trollish.

Extending him is always a possibility ... I wasn't encouraging it as you like to believe. I also said that Moustakas would be on my radar or a possible trade. 

Exactly how we're you going to use him Mr. GM?

[eligrba]

41 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

News flash!

Escobar is here to stay ... suck on that. You know it and I know it.

This is an example.

[Stradling]

5 minutes ago, Angels#1Fan said:

I wish we had a better option at third than Escobar but throwing out the baby with the bath water after only one month is not smart. So the guy is in a slump, every player goes through them.

We could bring up Cowart to play third and get better defense but the guy hasn't shown he can hit ML pitching and how long would it take for people to start complaining about Cowart hitting .180 and killing every rally?

Right now I'm more concerned about how to replace Richards, Skaggs, Street, etc.

So Cowart has had about as many at bats in his career as Escobar has had this year.  So if one isn't a large enough sample size to be critical of then neither is the other. 

[Angels#1Fan]

I just don't get the fascination with Cowart, he has a history of failure at the plate on a ML level to the tune of 5 walks and 42 K's in 139 at bats.

Escobar has a history of success at the ML level that encompasses 11 years with an average of .282! 

So he's in a slump, so what, who hasn't had one.

It would be great if Cowart could come up and hit like everyone hopes he can, but so far he hasn't and I don't think turning over the third base job to him because Escobar has had a bad month in the last 11 years is the smart thing to do.

[Stradling]

Maybe it is because Escobar sucks at every other thing you do as a baseball player.  Cowart hasn't shown much with the bat in very limited opportunities.  What we do know is he is great defensively and can run the bases.  Those are two things Escboar can't do.  Now I agree with you that Escobar very well could rebound and hit well this season.  Well that will make him about a 1 WAR player.  I am confident you could get that from Cowart based on defense alone.  I do find it strange that they built this team around defense and yet we still have Yunel at third. 

[Troll Daddy]

Escobar has been making mostly line drive outs  and getting his share of walks. I doubt the FO is in panic mode. 

He needs to continually work on his throws in practice ... extremely frustrating for everyone. His glove is solid imo. 

There's bigger fish to fry on the team. 

[Stradling]

Just now, Troll Daddy said:

Escobar has been making mostly line drive outs  and getting his share of walks. I doubt the FO is in panic mode. 

He needs to continually work on his throws in practice ... extremely frustrating for everyone. His glove is solid imo. 

There's bigger fish to fry on the team. 

yes there is bigger fish to fry, that is why we have threads about Espinosa and injuries to pitchers.  His glove is decent, although last night he misplayed one.  His throws are not good.

[Troll Daddy]

2 minutes ago, Stradling said:

yes there is bigger fish to fry, that is why we have threads about Espinosa and injuries to pitchers.  His glove is decent, although last night he misplayed one.  His throws are not good.

Nothing wrong with fans voicing their opinions and frustrations. Fact is we're 28 games into a 162 game season and the team is 3 games above .500 baseball.

i think we've seen the worst this team plays this season. Things are looking up my man. First place here we come! 

[Blarg]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

Yes and while he was struggling with the bat he was playing a very solid right field.  Escobar is hitting .230 and it is still his best quality, he is that bad defensively. 

It was the steroid era, hitting. 227 for an entire year was unacceptable. Except for Scioscia that was willing to wait it out. The same veteran waiting game he had for Salmon is the one everyone bitches about now 

[Chuck]

19 minutes ago, Blarg said:

It was the steroid era, hitting. 227 for an entire year was unacceptable. Except for Scioscia that was willing to wait it out. The same veteran waiting game he had for Salmon is the one everyone bitches about now 

Salmon earned it and despite the average had power and took walks... Escobar and Espinosa cannot come close to sniffing Salmon's excellence over their careers. 

[Troll Daddy]

13 minutes ago, hangin n wangin said:

It's only a possibility in your looney toon of a world.

Don't try to back off the stupidity of your comment. You flat out said to extend Escobar.

All you do is bitch and complain about everything ... must be fun being you. 

[Troll Daddy]

2 minutes ago, hangin n wangin said:

It's a forum. If I see a post that says we should extend Escobar, you bet your ass I'm going to call it out. Because that's flat out stupid.

It was a discussion on third base and the comment was meant as tongue in cheek. Although, the possibility is real. Depends on how the season ends and what other options are available. You have to be a real dumbass if you think otherwise ... btw don't take that comment personally. 

[HaloNArizona]

The wildcard in all of this is going to be Valbuena....

He can play 3rd, 2nd and first....If CJ pulls he head out of his ass and hits more like 2016, we can shift Valbuena to either 2nd or 3rd.

[fan_since79]

"Not being able to run, throw, or field is no way to go through life in the major leagues, son."

[Inside Pitch]

Escobar isn't a guy you wait on forever -- he doesn't bring enough to the table but he's also been unlucky early on.  His BaBIP, (yes I know it's better used for pitchers), is almost 60 points below his career average and about 90 points below where it's been the last two years.   He's been crappy, but his walk rate and K rate have remained stable...  So..  there is reason to believe his batting average will normalize and he ends up somewhere around .275-280.   

[AngelsLakersFan]

The dude is still hitting the ball hard. He had 3 or 4 hard hit outs the other night. I don't see any evidence that he is any different a player as he has been the last two years. Obviously another month with similar totals and I might start to change my mind.

[Brent Maguire]

Escobar is pretty much doing the same thing he was doing last year, except his BABIP has totally collapsed(.339 last year, .250 this year). His exit velocity, walk rate, strike out rate, ground ball%, fly ball%, line drive%, hard hit% and soft hit% are pretty much right in line with what he did last season. If he weren't squaring up baseballs or had some bad batted ball trends, I'd be worried. That's not the case, however. The biggest issue is when he experiences bad luck at the plate, like he is currently, he's essentially worthless because he's an anchor on the bases, at 3rd base and in the power department. I'd expect him to get hot coming up soon. 

[tdawg87]

It's in the best interests of the Angels that Escobar starts hitting again, which I think he will. Having a good leadoff hitter will do wonders for the offense, and help them stay competitive. If they can't overcome the pitching woes, then Escobar could be a solid trade piece at the deadline.