Eduardo Escobar Should Start at Short

[bwille]

In my latest article, I wrote about the possibility of Eduardo Escobar taking over for Pedro Florimon as the starting shortstop for the Twins. I gave five reasons why I believe Escobar deserves the opportunity to start everyday and why it would benefit the Twins.

 

"While it may only be a small sample size, Escobar seems to have the clutch factor in him that Florimon doesn’t appear to have."

 

What do you think Twins' Daily followers? Do I have a legitimate argument or is Escobar merely off to a hot start in limited opportunities?

 

Eduardo Escoba: Minnesota Twins Must Make Move Most Beneficial to Team

 

[diehardtwinsfan]

I don't know about the "clutch" factor, I really don't buy into it. That said, I agree he should be starting. He's young enough that he might actually amount to a building block, where Florimon does not.

[ThePuck]

I don't know about the "clutch" factor, I really don't buy into it. That said, I agree he should be starting. He's young enough that he might actually amount to a building block, where Florimon does not.

 

I'm all for Escobar over Florimon, but there's only a 2 year age difference.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'm all for Escobar over Florimon, but there's only a 2 year age difference.

 

While I don't have faith in either amounting to much of anything, two years in a player's mid-20s is pretty significant. It's usually the difference between "peak prime" age 27 and "just out of the minors" age 24-25.

 

In other words, it's not unreasonable to expect upward trending from Escobar but Florimon is probably who he is at this point.

[John Bonnes]

The age thing is interesting.

 

i guess my take is that we wait to see if Florimon boots himself out of his job. He just needs to get more consistent defensively. And we'll know a lot more about each offensively in two months, when teams have dissected them a little.

[Riverbrian]

I think he should start more. Too soon to change the every day guy tho.

[ThePuck]

While I don't have faith in either amounting to much of anything, two years in a player's mid-20s is pretty significant. It's usually the difference between "peak prime" age 27 and "just out of the minors" age 24-25.

 

In other words, it's not unreasonable to expect upward trending from Escobar but Florimon is probably who he is at this point.

 

One is 24 and one is 26...and Florimon hasn't played enough in the majors yet to say he is who he is...he hasn't had enough time to adjust to the majors yet.

 

That's the problem with promoting people so late...they are almost in their prime years when they get promoted and they spend some of their prime years adjusting to the major leagues.

[stringer bell]

Give Florimon more time, but I think eventually the sure-handed Escobar will be the shortstop, especially if his hitting so far (I know, I know SSS) isn't a mirage. If Florimon continues to hit acceptably and steadies in the field, then maybe Eduardo moves over to second.

[jorgenswest]

Starting SS is the only role where Florimon will be a useful major leaguer. He has no professional experience at positions other than shortstop. If he breaks his long time trend in the minors of inconsistency on routine plays, his glove may be good enough to start at SS for a handful of years.

 

Escobar is two years younger and has an experienced reportedly plus glove at three positions. While his offensive numbers in the minors were poor, they were always in the context of being among the youngest at his level. He is young enough that his bat will grow. Players with good gloves across the infield can have long useful major league roles as utility players. As I said at the time of the trade, these guys are not easy to find.

 

The Twins have both guys in roles that suit their profile. It is up to them to make the most of he opportunity.

[TheLeviathan]

I think it's safe to say Escobar is so far thriving in this role. Given that Florimon continues to make routine errors at his position, I don't think we'll have to worry about seeing Escobar become the every-day shortstop for this team at some point.

 

But it's a good point that Florimon's value is dramatically decreased as a bench player because of a lack of versatility.

[cmathewson]

They are both playing very well. FWIW, I think Florimon has better range. Escobar has steadier hands. They have similar arms. Their bats are similar to this point. Escobar should hit better over time because he has a shorter swing and surprising power. But until Florimon regresses offsnsively, I think you stay the course. Every argument to change is based on small samples and marginal issues like a two-year age difference. Range is the most important thing and Florimon has more.

 

Neither is the shortstop of the future. Either would be a decent stop gap until that shortstop arrives. If it's Santana, that's two years tops. If it's Polanco or Goodrum, that's four years, tops. Neither will have regressed much due to age by then. Neither will be expensive by then.

[stringer bell]

They are both playing very well. FWIW, I think Florimon has better range. Escobar has steadier hands. They have similar arms. Their bats are similar to this point. Escobar should hit better over time because he has a shorter swing and surprising power. But until Florimon regresses offsnsively, I think you stay the course. Every argument to change is based on small samples and marginal issues like a two-year age difference. Range is the most important thing and Florimon has more.

 

Neither is the shortstop of the future. Either would be a decent stop gap until that shortstop arrives. If it's Santana, that's two years tops. If it's Polanco or Goodrum, that's four years, tops. Neither will have regressed much due to age by then. Neither will be expensive by then.

Great comments by the last three posters here. If Twins fans are waiting for Santana to take over at SS, they can't be encouraged by his early season production at New Britain. He is OPSing .586 while he has committed eight errors already this season.

[dennyhocking4HOF]

My biggest concern is whether Eduardo's got a permit for his GUN?! I wouldn't want his arm to become a legal issue. Florimon's sling shot probably isn't an issue.

[kab21]

Right now both guys are hitting so I wouldn't make any significant changes since neither of these guys actually profile as hitters. I'm hoping that Escobar starts getting more playing time but I'm not going to lose any sleep over either of them sitting. It's too bad that Escobar can't snag any playing at 2B but it seems that Carroll will get those starts.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Personally, I'd give Escobar a wide margin simply because if he succeeded, it would rile up WhiteSox fans. I seem to remember AJ paying Escobar a very nice compliment after the trade... I dismissed it as AJ, but this far, Escobar has looked pretty good. I do hope he gets the chance to start, as I'd like to see what he can do with it.

[DK]

Escobar should be the regular SS but he may be too valuable in his current role.

[Linus]

I definitely think that he should start getting more playing time - who decided he should be a utility guy at the age of 23? First of all, the age difference does matter: 2 years in your mid-twenties can make a huge difference. Second, who says the guy isn't going to hit? He's still developing as a player and has shown a good ability to make contact. I think he needs to play nearly everyday as he could become a steady, serviceable major league player. I would even go so far as to say he should go to Rochester and play everyday if he isn't going to play much up here. You've got Carroll for your utility guy.

 

In the little bit of playing time he has received, he has shown that he makes all the plays, doesn't make mental errors and is a switch hitter who puts the ball in play, with some pop. That is in stark contrast to Florimon who is surprisingly GoGo like when it comes to the mental side of things.

[Boom Boom]

So far Florimon hasn't played himself out of the job, but then again, he never really played himself into the job either.

[Brock Beauchamp]

One is 24 and one is 26...and Florimon hasn't played enough in the majors yet to say he is who he is...he hasn't had enough time to adjust to the majors yet.

 

Florimon has 3100 professional PAs that tell us who he is as a player. He's 26 years old and has never hit anywhere. There's no real reason to expect anything from the guy.

 

Escobar isn't much different with 2700 professional PAs. But he tracked 1-2 years ahead of Florimon in the minors, hitting AAA at age 22 and is still a few years away from his prime. They both posted very pedestrian numbers through the minors but Escobar did it at a younger age and a higher level.

 

Like I said, I don't expect anything from either player but if you're banking on improvement from one of the two, Escobar is a much better bet.

[ThePuck]

I already said I want Escobar starting, what do you want from me Brock :-)

[spideyo]

Pedro is actually putting up better offensive numbers than expected. I think he's in the top five for ops and avg amongst AL SS. Pretty good for your #9 guy.

 

Personally, I still think Escobar is a better player, but as others have pointed out he's way more useful in the bench than Pedro. Hell, you can start Escobar every day at a different position.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Obviously very small sample size, but I am a bit encouraged by Florimon taking a few walks -- that seemed to be a minor advantage from his minor league performance, as compared to Escobar -- and both players have limited their strikeouts well thus far. Hopefully those trends can continue even as their batting averages inevitably fall.

[Guest USAFChief]

Pedro is actually putting up better offensive numbers than expected. I think he's in the top five for ops and avg amongst AL SS. Pretty good for your #9 guy.

 

Personally, I still think Escobar is a better player, but as others have pointed out he's way more useful in the bench than Pedro. Hell, you can start Escobar every day at a different position.

If Escobar is a better player (and I'm not saying he is, I don't know), then he should be starting over Florimon. Putting a better player into a bench role because he's "more versatile" is just plain wrong. First, if Florimon is able to play SS, I'm sure he could handle 2nd and probably 3rd on a part time basis. If not, when the bench player (Florimon in this case) is going to be in the lineup, if he absolutely can't play another position, put him at SS and move Escobar to whatever position is getting a day off. The "better player" needs to be in the lineup every day, not the other way around.

[Rosterman]

If we didn't have Carroll, I would say Escobar is valuable as the backup, getting into partial games or subbing out at 2B and SS. So, let's get rid of Carroll, of play Escobar fulltime at shortstop. I would rather see Olmeda or anyone as another bench bat backup than Carroll, at the moment, unless we deep-six Florimon. I don't see Florimon as longterm Twin. i see Escoabr being a temp (like Florimon is, too) but hanging aorund for years ala Hocking and Reboulet as a backup who can also start multiple positions (as wella s be THAT third catcher!).

[snepp]

The "better player" needs to be in the lineup every day, not the other way around.

 

Indeed, there's nothing stopping a player from simultaneously being the better starter AND the versatile utility guy at the same time. If there were, Ben Zobrist would have spent the bulk of the last 4+ years rotting on the bench rather than being one of the more valuable players in the game.

[jokin]

Indeed, there's nothing stopping a player from simultaneously being the better starter AND the versatile utility guy at the same time. If there were, Ben Zobrist would have spent the bulk of the last 4+ years rotting on the bench rather than being one of the more valuable players in the game.

 

Don't go around surreptitiously invoking the Maddon Rules in these here parts- that's bound to rile up some of the local faithful...

[snepp]

Don't go around surreptitiously invoking the Maddon Rules in these here parts- that's bound to rile up some of the local faithful...

 

Don't give John any ideas, we wouldn't want to find it tacked onto the TD bylaws.

[Thrylos]

If you break it down with that small sample:

 

Escobar>Florimon>Dozier>Carroll.

 

So both Escobar and Florimon should start and Dozier (and Carroll) should sit, according to that logic.

 

Methinks that it is a bit too early to pull any triggers either way.

[ashbury]

But he tracked 1-2 years ahead of Florimon in the minors, hitting AAA at age 22

 

This is the key, IMO. It's not simply that he's younger, but if you compare the two players' records age-by-age, with the exception of his putrid 2012 season Escobar outperformed Florimon, either with better performance at a similar league level or by putting up similar numbers in a higher league level. I'm not a big fan of simply adding up thousands of minor league at bats, but when a pattern like this is there it shows up in the raw totals too. Now, if you're unwilling to write off 2012 for Escobar, the two may seem similar, and maybe 2012 shouldn't be ignored. But my money (all $0 of it, for you betting folks) is on Escobar having the more solid career. I'm still not convinced he's better than a utility guy, but I believe Florimon will be out of baseball by 2015; I'd love it if Pedro's good start this season proves me wrong..

[kab21]

You guys are really frustrating. Arguing that one guy is significantly better than the other is like putting lipstick on a pig. It's nice that both are off the hot starts but both of them are utility infielders at best. It really doesn't matter imo if Escobar is 2 yrs younger since he has put up a completely unimpressive .266/.305/.353/.658 slash line through the minors with zero improvement as he moved up. tbh I will be happy if either of these guys hit better than .600 OPS at the MLB level.

 

At least Dozier has a little potential since he hit .779 OPS through the minors although he was a 4 year college player so he was older than Florimon/Escobar.