NEWSLETTER
It’s the one and only external move the Chicago Cubs have made so far this offseason, signing lefty reliever Edwin Escobar out of Japan. That isn’t to say the Cubs won’t be doing a whole lot more, but clearly they’ve been focused on the biggest moves, while taking their time with the complementary stuff.
Escobar was the exception, signed relatively early after he’d decided to come back to MLB from Japan. Now we know a little more about the signing, which is official according to the team transactions page. It wound up being a minor league deal, which is obviously pretty great for the Cubs’ 40-man roster situation. My guess is that Escobar, who was targeted early in the offseason, got a pretty healthy minor league rate, and assurances that he would have a good shot to compete for a spot in the bullpen in Spring Training.
From the original signing post:
“Back in the day, Edwin Escobar was a top-100 prospect in the Red Sox farm system, but he couldn’t quite break out in the big leagues (first with the Red Sox in 2014, and then with the Diamondbacks in 2016). He headed to Japan after that to make some money, and fashioned himself into a pretty darn good reliever there. Over the last four seasons, he’s posted ERAs of 2.17, 3.26, 2.42, and 3.33, striking out close to a batter an inning, and limiting the walks and homers.
I don’t have much in the way of recent scouting report on Escobar just yet – only the NPB numbers – so it’d be early to speculate on the type or size of contract here. Tentatively could see this as a relatively low cost big league deal? He had reportedly been sitting at about 96 mph with his fastball this year. At first blush, I like what I’m seeing in the numbers, and I like the idea of taking a successful reliever with a plus fastball out of Japan and seeing if he can translate back in MLB. Escobar would be far from the first pitcher to go over there, develop, and come back to success.
Edwin Escobar, a native Venezuelan, is currently pitching in the Venezuelan Winter League, and will turn 32 in April. I wonder if Jed Hoyer did some in-person scouting during the regular season when he was in Japan.”
