Mets Monday Morning GM: Searching for a future Eduardo Escobar trade destination

The New York Mets can’t be in any rush to trade fallen third baseman Eduardo Escobar. The unknown with Brett Baty requires them to have at least one other option at the position. Luis Guillorme isn’t enough. Even if Baty does discover his major league swing and is tearing it up at the MLB level, having Escobar on the team for guidance and maybe a late spark off the bench is valuable to have.

Fortunately, Escobar’s trade value is at a low. Nobody will be rushing out to acquire a veteran whose job is slowly fading away. After searching through all 29 MLB teams and seeing who could use a third baseman or even a second baseman, there’s really only one contender that could make some sense.

Because Escobar is a free agent after this year, unless someone is ready to pick up the 2024 option, we need to look exclusively at clubs interested in contending. For Escobar, this could lead him back to a ball club where he first began to taste success.

The best place the Mets can trade Eduardo Escobar may be to the Twins

Escobar played for the Minnesota Twins from mid-2012 through mid-2018. He has been a trade deadline chip three times already. First it was on July 28, 2012, when the Chicago White Sox sent him to the Twins. On July 27, 2018, the Twins sent him to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Finally, on July 28, 2021, the Diamondbacks traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Will we get a third late July trade featuring Escobar? I wouldn’t bet on it right now, but if there’s a team that could use him, it’s the Twins.

Minnesota has gotten off to a strong start, however, they don’t have a particularly good situation at third base or second base. Jose Miranda is playing the hot corner for them with Nick Gordon over at second. Pitching is what has carried them early on. While they do have a few bats performing well, they could use a little more on the infield.

Mets fans know better than anyone that Escobar isn’t the man for the job right now. Unless he can start producing, the Twins’ interest would be minimal even if the Mets are handing him over for practically nothing at all.

The best situation we could find the Mets in nearer to the trade deadline is having too much offense from Escobar and Baty. They could potentially look to flip Escobar for a greater position of need. That would include a lot of “ifs” to get there. Right now, Escobar is an unappealing veteran whose defensive skills are declining as equally as his offensive ones.

Plenty will change with the Mets and Twins by the time we get to the point where the two clubs would consider a swap. The performance of Baty and even a guy like Daniel Vogelbach who has yet to fully cement himself as the best DH option for this team will go a long way toward determining how Escobar’s time in New York finishes.

The Twins may be the only team that immediately jumps out with space for Escobar to play even in a similar part-time role that he now has with the Mets. An injury to someone else’s second or third baseman could change this, but only if Escobar is playing well. Even then, it’s tough to see the Mets being able to get anything of significance back for him.