3 major Mets roster changes Billy Eppler and Buck Showalter may be forced to make

2) NY Mets shouldn’t hesitate to shop Eduardo Escobar and trade him in a perceived loss

Even if Eduardo Escobar goes on a tear, his time with this club looks just about over. An early slump at the start of 2023 gives us all too much déjà vu. He was unproductive for most of last season until the final weeks when he finally began to produce.

The Mets cannot wait around for him to crank up the production. Designating him for assignment is one possibility. The other is to eat a part of his contract and shop him in a trade.

When it looked like Eppler was going to sign Carlos Correa, trade rumors involving Escobar were in abundance. Many of us were guilty of thinking Escobar should stay put and become a good bench piece. It’s laughable now. If he’s not producing every day in the lineup, what’s to say he’ll have any value in fewer appearances? In our defense, this came prior to the team signing Tommy Pham. The thought of having Escobar as the right-handed platoon partner of Daniel Vogelbach was a big reason to want to keep him. Now he feels unnecessary.

Escobar won’t fetch the Mets much in a future trade. They would obviously replace him with Brett Baty, however, doing so at the moment would be difficult with no reasonable position player they can option to the minor leagues. Unless the Mets are willing to part with Tim Locastro, Escobar is going to stay in New York.

It’s a double-edged sword with him. The better he plays, the more we’ll accept him staying. The worse he does, the more we’ll want him gone but the less the Mets would get back. Clearing the roster spot may be the more important move to do even if Eppler feels like he lost the trade.