Who will be removed when Eduardo Escobar returns to Mets?
Eduardo Escobar appeared in his first and maybe only minor-league rehabilitation game Thursday, testing his strained left oblique by playing seven innings with High-A Brooklyn — at shortstop, of all positions, underscoring the imminent roster decision facing the Mets.
Who will they remove from the roster upon the return of Escobar, who opened the year as the regular third baseman but had lost much of his playing time before he got hurt?
They have two primary choices:
1) Cut utility infielder Yolmer Sanchez, leaving Brett Baty and Escobar to split time at third and Escobar as the backup at shortstop/second.
2) Send Baty back to Triple-A Syracuse, leaving Escobar as the primary third baseman and Sanchez as the backup across the infield.
“We haven’t gotten that far,” manager Buck Showalter said Thursday. “Obviously (Escobar will) come back and play some third base for us, but we also want to take this opportunity for him to play some other positions, which might help our roster management as we go forward.”
Showalter added that Escobar playing shortstop for Brooklyn was less about testing his ability to do so — Showalter has said repeatedly that he believes Escobar can — and more about letting him readjust to the position. Escobar has totaled two innings there in the past four seasons.
Since debuting to significant hype last week — and hitting a home run in Atlanta on his first swing in the majors — Baty, the Mets’ No. 2 prospect, has struggled in a way that was perhaps not unexpected for a 22-year-old who had played only a handful of games in Triple-A. He entered the series against the Rockies hitting .148 (4-for-27) with a .233 OBP and .259 slugging percentage in eight games.
No matter his near-term roster fate, Baty is regarded as Mets’ third baseman of the future.
“He’ll always be in the mix, whether he’s here or Syracuse,” Showalter said.
Carrasco speeds up
Carlos Carrasco (strained left oblique) said he plans to return during the series against the Nationals next weekend (Sept. 2-4). That would be a few days ahead of the front end of the Mets’ initial timetable of 3-4 weeks.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
