Yardbarker: Kelvim Escobar

Red Sox Express Interest In Scutaro, Escobar, And More

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:51:14 -0500

Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald says the Red Sox have kicked the tires on many free agents already, with Marco Scutaro and Kelvim Escobar the newest names. Others include Rafael Soriano, Matt Holliday, Rick Ankiel, Adrian Beltre, John Lackey, Aroldis Chapman, Billy Wagner, Mike Gonzalez, Alex Gonzalez, and, of course, Jason Bay. Silverman cautions that not all names connected to the Red Sox have "enduring news value." Scutaro certainly makes sense for Boston; he's...

Be Proud Angels Fans

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:58:00 -0500

(Getty Images)By David Saltzer - AngelsWin.com ColumnistIt was with much sadness that I got out the ladder and took down my Angels flag this week. With that act another Angels baseball season ended. No longer would I hear the sweet sound of a bat hitting a ball or the chatter of a game. The darkest part of the year had begun.But, unlike Matthew Pouliot who blogged after Sunday’s game that the Angels should be embarrassed about their loss to the Yankees, I’m not. I watched this team from the f...

Cubs Potential Offseason Targets: Kelvim Escobar

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:28:13 -0500

Trying to figure out which relievers the Cubs may try to acquire - if any - to bolster a poor bullpen performance is like trying to find a decent Cubs position player developed by the Cubs farm system over the last 35 years. For all I know the Cubs won't do much but try and resign John Grabow and then see who might stick from the current crop of youngsters plus a few Chad Fox-type reclamation projects that they might hope to stick...and probably Chad Fox himself.

We do know Hendry likes his strikeout pitchers and Escobar has a 7.89 K/9 rate for his career which trends higher when he's worked out of the bullpen as you'd expect. There hasn't been much chatter on Escobar since he went down with a shoulder injury after pitching just 5 innings in 2009 (and he missed all of 2008 as well after labrum surgery), but I think it's a fair bet he'll come back in 2010 as a reliever...that is if he's coming back at all.

Year Age Tm W L W-L% ERA G GS GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP ERA+ WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB 1997 21 TOR 3 2 .600 2.90 27 0 23 14 31.0 28 12 10 1 19 36 0 156 1.516 8.1 0.3 5.5 10.5 1.89 1998 22 TOR 7 3 .700 3.73 22 10 2 0 79.2 72 37 33 5 35 72 0 124 1.343 8.1 0.6 4.0 8.1 2.06 1999 23 TOR 14 11 .560 5.69 33 30 2 0 174.0 203 118 110 19 81 129 10 86 1.632 10.5 1.0 4.2 6.7 1.59 2000 24 TOR 10 15 .400 5.35 43 24 8 2 180.0 186 118 107 26 85 142 3 95 1.506 9.3 1.3 4.3 7.1 1.67 2001 25 TOR 6 8 .429 3.50 59 11 15 0 126.0 93 51 49 8 52 121 3 132 1.151 6.6 0.6 3.7 8.6 2.33 2002 26 TOR 5 7 .417 4.27 76 0 68 38 78.0 75 39 37 10 44 85 5 109 1.526 8.7 1.2 5.1 9.8 1.93 2003 27 TOR 13 9 .591 4.29 41 26 12 4 180.1 189 94 86 15 78 159 9 110 1.481 9.4 0.7 3.9 7.9 2.04 2004 28 ANA 11 12 .478 3.93 33 33 0 0 208.1 192 91 91 21 76 191 7 114 1.286 8.3 0.9 3.3 8.3 2.51 2005 29 LAA 3 2 .600 3.02 16 7 2 1 59.2 45 21 20 4 21 63 2 140 1.106 6.8 0.6 3.2 9.5 3.00 2006 30 LAA 11 14 .440 3.61 30 30 0 0 189.1 192 93 76 17 50 147 4 126 1.278 9.1 0.8 2.4 7.0 2.94 2007 31 LAA 18 7 .720 3.40 30 30 0 0 195.2 182 79 74 11 66 160 3 134 1.267 8.4 0.5 3.0 7.4 2.42 2009 33 LAA 0 1 .000 3.60 1 1 0 0 5.0 4 2 2 0 4 5 1 127 1.600 7.2 0.0 7.2 9.0 1.25 12 Seasons 101 91 .526 4.15 411 202 132 59 1507.0 1461 755 695 137 611 1310 47 113 1.375 8.7 0.8 3.6 7.8 2.14 162 Game Avg. 11 10 .526 4.15 46 22 15 7 167 162 84 77 15 68 145 5 113 1.375 8.7 0.8 3.6 7.8 2.14 TOR (7 yrs) 58 55 .513 4.58 301 101 130 58 849.0 846 469 432 84 394 744 30 105 1.461 9.0 0.9 4.2 7.9 1.89 LAA (5 yrs) 43 36 .544 3.60 110 101 2 1 658.0 615 286 263 53 217 566 17 125 1.264 8.4 0.7 3.0 7.7 2.61 Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
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For his career, he's actually got a better ERA as a starter(4.09 vs. 4.44) than a reliever, but a lot of that relief work was done early in his career. He can throw up to six pitches, but said he scrapped his slider so that takes him down to a 2 and 4-seam fastball, split-fingered fastball, curveball and change-up and that's probably 2-3 more pitches then he needs to be an effective reliever. Obviously the big concern will be how well that shoulder is doing and then what kind of contract he'll be expecting after missing out on two seasons. If he does show to be healthy, at least one other fanbase wouldn't mind getting in on the action.

Any type of serious statistical analysis on Escobar isn't going to have much merit as he hasn't pitched in two years and we don't know what the shoulder injuries may have done to his arm. This signing would be up to the doctors, trainers and scouts and if they feel that something resembling the old Escobar is still out there. Now I realize the Cubs and their fans feel snake-bitten by some of these high risk-high reward type talents the Cubs have employed over the last decade, but with the expected budget crunch, Hendry's gonna have to roll the dice on a few of these spots. If they can get Escobar on a one year incentive-laden deal, maybe with a 2nd year club option - and the doctors give the all clear signal - it could be a decent risk for the Cubs in 2010. He'd probably start the season as a set-up man but definitely has the ability and experience to step into the closer role if/when "Wild Thing" Marmol isn't getting the job done.

Why The Rays Should Target Kelvim Escobar

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:01:03 -0500

by Duane Burleson - AP View full size photo uploaded October 13, 2009 It's been beaten into our heads a million times already, but with limited payroll space, the Rays options for potential bullpen replacements is also limited. Over the past few weeks we've covered Joaquin Benoit and Kiko Calero as attractive free agents that fit the Rays profile. We've also identified that profile as some one who is effective, gets strikeo...

Kelvim Escobar Joins Angels; Will Pitch in Venezuela Winterball

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:14:32 -0500

Kelvim Escobar Joins Angels; Will Pitch in Venezuela Winterball The poor Orange County Register Angels Blog needs some traffic, so here is a link to a story about soon-to-be-Free-Agent Kelvim Escobar hanging out with the team and wanting to pitch next season.

LUNCH: Ten Random Facts and/or Observations

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:30:11 -0500

The Rockies are as good a team as we have faced. They have to be the NL Wild Card favorites with an outside chance to clip the Brooklyn Landgrabbers and that would be awesome, especially for Jim Tracy. The chances of Kelvim Escobar throwing another pitch this season is down to near zero. The Angels have had terrible luck with contract extensions. I gave up on Chone Figgins in 2007 and ate my words and am again preparing a verbiage souffle on which to dine. Vlad's haircut looked g...

The Los Angeles Angels place Kelvim Escobar back on the D.L.

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:14:35 -0500

The Angels have placed righty starting pitcher Kelvim Escobar back on the disabled list after just one start. He lost the game allowing 2 earned runs and 8 baserunners in only 5 innings. The thinking in the Angels’ front office is to make Escobar a relief pitcher when he’s ready to return to [...]

Relief in Short Supply for Weary Halos

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:20:00 -0500

by Jeff FletcherFiled under: Angels, MLB InjuriesSAN FRANCISCO -- Angels general manager Tony Reagins said the answers for the Angels uncharacteristic bullpen struggles are "in-house."Unfortunately for the Angels, one of those answers, maybe the only one, just went on the disabled list.Kelvim Escobar, who represents the Angels best hope to settle their tattered bullpen, went on the disabled list on Monday with a recurrence of the shoulder problem that cost him the first two months o...

Angels' Escobar headed back to DL

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:16:00 -0500

Kelvim Escobar is going back on the Los Angeles Angels' disabled list. Escobar missed last season with a torn labrum and already spent a stint on the 60-day DL this year because of his troublesome shoulder. The right-hander will be used as a reliever once he returns. The Angels need to clear a roster spot for right-hander Sean O'Sullivan, who will be called up from Triple-A Salt Lake to start Tuesday night against the San Francisco Giants.

Escobar headed back to DL for Angels

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:08:01 -0500

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Kelvim Escobar is going back on the Los Angeles Angels' disabled list.Escobar missed last season with a torn labrum and already spent a stint on the 60-day DL this year because of his troublesome shoulder. The right-hander will be used as a reliever once he returns.The Angels need to clear a roster spot for right-hander Sean O'Sullivan, who will be called up from Triple-A Salt Lake to start Tuesday night against the San Francisco Giants.O'Sullivan will pitch...

Escobar headed to the bullpen

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:01:54 -0500

Escobar headed to the bullpen Angels manager Mike Scioscia said before today’s game in Tampa Bay that Kelvim Escobar will be moved to the bullpen due to a sore shoulder that could affect his stamina. In addition, Scioscia said Escobar would be unavailable to pitch until the middle of next week. http://fromthedugout.freedomblogging.com/2009/06/11/breaking-news-escobar-headed-to-the-bullpen/26497/

GNUru Mailbag: Penny Pincher

Tue, 08 May 2007 23:27:44 -0500

The GNUru dishes out some fresh advice on which starting pitchers are worth picking up!