Bradford Doolittle hands out grades as the Milwaukee Brewers acquire IF Eduardo Escobar from the Arizona Diamondbacks for C/OF Cooper Hummel and IF Alberto Ciprian.
BREWERS: B+
For a team that's running away with its division, the Brewers' infield has been very much a work in progress this season, with only 2B Kolten Wong remaining a regular at the same position as in the Opening Day lineup. And Wong has been limited to 58 games because of injury.
The makeover has seen Willy Adames come in from Tampa Bay to take over the shortstop position from Luis Urias and the since-traded Orlando Arcia, and he has flourished. Rowdy Tellez was recently acquired from Toronto and has been holding the fort impressively at first base, where Keston Hiura struggled badly earlier in the season. Wong is back in the lineup.
Now Eduardo Escobar arrives and figures to take over as the regular at third base, where Urias has been starting lately. Escobar made the NL All-Star team, mostly because someone from the lowly Diamondbacks had to be selected. But he's had a representative season, hitting .246/.300/.478 with 22 homers and 65 RBI in 98 games.
A switch-hitter, Escobar has been markedly more productive off lefties as opposed to righties during his career. That suggests he might get some turns at first base against southpaws in place of the lefty-hitting Tellez, except the latter has been somewhat of a reverse-splits hitter during his career.
With Craig Counsell and the Brewers, it's never a simple matter of lefty-righty splits. Escobar hits the ball hard, excels with runners on base and can play defense at several positions. While everyday third baseman seems to be his most likely short-term job description, he's another veteran with an identifiable skill set whose strengths will be maximized in the way Counsell deploys him.
DIAMONDBACKS: C+
Escobar is a free agent after the season which limited any expectations Arizona might have had for a big return. In Hummel and Ciprian, the response can really be summed up with a shrug emoji. Neither Hummel nor Ciprian can be found on any organizational prospect ranking lists I can find. That doesn't mean they won't eventually make their way to Phoenix, as teams' evaluations of players in other organizations doesn't really have anything to do with prospect lists.
What it does mean is that the Diamondbacks acquired two wild-cards, which is the best they could really hope for in exchange for a player at Escobar's age, skill level and contract status. Hummel, 26, has always been an on-base machine during his minor-league career. This season, in 46 games for Triple-A Nashville, he put up a .435 OBP with 41 walks and just 26 strikeouts.
Will that translate to the majors? The Diamondbacks are currently in a place to roll the dice. Speaking of a dice roll: Ciprian is 18 years old and has played 12 professional games, all in the Dominican Summer League. He's raw and hits the ball hard. This may be the last time I ever write his name, but acquiring players like him is what teams like the Diamondbacks do this time of the year.
This grade for Arizona probably is a bit severe, but it's hard to give the Diamondbacks good marks for pretty much anything in 2021. It's been that kind of a season.