The Boston Herald’s Michael Silverman is reporting that Boston has requested medical records on free agent Kelvim Escobar, along with reliever Rafael Soriano. They’ve also inquired into Marcos Scutaro.
While Soriano and Scutaro represent higher upside, let’s talk Escobar for a second. Other than one June start, he hasn’t seen the bigs since 2007 thanks to massive shoulder injuries.
If it’s a minor league deal, I would be okay with the signing. Not particularly thrilled, though. While all these low-risk, high-upside signings have inherent value, the Brad Penny/John Smoltz signings proved not to work at all. Should that prevent Boston from continuing to seek low-risk, high-upside starters? No, not at all. But I feel that the team waited way, way too long on Penny as well as Smoltz, before finally pulling the plug. I don’t want that same mistake made again.
In Escobar’s case, two years of injuries and rehabilitation really make me question if the stuff is still there to even be a difference.