When the manager of the D-backs, Torey Lovullo, ran into the Venezuelan infielder Eduardo Escobar In the weight room Tuesday afternoon, he told the player that he was going to be out of the lineup for the second day in a row. Escobar insisted his injured right quadriceps was good enough to play.
“I thought I was going to have to fight him,” Lovullo said with a smile. “I don’t like a day off, man,” Escobar said. “I want to play every day. But I understand that it’s a process. I feel great today. I took a few shots, threw hard, ran the bases, hit and nothing bothered my leg. I feel great.”
Escobar leads the D-backs in home runs (15) and RBIs (45) while compiling a .743 OPS. The 32-year-old is in the final year of his contract and since the D-backs have come out of the postseason chase, he is a prime candidate to be traded before next month’s trade deadline.
Has been rumors that the White Sox are among the teams interested, for a change for the South American, but Escobar is trying not to focus on that.
“I don’t know if they will change me,” Escobar said. “My job is to come here every day, bring some energy, work hard. I love being here. I want to stay here. But I have no control over that. The only thing I can control is to play hard and it helps my team win. here “.
Escobar has been traded twice in his career. The first was from the White Sox to the Twins just before the 2012 deadline, and he recalls that the news brought him to tears.
The second time he was traded was to the D-backs just before the 2018 deadline and he actually found out from a teammate.
“I remember he was banging on the cage and it was around 5 in the afternoon,” Escobar said. “We are in Boston. Brian Dozier walks into the cage and says, ‘Esky, they change you.’ I said, ‘Get out of here, I’m concentrating, I’m trying to focus tonight to play the game.’ He said, ‘No, I’m serious, they changed you.’ I went back to the clubhouse and saw everyone; they were surprised and looked at me. Five minutes later, the bench coach said: ‘Escobar, go to the office’ and [el gerente Paul] Molitor told me that they had changed me. “I haven’t seen my name much before. But I said, I’m a professional and I respect the decision of the front office or whatever.”
Steve Gilbert / MLB.com
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