Troy, NY: The Haymakers made their fourth trade of the off-season; picking up two time top 20 prospect Alcides Escobar from the Pilots for a round 3 pick. Escobar has a great glove and above average speed, but time will tell if he can turn his minor league success into positive results in the majors.
"We are excited to have a talented player like Escobar on our roster," said GM Ken Anderson, "we love his glove and expect that he can turn into a top of the order type hitter as well. We feel that he's closer to Ozzie Smith than Royce Clayton and we will be working hard to turn him into that."
The pickup of Escobar comes a couple weeks after the pickup of another young infielder Ruben Tejada, who looks to be coming off the bench after the pickup of Escobar.
"Tejada will be great for us off the bench next season," said the GM, "we jumped the gun a bit, hoping he would be better defensively. Now Tejada will fit nicely into a role he is more designed for. Our lineup is strong enough that it can handle Escobar play everyday and bat ninth next season."
The pickup of James Loney and Escobar will improve an infield defense already anchored by team veteran Brandon Phillips and a surprising Pablo Sandoval. The team will boast a lineup with three players with a "1" range (LF,SS,2B), three players with a "2" range(CF,3B,1B), and one player with a "3" range (RF).
"I'm excited," tweeted the slick fielding secondbaseman Phillips, "nothing gonna get by us next season!" Escobar's twitter following jumped from 12k to 25k just a few hours after the trade.
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