Sometimes, it’s not about the player. Sometimes, it’s about the timing. Jumping the gun to sign Eduardo Escobar is terrible timing.

Looking at the stats and metrics, Escobar is a second baseman. As a third baseman, he’s not good. He was a -3 OAA last year and a -6 for his career. The obvious problem here is he’s been presumably signed to play third.

It’s not like he particularly has a bat which is going to play well at the position. He’s a player with a career 99 OPS+. He’s been better since 2018 with a 108 OPS+, which is an improvement but not great.

Keep in mind, this is a player who will play his age 33 and 34 seasons with the Mets. Honestly, his walk rates, hard hit rates, etc. are all over the map that it’s really hard to know what he’s going to give you year-to-year.

Overall, your best bet is a roughly 2,5 WAR player. Yes, that makes him a useful player. The problem is the Mets need more, and they need better.

Keep in mind, there’s still a lot better available. There are players like Javier Báez, Kris Bryant, and even Kyle Seager. There’s other shortstops the Mets could try to move to third like Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, or Trevor Story.

Really, it’s just the beginning of free agency. There are so many options and possibilities. Instead of exploring those, the Mets opted for Escobar, who does little to almost nothing to improve the team as an everyday player.