Blue Jays acquire veteran free agent third baseman Eduardo Escobar

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DUNEDIN, Fla. — The Blue Jays off-season isn’t finished after all.

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A source has confirmed to the Toronto Sun that the Jays have shored up their situation at third base by reaching terms with veteran Eduardo Escobar late Thursday.

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The Jays said they have agreed to terms with Escobar on a minor league contract with an invite to spring training.

The 35-year-old has played for six teams in his MLB career, most recently appearing in 99 games in 2023 for the New York Mets and Los Angeles Angels. With a .226 average and six home runs and 31 RBI, the Jays clearly didn’t acquire Escobar for his bat.

But the situation at third base was certainly a concern with Grapefruit League play now a little more than a week away.

Earlier Thursday, Toronto GM Ross Atkins was somewhat adamant that he was fine with the team entering the season without any further additions. That said, with the departure of Matt Chapman, the situation at third was always going to be in some flux.

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Atkins said that another off-season addition, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, would get “a good chance for a number of at-bats” at third base, with Cavan Biggio also in the mix.

While not the high impact acquisition many Jays fans had hoped for, a point Atkins addressed at MLB spring training media day in Tampa, at least it is something.

“At this point, additions that would be of significance would mean some level of subtraction,” was his odd wording on the subject.

“At this point, we feel good about the work that’s been done over the last five off-seasons, the last four or five trade deadlines, and now coming into another trade deadline, we’ll have another opportunity,” Atkins said.

“I hope that we’re in a strong position to add to that team (but) feel very good about the team that’s in place.”

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