The Oakland Athletics have claimed Tampa Bay Rays' shortstop Yunel Escobar off of revocable trade waivers, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com. Rosenthal notes that the two teams have until 1:00 PM ET on Tuesday to get a trade completed. If Tampa Bay wanted to get Escobar off of their books completely, they could just send him and his loaded salary to Oakland and receive no cash considerations in return, but that scenario seems highly unlikely.
The Athletics had just lost their starting shortstop Jed Lowrie to a fractured right index finger, who they had placed on the 15-day disabled list on August 14th. Lowrie is not expected back until at least September, as he is now taking ground balls, but he is still unable to throw. Their backup option, infielder Nick Punto, was placed on the 15-day disabled list in early August due to a strained right hamstring. Punto is not expected back until the end of August at the earliest, but he is currently doing light jogging and taking swings.
With this in mind, Yunel Escobar could be very helpful in an Athletics' stretch run over the next month. Escobar has hit .249/.313/.316 in 111 games this season for the Rays and has hit four home runs and has driven in 31 runs. In would not be surprising if the Rays did in fact move the starting shortstop after the team acquired infielder Nick Franklin from the Seattle Mariners in the three-way deadline deal that had sent left-handed pitcher David Price to the Detroit Tigers.
Escobar signed a contact extension in April that would ultimately guarantee that he would be paid $13 million over the next two years. This seems like a good deal for a player that is a above-average shortstop (defensively) in the major leagues. If the Athletics were not willing to pay his price, the team would not of placed a claim on him. The Athletics could very well keep him for the next two years, keeping in mind that Jed Lowrie is a costless-agent after this season.