I was equally surprised by this. It may have been because they were looking to move Hardy, but couldn’t (and decided the bring up Escobar anyway), or they’ve opted to fold up the tent on the season. Maybe they felt that the significant defensive upgrade was worth the potential downgrade from Hardy’s offensive skills. What will be interesting is to see what they do down the stretch, both with Escobar in the lineup and with Hardy once rosters expand.

I don’t agree that Escobar will bring “no power,” since he’s done well with XBH in the minors the past two seasons. 48 2B, 11 3B and 12 HRs at two levels over the past two seasons, for an ISO of around .120. Not amazing, but he’s going to deliver at least a bit of doubles power with his speed and ability to get a ball in the gap now and then. He doesn’t have the power of Hardy, but he’s no Luis Castillo, either (the definition of “no power,” with a career ISO of .063).

I’m probably just splitting hairs here, since your projected ISO of 0.077 is not ungenerous, but I can see him racking up a few more XBH now and then, for an ISO that might push (or even top) .100. Given that Hardy had a .367 SLG on the season (ISO of .138), Escobar is unlikely to be as significant a downgrade in the power department as first appeared.

And, of course, for traditional roto leagues that measure HR (and not SLG) your designation of “no power” is probably going to be dead-on.