Brewers Sign Veteran Starting Pitcher

The biggest problem many of you have had with the Brewers off-season to this point is the lack of signing of a veteran, free agent pitcher, complete with starting experience.

Your bemoaning, though certainly not the impetus for action, may finally have been answered.

Well, kind of.

From a Twitter account that certainly looks legitimate (based on a couple of factors) despite the lack of Twitter’s blue checkmark, the following was tweeted…

Buenas tardes, quiero compartir con Uds esta buena noticia…. Acabo de firmar con los @brewers contrato de #MLB por 1 año

— kelvim escobar (@kelvimescobar) January 10, 2013

That translates to:

“Good afternoon, I want to share with you this good news…. I just signed with the @Brewers #MLB contract for 1 year.”

Intrepid MLB.com reporter Adam McCalvy looked into it and confirmed the signing, but with one minor difference.

#Brewers‘ agreement with Kelvim Escobar is a Minor League deal with a big league camp invite. Details coming to Brewers.com.

— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) January 10, 2013

All the same, welcome to the Brewers, Kelvim! Or perhaps I should say: ¡Bienvenidos a los Cerveceros!

Oh that’s right…I already did.

@kelvimescobar Welcome to the #Brewers! / ¡Bienvenidos a los #Cerveceros!

— The Brewer Nation (@BrewerNation) January 10, 2013

The bottom line here is that Kelvim Escobar’s shoulder has given him a multitude of problems over this career. His last full season in MLB was 2007 with has most recent appearance (yes, singular appearance) in 2009. This is a long shot if there ever was one  not to mention that he’s 36 years old (turning 37 on April 11th).

The Brewers did try to sign Escobar back in 2009 but the hurler chose to sign with the New York Mets and went down again with injury.

I wish him the best of luck though because if he’s healthy and can help the Brewers in some way, I’m all for that. As for being healthy, Escobar is currently pitching in the Venezuelan Winter League where he carries a 1.64 ERA in six games.

Gord Ash, reached for comment, told media that Escobar will be looked at this spring in big league camp “only as a reliever”.