He never really got a shot with the Mets. Escobar played 18 games for the Mets in September call-ups in 2001 but in December of 2001 he was traded in at the time what was thought to be a blockbuster deal.

The New York Mets sent Escobar, Matt Lawton and three minor leaguers to Cleveland for Roberto Alomar and two other players.

Baseball America ranked Escobar as the Mets' No. 1 prospect in 2001. At the time, the magazine's scouting report said:

"When Escobar has been healthy, he has been awesome. He's capable of playing any of the three outfield positions, is projected as a 20-30 stolen base threat in the big leagues, can hit for average and power and has an above-average arm."

Alomar had finished fourth in the American League MVP balloting in 2001, but general manager Mark Shapiro had to move him as part of a mandate to cut payroll. Escobar, talented yet enigmatic at 23, was the high-upside piece from Cleveland.

Eric Wedge, then managing in Cleveland's minor league system, believed Escobar and Milton Bradley, newly arrived from Montreal, could be high-impact contributors for the Tribe.

"What you have here is two extremely talented young players," Wedge had told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "We can't lose either way."

In hindsight, of course, the Tribe lost both ways. Bradley played his way out of Cleveland with his bad behavior, and Escobar became a walking medical disaster. His inventory of career injuries includes a stress fracture in his back, a torn ACL in his left knee, a broken foot, a torn labrum, and an assortment of hamstring and ankle issues.

Escobar also was a strikeout machine, with 112 whiffs in 388 major league at-bats. He batted .257/.318/.387 with six home runs and 31 RBI in 230 at-bats for Triple-A Columbus (Nationals) in 2008 but Washington released him at the end of the year.

Today the Colorado Rockies signed the 31 year old Escobar to a minor league contract. Somehow I don't think the hype is the same this time around.

The next time you hear about a 'can't miss' prospect, think about all the ones like Alex Escobar that missed; they miss more often then you think. - David Ross

David, a paraplegic since a 1986 car accident, has been providing volunteer sports coverage for his local community paper in Mission, KS for over 20 years.

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