Leading 8-1 in the seventh inning of Monday’s series opener in Toronto, Twins manager Paul Molitor elected to take Brian Dozier and Eduardo Escobar out of the game.
Escobar was taken out of the game in the seventh inning and Dozier and Eddie Rosario were lifted in the eighth. Manager Paul Molitor said it had nothing to do with trades.
“Just looking for guys to get a little bit of a blow,” Molitor said, via TwinsBaseball.com. “After the three games down in Kansas City and a travel day off the turf, just trying to give some guys a couple innings off there. I thought it was probably a good time to do that.”
Molitor is probably telling the truth, but with the amount of buzz about Dozier and Escobar possibly being traded before the July 31 trade deadline, the unusual decision to pull them from the game created widespread speculation.
Eduardo Escobar is said to have been removed from 8-1 game due to “manager’s decision.” He is on block. Dbacks, brewers, phils all make sense.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 24, 2018
More reason for speculation comes from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, who reported Monday that the Brewers have inquired about trading for Dozier and Escobar.
Heard two interesting things today that give insight into how creatively teams think at deadline. One club – I’m guessing #Brewers – asked #Twins about getting BOTH Dozier and Escobar. Likewise, some teams are asking #Orioles about getting Bundy or Gausman along with Britton.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 22, 2018
Like we mentioned in Monday’s story about the Red Sox being a potential fit for Dozier, this is likely going to be a very wild, rumor-filled week leading up to the trade deadline.
Rosario remains under contract long term with the Twins and has not been involved in any reported trade rumors.
