Uh oh.

tl; dr version: Prime Brewers shortstop prospect Alcides Escobar’s wife wrote a post on Bleacher Report detailing how Escobar, since getting called up from the minors in the September callup binge, has been abrasive, silent, and big-headed, getting to the point where he skips out on his wife and baby child and supposedly got kicked off the team in Venezuela. He hasn’t made a minor league appearance in winter ball since the end of December, although he’s still on the lineup card.

There hasn’t been any comment from the Brewers organization yet about this, but so far this whole thing needs to be taken with a grain of salt. So far there’s no way to verify it as fact other than the “proof” Leury Escobar “could” verify herself as Alcides’ wife. Assuming the report to be true and valid, it’s a really iffy and unprofessional move to expose this to a half-blog website similar to Deadspin instead of the Brewers organization and/or the police. She didn’t say anything in the report about contacting the Brewers or the league that he plays in, and chances are if management has any shred of respect for decency he would be pulled and demanded to support his child. It’s just common sense to handle things like this internally– the press will get a hold of it somehow if he continues to be an abusive husband.

That’s not to say this post is a total hoax– although it still definitely could be– but there should be some legitimate doubts about the accuracy of this story. Until there’s a newspaper article on it, or there’s comment from players on the team in Venezuela, or the Brewers announce something, I’m inclined to believe that it’s just a hoax. Anyone can put up a picture of Alcides and his wife, claim they’re Leury, and put out a false story in order to get media attention. Don’t worry, old-school professional journalistic cartels, many bloggers are smart enough to realize that it’s not safe to call something true and expand a rumor unless it’s from a totally legitimate source. I want to hear Milwaukee’s and Alcides’ sides to the story.

So far, it’s safe to assume that Milwaukee’s offseason hasn’t gone as planned so far, with “disappointment” being the key word here. I’m not exactly sure what the Brewers could have done differently payrollwise that could have changed more than the fringe of their team– sure, signing Trevor Hoffman was a big purchase, but outside of that, there hasn’t been any room for a major signing or helpful free agent that Milwaukee can work with. Most of that is obviously due to the arbitration increases of some players (Prince’s new 2 year, $18m contract springs to mind), but quite a bit of Milwaukee’s payroll was already wrapped up in long term deals for lesser players who can only be sold for two cents on the dollar in today’s market. It’s difficult to have enough financial maneuverability when you’re a mid-market team with large contracts already on the budget. Milwaukee couldn’t afford Adam Dunn or Juan Cruz because it would make their budget too bloated for today’s unsure economy.

Both Saturday and Sunday I was at the Metrodome volunteering my time at TwinsFest in the Domevision production room, coordinating with the Twins’ main radio network’s “Broadcaster Experience,” a thing where people who pay 10 bucks can go into the press box at the Metrodome and do their best imitations of Dick Bremer or John Gordon, watching the best highlights from the 2008 season and pretending to be a broadcaster. Most of the people doing it were little kids having fun, but there were a few people who tried to be legitimate and use this as a tryout to replace either broadcaster when they retire. Vin Scully, anyone?

Lastly, here’s a youtube for you.

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