Blue Jays finally release struggling veteran after he fails to make Opening Day roster

It's been a tough past few years to be Eduardo Escobar. The 13-year veteran has dramatically declined recently, seeing his results go from respectable to abysmal in roughly a year's time.

Escobar, now 35, became the latest casualty of Toronto Blue Jays spring training roster cuts on Friday. The Jays told him he was not making the Opening Day roster and gave him the ability to either report to Triple-A Buffalo to start the year or release him. Escobar elected to re-test the free agent market and will now look to latch on with another team that needs infield help before Opening Day.

Unfortunately for him, there are not going to be many teams lining up for his services, especially on a big league contract. The switch-hitter appeared in 15 games for the Blue Jays this spring and had plenty of chances to turn his offensive output around. In that time, he went 5-for-41 (.122 average) with three extra-base hits, seven RBI and 17 strikeouts versus just one walk. There's virtually nothing there to be excited about, so his missing out on the Opening Day roster is hardly a surprise.

To a more concerning degree, Escobar has been struggling like this for a while now. Last year, he split his time between the Angels and Mets and just never got it going with the bat. In a combined 99 games, he hit just .226 with a dreadful .613 OPS and 67 OPS+. He also experienced a spike in strikeouts and a dip in walks, which only furthered the overall drop in production.

Escobar is a former All-Star who, in his prime, was a serviceable utility infielder that was solid on both offense and defense. His skillset may not be entirely diminished just yet, but the fact that he followed up last year's struggles with even more spring training struggles does not bode well for his immediate future. Even if he's not ready to hang it up yet, there are not going to be many suitors for him, especially on a big league contract.