After blocking trade to Washington, Hosmer sent to Boston
Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports
After trying to send Eric Hosmer to Washington, A.J. Preller finally managed to get rid of the overpaid first baseman. Hosmer blocked a trade to the Washington Nationals as a part of the Juan Soto deal, forcing the Padres to send Luke Voit to the nation’s capital.
Hosmer’s no-trade clause only allowed him to block trades to ten teams, so Preller moved to ship him to the Boston Red Sox. After a torrid month of July, the Red Sox became sellers at the deadline, dealing their stars in the recent days.
The Padres felt the need to deal Hosmer to avoid jumping over the luxury tax threshold with the recent acquisitions of Juan Soto, Josh Hader, and Josh Bell. Hosmer’s yearly salary drops to 13 million dollars for the final three years of his contract, which runs through 2025. He was owed approximately seven million dollars for the remainder of the 2022 season, meaning that Hosmer is owed 46 million dollars over the final 3.5 years of his contract.
The Padres will be paying a significant amount of Hosmer’s contract, though the exact number is not yet public. The small amount of money the Red Sox will be paying, combined with the fact that Wil Myers’ bloated contract leaves the books after this season, could prove crucial to re-signing players in the offseason.
The Padres will be losing Corey Rosier (26th ranked Padres prospect) and speedster Max Ferguson (11th ranked Padres prospect). However, the Red Sox will be sending LHP Jay Groome (11th ranked Red Sox prospect).
Groome is yet to pitch in the major leagues, but he has a 3.59 ERA in 19 games between the Red Sox Triple-A and Double-A affiliates. Fifty-eight of his 60 career appearances were as a starter so that he could be a candidate for the back end of the Padres rotation in 2023. Sean Manaea, Mike Clevinger, and Blake Snell are currently all free agents, so the trade could prove fruitful for the Padres from that scenario.
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San Diego has been rumored to be trading Hosmer for years, but his pricy contract made that a difficult goal to achieve. Hosmer’s tenure in San Diego, which originally looked to be the start of a new beginning, proved to be a disappointing 4 to 5-year stretch. However, according to many sources, most notably Kevin Acee, Hosmer had a major role in the clubhouse. However, his impact off the field was unable to outweigh the need to move him due to his on-field play.
His decision to block his trade to Washington, which effectively forced the Padres to trade Voit, may leave a sour taste in the mouths of many Padres fans.
Sam is a Senior in High School. He has been writing for three years, and started at EVT in June of 2021. He’s headed to Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Communications in the fall of 2023.
good riddance!