Eric Hosmer Wants Eight-Year Deal
On Monday afternoon, I received the honor of talking to USA Today and MLB Network Insider Bob Nightengale. We had an in-depth conversation about the San Diego Padres and Eric Hosmer, the hot topic around town.
The thing that stuck out to me in our conversation was when I asked Mr. Nightengale about any new Eric Hosmer information. He said that the first baseman is “looking for an eight-year deal, and if the Padres would offer him that, he would take it in a heartbeat.” Padre’ fans have become divided amid the Eric Hosmer’ free agent talk. The choice for him seems to be between San Diego, Kansas City, and St. Louis.
One side of the argument is saying that Hosmer is not a great fit because the Padres already have Wil Myers under contract over $80 million and he is the first baseman. There is also the argument that Hosmer is not going to age well and would be under contract into his mid 30’s.
The other argument is that Hosmer would be perfect because he is currently in his prime. Myers has played the outfield previously in Tampa Bay and San Diego, and the Padres are on the cusp of being a contender in the National League West or Wild Card, and need viable players currently.
Now, you could be reading this thinking that there are some fans that are in the middle of the whole debate. You are right. There is no easy answer.
You can say Hosmer is a great player, but I’m not sure about the total years or the amount of money San Diego is offering him. Ron Fowler indicated recently that the team will not go past seven years in their offer. He also stated that the team has made a strong push and the rest is up to Scott Boras and Hosmer himself.
If Hosmer wants eight years, then the Padres may have to give him that in order to sign him. If they want to make that next step, that all Padres fans are hoping for, the financial commitment might be necessary.
Let’s face the fact that this is the San Diego Padres that we are dealing with here. This is a team that has not been to the postseason in over 10 years. Now I know some are hoping next year’s free agent calls will produce a few signings, but do you really think that the Padres are going to land a big name player? Bryce Harper and Manny Machado will be way too costly for a smaller market team.
Right now might be their only chance to land a big free agent player.
2017 was, no doubt, a career year for Hosmer as he slashed .318/.385/.498 while playing in all of his team’s 162 games. Hosmer isn’t just an MLB All-Star, but he played in every single regular season game for the Kansas City Royals last season. He is a very reliable player that will be on the field every day. Teams can feel that they are getting there money’s worth in that regard. It may be a big contract, but in those seven or eight years, you will have a productive first baseman.
All San Diegans may not agree on whether or not they should sign Hosmer, but Padre’ fans all want to this organization to make that next step to being a contender, and right now, free agent first basemen Eric Hosmer would certainly put the Padres on the right path to reach that goal. Eight years is a huge commitment though. The clock is ticking. An answer must come in the coming weeks. The Padres have apparently drawn a line in the sand. Or have they?
I am a die-hard Padres fan and season ticket holder. I am obsessed with baseball and have been a Padre fan my whole life. I want to become a baseball writer when I grow up. Go Padres!
I’m a long-time Kansas City season ticket holder. I’ve seen Hosmer from day one in the bigs. He’s not a superstar. Take a look at his stats … he’s an every other year kind of hitter … one year removed from hitting .266/.328/.433/.761.
We had a rookie 2Bman hit .288/.324/.460/.784 with 19 HRs playing for the league minimum. Does KC need Hosmer for 7 years @ 20 mil per year? Nope. We’ve got one of those guys already … Alex Gordon.
It’s your turn to make a dumb decision. Good luck with that, LOL.
Thank you for the good luck
If he takes 7 @ 140 fine. Otherwise we should tank another season and go into 2019 with that group of pitchers(Baez, Quantril, Lauer) at near MLB ready as well as Tatis and Ona.
In defense of Ben, everyone keeps saying he needs to be more objective. He is not a reporter; he is a columnist. He is (I would hope) being paid to write his OPINION, to stimulate discussion (and he has been successful on this one). Remember, there is a difference between a reporter and a columnist. Ben, I thought you did a great job on this piece. Keep fighting the fight!
Agreed with Freddy and Tommy, Ben,-you wrote for some good talking points but you’re getting lost in your emotional attachment to the ideas. In the future as a writer, don’t get involved on that level (DON’T!!!! 😉 It kills your objectivity and argumentation, aka your power as a writer). I disagree with your stance but appreciate your angle in your article. That means I wouldn’t read your next one 😉
you’re improving, but check out what larger scale audienced writers are doing with the threads, it’s very minimal, mainly just fact-checking and exposition.
Ok thank you. Thank so for reading. I hope you read my next one. ?
First off I want to thank Ben for participating on this discussion on his point of view on this article. I would like to see more of this on the EVT site as I feel it is the best Free Site to talk Padre Baseball that exists.
Funny Gyrko is mentioned since we still are paying part of his salary here and he plays for the Cards.
I like Hosmer to a point and think he could make adjustments to his approach at the plate for Petco that would make him a superstar. First Base is a position that a players value is nearly 100% based in hitting. That is why I don’t like Meyers there it eliminates part of his value. First Base is one of the positions where you can get a LH bat in your lineup. The Padres have a void when it comers to LH bats. Hosmer is a high average type hitter, IMO very similar to what we had here with AGON for a number of years. This team does not hit well, .270 is not hitting well and we have a number of players who hit less than that on average.
I put the MAX dollars of this contract for the Padres at $144 MIL, if he wants to stretch it over 8 years fine. That is an average of $18 MIL per year, but I think something we have never tried is to front load a deal like this so you can still have a trade-able player later in the contract when his production is slightly reduced, instead of an albatross contract that hurts your team. Give him $80 – $84 MIL over the first 4 years of the deal, with the balance spread over the last 4 years. Add some incentives maybe that are not guaranteed to the later years of the contract to give extra motivation.
That is the final line, for me. If he wants to just play for the money, then do it somewhere else. If he does what his agent says he can do for a team, he will be up around Tony Gwynn status in this town, the face that brought this team their first WS Title.
I appreciate you spending time writing to me. Well mentioning tony qwynn with hosmer is no right but I get your point.