Padres Sign Eric Hosmer To Eight-Year/$144 Million Deal
(Icon Sportswire via AP Images)
It’s finally happened. After months of waiting and endless negotiating, a deal is finally in place. At 8:04 San Diego time, Kevin Acee reported that Eric Hosmer has signed with the Padres with Scott Miller giving the financial details of an eight-year, $144 million front-loaded deal, with $20 million in the first five years and $13 million in the final three years. The Padres will be giving up their third-highest draft pick, which means a second-round pick will be going to Kansas City, but with one of the best farm systems in baseball, this will not do much harm to San Diego.
After a lengthy career in Kansas City, Hosmer will be taking the Oregon Trail west to join an up-and-coming Padres’ squad that was looking for veteran leadership and a left-handed bat to put in the lineup. Hosmer provides both and then some. Hosmer took home a Silver Slugger and a Gold Glove award while carrying a .318/.385/.495 batting line with an OPS+ of 132. He also provides serious pop as he hit 25 home runs and collected 94 RBIs last season.
Hosmer is no slouch on the field as well as he carried a .995 Fielding Percentage with four errors. Advanced metrics, however, were not so kind as his Defensive Runs Saved rate came in at -7 and he carried a slightly negative Ultimate Zone Rating of -0.3.
However, the Padres were ultimately looking for veteran leadership and Hosmer apparently brings that. Managers and players sing praises about Hosmer, hailing him as a man who wouldn’t hesitate to speak to younger players who are going through their struggles while encouraging them to strive for greater heights. His ability to speak Spanish will work wonders when youngsters like Luis Urias and Fernando Tatis jr arrive on the scene and his leadership qualities will hopefully mesh well with guys like Wil Myers and Hunter Renfroe.
Speaking of Myers, the two share some history together as the two played together in the Royals’ system and Myers has clearly supported a move to bring Hosmer to San Diego, saying that he will support a move to left field if he was signed. Since the move has been announced, Myers has OK’d a move to the outfield. With Hosmer’s bat in the lineup, this will ultimately take a lot of pressure off of Myer’s shoulders and let him relax a bit more now that he is not expected to be “the man”.
This move, of course, brings with it a major impact on the lineup. With Myers moving to left field thanks to Hosmer taking over first base, this means Jose Pirela will presumably not start and move him to the bench as a fourth outfielder. This leaves maybe one spot left for the outfield if any at all, which means Travis Jankowski, Matt Sczcur and potentially Alex Dickerson will have to have the spring training of their lives to have a shot at the final roster or hope that injuries leave a spot open for them.
The deal was a long time coming, with agent Scott Boras holding out for a bigger deal that included more money and another year, with owner Ron Fowler believing that the initial offer made was fine the way it was. However, with the Padres employing the waiting game, Boras was forced to give in a little bit and offer some compromises. He would get the eight year he wanted, but at less money than he originally shot for. Kudos goes to A.J. Preller and the front office for the willing to compromise and some skilled negotiating.
With Kansas City and (supposedly) the St. Louis Cardinals being the only other options, Hosmer decided to go with the team that many consider to be on the upswing. With Fowler pushing for 2019 to be the year of playoff contention, the Padres acted on a near-frozen Hot Stove to pick up the guy they wanted. The Padres will be hoping for more of these moments with their new first baseman, and only time will tell how this deal will turn out. For now though, the Padres 2018 season just got a lot more interesting.
I am currently attending San Diego State University while working on achieving a major in journalism. At SDSU, I write for The Daily Aztec while also hosting the sports radio show “Picked Off”, for KCR Radio. A loyal fan of San Diego sports, I hope to bring content that you will enjoy reading.
The negativity here is strong here. You all just want to complain about something. When our payroll is low, owners are greedy. Now they pay (even if it is a slight overpay) on a proven starter who has the POTENTIAL to be a star, and you all are up in arms? How about giving him a chance to sink or swim before labeling the contract bad. Scherzer’s contract was also supposed to be an albatross and it’s turned out pretty well thus far.
“You all just want to complain about something.” Either you can read everyone’s mind and perfectly know their intentions, or perhaps people have permission to not like the moves certain teams make … maybe? You can certainly point to Scherzer, and while that is more an apples-and-oranges, and it will likely blow up on them in a year or two, there are MANY other contracts that are, in fact, “albatross’s” … and we can likely add this one to the list (at least in a year or two, and for several years at that).
Furthermore, it is not just people who “want to complain about something,” as you put it, could it be that many other people do this for a living also find this perplexing? The top guy at ESPN (for what this is worth) said that signing Hosmer, “is the most inexplicable move of the offseason. Not only does it overvalue Hosmer’s production, it adds a player who doesn’t fit the Padres’ current or long-term needs, and bumps one of their better players to a position where he’s going to be a problem defensively.” So maybe check your judgment, maybe you could be the one in the wrong?
Or maybe, just maybe, you could have faith in a player with upside instead of jumping to a cynical view before the deal is even official? I know it’s hard but it’s really nice being able to view things positively.
It’s not either-or, it is not merely a matter of either being positive or negative, but of being realistic. In being realistic, negative things are seen as negative, positive things are seen as positive, and dubious things are dubious. It is not “let’s just see things as positive;” you may or may not be saying that, or believe that particular way, however, this might explain your negatively-charged, generalized false accusation of everyone who sees a problem as merely wanting to “complain about something.” Also, seeing problems in something (especially when many other people, including so-called experts, also see the same problems) cannot be summarily judged as “jumping to a cynical view,” which, again, is another false accusation and, in profound irony, being negative. Furthermore, the actual player involved is only part of the concern. It is also about what this reveals about the decision makings, about how this negatively impacts the rest of the team (displacing other players), how they investing their (previous) biggest contract in a player and the same position, which is the easiest position to fill…and not putting money into other crucial positions (SS, 3B, Pitching), etc. Hosmer is what he is, and in the view of many he is vastly overrated–in general, and even more so when it comes to an 8 year record breaking contract. So, again, it is partly about him, it is mainly about the leadership, and it is also about the negative impact on the team, and overall it is about being realistic.
I like the structure of this contract for Hosmer, it works for the Padres. After 4 years at age 31, I believe that Hosmer could be moved depending on the status of Naylor or someone new they acquire, he would ONLY have $59 Mil left on his deal then and a team who acquired him would have a leg up to sweeten his deal if they wanted him for 4 more season instead of just one. If we get .300 AVG, 100 HR, 400 RBI for 4 years I will be real happy, if he does better than that I will be ecstatic. Meyers finally has protection in the 3 hole, He needs to have a monster year. He NO longer has to be a leader, he just needs to play. I am on the fence if Meyers really will play to his full potential. I disagree we didn’t need a True 1B who hits LH with some POP!!! Gonzo proved that a LH hitter with power could succeed in Petco and that was before the fences came in. The Padres got better yesterday for this year and beyond, period. We didn’t lose any prospects at all in this move.
There was no real “need” for a first baseman, yet the Padres made this an absolute need,. Who does that? As a result, they made a colossal blunder that will hinder them for almost a decade. A 4 year deal would be a lot, a 6 year contract is way too much, 7 is flagrantly and embarrassingly absurd, yet the brain trust managed to grossly misread the market (especially this year) and give an EIGHTH year? How bad is that? All this in the context that the Padres had ALL of the leverage, yet they somehow managed to surrender to King Boras. To make matters worse, they have at least 3 or 4 players who can play first (now or in the near future) who are better than Hosmer. Now they are stuck for EIGHT YEARS. 3/39, 5 years from now, will be far more than he could get on the market, so the Padres stuck for nearly a decade, unless they pay him to go away, which is very likely, especially given their past. Or maybe in a year or two they can try to convert him to a pitcher like they did with Bettancourt.
What is the over/under for when the Padres will pay some team to play for them? I think Vegas will set it at 3 years. I think they pay St. Louis 40 million at the trade deadline in 2021.
At the trade deadline in 2021, the Padres will be adding players for a World Series run, not dealing their starting 1st baseman.
In some ways you might be right, they may “not be dealing starting 1st baseman” because A) Hosmer is not starting; B) They cannot find any takers.
Funny how you missed the “the Padres will be adding players for a World Series” part of my 1st post. I’ve heard of selective hearing, my girlfriend has that in fact :), but selective reading? 🙂
I missed that? Huh? I addressed one thing you stated, how does that mean I missed the other thing? You did manage to try to make that an insult, I guess? Ok…………all while not addressing what I said. And, for what it is worth, I guess any team could argue they will be adding players for a WS run, so what?
D – U – M … dumb! Dumbest move EVER! It is not just a horrible contact to a below average 1b, it displaces their current below average, over paid 1b with another horrible contract, who THEN displaced their left fielder, who will probably displace their second baseman. AND they caved to Boras!!!! … when they did not have to!! EIGHT years?! Hosmer?!!? A first baseman for $144 million?!? Over $200 million for TWO below average first baseman!!??!
Face it, we weren’t going to be big players in “The Big” Free agency period next off season. Glad Preller grabbed a consistent bat, solid glove and guy who’s been there before. Myers can handle the OF. Up the avg a bit and his bat is strong! Line up and pen can hang in the West. We need 2 higher end SP to lead the rotation and take the heat off the young guys coming up! Getting close SD!
Hosmer will also be getting a full no trade clause for first 3 years, then limited no-trade protection after according to Scott Miller