Kansas City Royals planning strong bid to re-sign Eric Hosmer
Many gave the Kansas City Royals no chance at retaining their impending free agents, but they are reportedly set to make a run at keeping Eric Hosmer.
The upcoming offseason has been looming over the Kansas City Royals‘ heads for a few years now. The current core of players brought the franchise a long-awaited championship in 2015, which is about all you could reasonably ask for. However, they still hoped to wring a bit more glory from the present configuration of the club, knowing that much of the band would break up this winter.
The playoffs aren’t in the cards this season, but the Royals reportedly aren’t resigned to just letting all their key contributors leave. According to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, the team is prepared to make a “serious effort” to keep one star in particular – first baseman Eric Hosmer.
Heyman says Kansas City could offer Hosmer a new contract worth over $100 million. That would obviously be a hefty commitment from a traditionally thrifty organization. The Royals’ current high-water mark is the $72 million deal they gave to Alex Gordon in 2016, an arrangement that has frankly been disastrous to this point.
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Nonetheless, Hosmer is finishing up the best season of his seven-year career. He’s slashing .319/.385/.496 with 24 home runs and 92 RBI. His 131 OPS+ and 3.9 bWAR are both career highs. He’s durable, playing over 150 games each of the last three years. He also turns 28 next month, so he still has a couple more seasons before crossing the age-30 threshold. It’s not surprising that the Royals would prioritize bringing him back.
Of course, the aforementioned factors will also make him a hot commodity among other teams this offseason, as well. Heyman mentions the Red Sox and possibly the Yankees as potential suitors, and those franchises know a thing or two about making big splashes in free agency. Even if the Royals extend themselves as far as they can, they could still end up falling short in the Hosmer sweepstakes by the time the dust settles.
Hosmer is hardly the only high-profile Royal set to hit the open market in a few weeks. Third baseman Mike Moustakas and center fielder Lorenzo Cain will also be popular free agents heading into the offseason with momentum on their side. “Moose” has clubbed a career-high 38 homers this year, while Cain has rebounded from a somewhat underwhelming 2016 to post 4.9 bWAR (up from 2.9 a season ago).
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If Heyman’s report is accurate, the Royals have targeted Hosmer as the player they’d most like to keep. It makes sense: Despite some inconsistency in his performance over the years, he’s the youngest of the lot and probably the safest bet on a long-term contract.
That said, there’s no guarantee Kansas City will be able to pull it off, even if they go well beyond their usual financial limits. A haze of uncertainty remains, and no matter what, the Royals roster will likely look quite different next year.