Surprisingly, the Padres have been among the most aggressive suitors for free agent first baseman Eric Hosmer this offseason. While the rebuilding Padres likely wouldn’t be near-term contenders even with Hosmer, they regard the longtime Royal as enough of a culture-changing player to justify their attempt to sign him, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. But Hosmer’s still seeking a contract in the $200MM range, according to Lin, who doubts San Diego likes him enough to bid that much (Twitter link).
Elsewhere, the Padres seem to be making some headway in their efforts to add a shortstop, Lin tweets. GM A.J. Preller says the club has at least narrowed the list of possibilities to a handful or so. They’ve been connected to the likes of Freddy Galvis, Zack Cozart and Alcides Escobar (Hosmer’s teammate in Kansas City) recently.
More from around the majors as the meetings wind down…
- Just-acquired Angels second baseman Ian Kinsler was only willing to waive his 10-team no-trade clause for them, Tigers general manager Al Avila told reporters. Avila added that he had talks with three other teams on Kinsler’s no-trade list Wednesday, noting that he “had no leverage” because of the second baseman’s limited NTC. The executive’s not upset with Kinsler, though, as he realizes the player was fully within his rights prevent certain deals from happening (all Twitter links via Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press and Evan Woodbery of MLive.com).
- The Nationals and various right-handed relievers have had “serious” talks today, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post reports. While Janes doesn’t include any names, Jon Heyman of FanRag lists Addison Reed, Brandon Kintzler and Steve Cishek as relievers who are on the team’s radar (Twitter links). Wade Davis and Hector Rondon have also been mentioned in connection with the Nats during the meetings.
- The Twins are also seeking bullpen help, and they have an offer out to a free agent reliever, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN. That’s not J.J. Hoover, whom they’re uninterested in but who’s “squarely in the mix” for the Brewers, per Wolfson. The Twins also weren’t in on Juan Nicasio before he signed with the Mariners on Wednesday, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press writes (Twitter links here).
- The sharks are circling the aforementioned Royals, who are looking to get their payroll below $110MM, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). As things stand, K.C. will be north of that amount, so clearly the club will need to pare back. GM Dayton Moore discussed the situation on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link), saying there’s a need to rebuild the team’s farm while also not giving up on the possibility of retaining top free agents or otherwise remaining competitive.
- Free agent catcher Nick Hundley told Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle he’s “optimistic” that he’ll re-sign with the Giants (Twitter link). Hundley, 34, inked a $2MM deal to serve as Buster Posey’s backup last winter and proceeded to hit .244/.272/.418 in 303 in plate appearances. He was a mixed bag defensively, throwing 29 percent of would-be base stealers but earning minus marks as a pitch framer.
- Still looking for rotation pieces, the Reds could have some interest in veteran free agent Yovani Gallardo, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. The soon-to-be 32-year-old Gallardo is coming off a miserable two-season stretch in which he posted a 5.57 ERA and log 6.48 K/9 against 4.38 BB/9 across 248 2/3 innings with Baltimore and Seattle.
He isn’t worth 200 mil
$200m? I’d be surprised if any team likes him that much.
Boras is high
Yes he is, but his clients make a ton, overrated or not.
Hosmer is overrated.
If Preller has a fully developed brain he won’t trade anyone with even the slightest semblance of long-term value for Galvis.
I understand that Kinsler has the right to exercise his no-trade clause however he wants but why would he have blocked a trade to any team other than the Angels? Would playing for any of those teams in 2018 really have been worse than playing for the Tigers?
Royals are hosed beyond belief.
The angels have a better chance at being contenders than the other teams interested in him. Plus he might have wanted to team up with Justin Upton again.
And the Tigers have a worse chance than any of the teams interested in him of being contenders. I don’t fault him for preferring the Angels of the teams that were interested but like, if the Angels weren’t interested was he just going to stay with the Tigers? It’s just like Stanton with the Dodgers. He can’t force them to trade for him.
Kinsler only had a ten team no trade clause and the Angels were the only one of the 10 on it that Kinsler would approve.
I realize that. But let’s say hypothetically that the Angels weren’t interested. Why would have have blocked a trade to any of the other teams? It can’t be much worse than staying in Detroit for another year.
Kinsler is not your typical baseball player. He didn’t want to leave the Rangers or the Tigers because he’s found a home in tho places. He wanted his next team to be a good fit for him. Angels has it all for his family. It’s warm, with people he knows, and they are a contender.
Paying Hosmer anywhere over $130 million for 6 years is too much. He’s overrated, inconsistent, and there’s other options out there in FA. The Padres would be saving themselves their draft picks and a ton of money. For SS they should go after Escobar. He’s only 30 years young, affordable and one of the most consistent SS.
Cozart is also overpriced. $42 million for three seasons for a 32 year old thats barely coming off his breakout year. There’s no way he’ll be able to perform anywhere close to the way he did in 2017 until hes 35
He’s an elite defender and has been for several years. Even if his bat regressed a bit, he would still be worth $11-14 million per year. The question would seem to be length of contract. Two years and $28 million or three years and $34 million?
Reds fan here too, but he is not elite. He doesn’t have enough range to be elite. he is a good defender, but very injury prone. I would be more worried about injuries and several DL trips every year. He’ll be a good hitter (not as good as 2017 again, but above average for an SS), but too many negatives for me to pony up more than 7 or mill a season.
Angels got him for a reported 3 yrs/38 mil
Playing third
God have mercy on anyone who lets Gallardo anywhere near their rotation.
Most of my fellow Reds fans are grimacing right now hearing that. Maybe if just a minor league contract and camp invite, but nothing more and don’t roll him out there just to eat innings at a 6.00 ERA clip. If he miraculously gets back to like 5 years ago, the sub 4.00 ERA pitcher, maybe.
How does Dayton Moore expect to rebuild the farm, cut payroll, and still remain competitive?
He’s definitely going to do the first two, the third one is a pipe dream. I’m sure he has to say that for PR purposes, but I doubt anyone seriously believes the Royals are going to be competitive with a barren farm and not spending.
It’s a rebuild, which the Royals hope will make them competitive in a few years.
A true rebuild would be trading all of Perez, Duffy, Kennedy and Gordon, paying down their contracts if necessary and focusing on building up the farm.
It’s not that Boras says outlandish things that bothers me… it’s that people are still surprised every time.
Jose Iglesias going to Padres. Al Avila interested in Padres bat boy and asst groundskeeper.
I mean, at least those guys aren’t free agents in a year
Galvis going to the Padres.
If he had no leverage on Kinsler and had to take whatever crap the Angels deigned to throw our way… why did he have to make the trade right now? Kinsler was only making 11M for one more year. We just spent 6M on a piece of crap innings eater in Mike Fiers. We set fire to 8M on Pelfrey, 5.5M on Mark Lowe, took in it the rear on eating Verlander’s money, traded Upton for crap, JD Martinez for crap…
Kinsler wasn’t magically going to become more worthless as the year progressed. It’s not like holding on to Kinsler for a few more months was going to cost them luxury tax or anything like that. I get that they are rebuilding, but this just is a money shedding move with no tangible benefit for the future outside of them not paying 11M to one guy for one year.. or ~5M if they waited until the trade deadline.
I don’t see what they gain by moving him when nobody else in the world really wanted him at all.