Padres GM A.J. Preller said at yesterday’s press conference to introduce Eric Hosmer that Hosmer’s openness to new data was a key component in signing him (link via Dennis Lin of The Athletic). “[H]e’s a guy with an inquisitive mind,” said Preller. “Those are things that, when we sat down with him, were important to us.” Many have suggested that Hosmer, one of the league leaders in ground-ball rate, could more consistently tap into his power and become a more reliable offensive weapon were he to adopt a more fly-ball-oriented approach.
Regarding the divide between Hosmer’s four Gold Glove Awards and his poor ratings from Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating, manager Andy Green noted that those metrics don’t account for Hosmer’s ability to pick low throws, nor do they account for “organizational philosophy on (defensive) positioning.” Lin also spoke to Padres lefty Matt Strahm, who teamed with Hosmer in Kansas City before being traded to San Diego last summer. Strahm referred to Hosmer as “Superman” and noted that Hosmer “literally can pull all 25 guys in a clubhouse together, and I’ve never seen that.”
More notes on the division…
- The Giants and Madison Bumgarner have mutual interest in working out an extension eventually, GM Bobby Evans told MLB Network’s Jon Morosi on SiriusXM radio (Twitter link). However, Evans also noted that the two sides aren’t presently in active negotiations on a new deal, nor is there a timeline to begin those talks. Spring Training is typically the prime time for teams to discuss long-term pacts and extensions with their players, though, so it stands to reason that the Giants will be in touch with Bumgarner’s reps at the Legacy Agency over the next few weeks. San Francisco doesn’t necessarily need to feel a rush to extend the 28-year-old Bumgarner, who can be controlled through 2019 as it is, but working out a long-term deal next spring when he’s just a year from the open market could prove difficult. Bumgarner is earning $12MM in 2018, and the Giants have a $12MM club option on his 2019 season as well.
- The slow-moving free agent market at least prompted the Rockies to reassess the available options recently, GM Jeff Bridich told Nick Groke of the Denver Post, but Bridich didn’t sound like he was itching to make further additions to his club. “Nothing prompted us or sparked any sort of action because we feel if we’re healthy, we have a strong position group,” said Bridich. The GM did note that Carlos Gonzalez and Mark Reynolds are both players whom the Rockies “have spent a decent amount of time staying in touch with,” though both still remain available in free agency. Bridich also said that the team is open to in-season extension talks for Charlie Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu, both of whom are set to hit the open market after the current season. The same holds true of Nolan Arenado, though he’s controlled through 2019.
- Following the Diamondbacks’ acquisition of Steven Souza from the Rays, D-backs GM Mike Hazen tells the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro that his team’s “heavy lifting is done.” As Piecoro notes, this week’s pickups of Souza and Jarrod Dyson will push the team’s payroll into the $130MM vicinity — an easy club record. But, the team is focused on winning right now, with Paul Goldschmidt still under control for two more seasons and still in his prime. Piecoro also suggests that the D-backs “seem ready to move on” from Yasmany Tomas, who is owed another $46MM as part of the ill-fated six-year, $68.5MM contract he signed before the 2015 season.
I still see Tomas hitting 20 homers again in a season before Rusney Castillo actually finds himself on a MLB 25-man roster
Castillo wasn’t even that bad, they just expected him to have an immediate impact and never gave him a 2nd chance. People tend to forget there’s a human being behind all the millions. You don’t just get a dirt poor guy from an island in the middle of nowhere, give him $70m+ and throw him in the biggest country in the world, and expect him to function like a normal person, let alone an athlete.
Independently of all that. You don’t give 70m to an unproven player from a league that is comparable to double A at most. That was just a dumb contract, but these are the same people that gave Hanley 4y/$88m, Sandoval 5y/$95m, and Porcello 4y/$82..5m
This^^^^
Agree!!
A little nit-picky, but US isn’t the largest country in the world. Or even #2.
Plus, it’s not like the Red Sox are handicapped by those contracts… They’ve still been able to go out and do things to improve the club.
There are plenty of bad contracts given out around MLB.
It’s not the same people that signed HanRam and Sandoval – that was previous GM Ben Cherington, was it not? DD/Mike Hazen assumed their roles in 2015, after those deals. Porcello was them, but you could argue in this market where SP has gotten pricier, that that was not a dumb contract since he won the Cy Young in the 1st year of the deal even if 2017 was forgettable.
Fact is, BOS has the leniency to give out a few bad deals with the stockpile of controllable stars they have in Betts, Bogaerts, Benintendi, Devers, Bradley, etc.
Porcello WAS Cherington and it happened in April. DD wasn’t around until end of that season.
And for the record, Porcello won the Cy Young during that contract. I’m pretty sure by any measure, even one Cy year justifies a contract for a starter. And I say this as a Sox fan who regularly swears at this guy on TV and in person.
Thanks for the clarification.
“stockpile of controllable stars” Boegarts,Devers aren’t stars and Bradley is far from one. Betts yes,and Benintendi though only having a little over a year has a chance.
I disagree. I love Bogaerts. As a Phillies fan he’s the guy I wanted back had a Hamels deal gone down.
I agree, but Castillo actually had a decent season in AAA last year.
It was pie in the sky but I’d hoped the Sox would trade Avi Garcia to the DBacks and increase the prospect haul by taking on 2/3rds of the Tomas contract.
Dbacks did he win, for sneaking in and taking Tomas from under the padres, and now this… lol
Dbacks for the win *
Edit buttons and notifications would be awesome on this app
Yeah, I’d have to get on a computer within 5 minutes to fix it
I’m curious to see what hosmer can do on the field and off
There you go. The Padres needed a $21 million first baseman with an inquisitive mind. That explains the deal. The chance that a guy like Hosmer will successfully change his swing angle is remote. If he tried to do so, it is much more likely he will mess up his swing.
As someone who watched Hoz field in KC, let me explain what I think the Padres are getting. Hosmer has great hands. But he never learned the basics of fielding first base. He backs up on many bad throws (especially bounced throws), giving up outs and risking injury. He literally sometimes is on the foul side of the line trying to pick up a bad throw. His hands and skills result in many nice scoops, but he also does that wrong. He pushes the glove towards the ball, rather than bringing the glove back to cradle the ball. On balance, I think his scoops are a plus – maybe 5 to 10 extra outs (all first baseman are fair to good on scoops). As to range, it is very hard to tell. On grounders, like on scoops, he pushes his glove toward the ball and blows some plays. He did that in Game 1 of the 2015 WS and cost the Royals a run that would have made the difference except Gordon came through with a 9th inning homer (and Hoz drove home the winner in the 14th with a bases loaded sac fly).
He will provide about an 820 OPS and the Padres will lose about 90 games. He is unlikely to play on a division winner during his 5 year contract. I read somewhere that the Padres “gave great money to a good player.” I think that is right. I wish he would have used that leadership magic the last two years in KC where pretty good teams finished 500.
Guys change swings fairly often, at least to the degree they seem to be talking.
A few degrees in launch angle is the difference in a routine grounder that a 2b gets to or a hard it ball in the hole.
Adjusting his launch angle can be done by making minor changes to a swing.
Soery, but I trust the coaching staff’s knowledge more than yours.
I read somewhere that Yonder Alonso changed his launch angle last offseason.
JD Martinez as well, years ago which lead to his breakout
That was his lunch angle
I’ll be honest, I might be inclined to trust this guy over the Padres…
He just gave an honest, accurate and detailed scouting report on Eric Hosmer.
Whereas, the Padres gave $144 million to Eric Hosmer because he MIGHT get better AKA Jason Heyward logic.
you arent totallly wrong but im guessing some of this is out of emotion of the Royals time having passed.
it will be interesting to see how this plays out in San Diego the next couple years; there hasnt been much reason for fans to pay attention to the Padres for a while, so theres that.
Wall of text earns a -2.5 WAR.
Food for thought since I haven’t watched every scoop made by Hosmer. In general short hops, the fielder wants to go after the ball with his glove to prevent any unseen skipping or spinning. And long hops, the fielder is more likely to cradle with soft hands. Most tough scoops by first basemen are short hops.
Most coaches would rather the first baseman go into foul ground to prevent an errant throw from going into the dugout. But I do agree that keeping their foot on the bag at that point is I’ll-advised.
Do you realize how many players have made that change? Rendon, Donaldson, Smoak, Lindor, Murphy, half the Rays’ team, Haniger, Alonso, Turner, etc. It’s a long list. Some have struggled, or traded power for contact, but there’s plenty of positive examples.
What do the Padres really have to lose by trying? If you’re convinced they’re not going to win with him as-is, and they’re now stuck paying him, it kind of makes sense to see if they can squeeze something more out of him, doesn’t it?
Don’t forget Matt Olson as well
Geez, someone sounds butthurt that Hosmer didn’t re-sign with the royals.
Bumgarner to the Braves in 2020
#1 reason we’ve stockpiled all these arms is to avoid an overpay like this one.
“Padres GM A.J. Preller said at yesterday’s press conference to introduce Eric Hosmer that Hosmer’s openness to new data was a key component in signing him”
It can’t be WAR. As I’ve said, This man has been a model of inconsistency. WAR from 2011-2017 has been:
Fangraphs — Baseball-Reference
1.0 ————- 1.5 (2011)
-1.7 ———- -0.4 (2012)
3.2 ———— 3.5 (2013)
0 ————– 0.8 (2014)
3.5 ———— 3.6 (2015)
-0.1 ———– 1.0 (2016)
4.1 ———— 4.0 (2017)
New Data? I see good bad good bad good bad good Lol
https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3516&position=1B
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hosmeer01.shtml
Hosmer is due for an average to slightly below average season.
David Cameron (Now hired by Padres) tweet from Dec 20 2017. https://twitter.com/OneDaveCameron/status/943594998330789890
“Matt Adams got 1/$4M to be a backup. Eric Hosmer is probably getting $100M+. So I’ll just share these career numbers and walk away.” — https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=c,34,35,40,41,-1,23,37,38,50,-1,61&season=2017&month=0&season1=2005&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=3516,9393 — Discuss.
Matt Adams is almost exclusively a platoon player because of his weakness against lefties.
But Adams is a career +14 DRS, +8.3 UZR, to Hosmer’s -21 DRS, -29.0 UZR.
Since 2016 Hosmer has been last in UZR (-8.7) third worst DRS (-13) among all First Basemen.
It baffles my mind, he won four of the last five 1B Gold Gloves (2013-2015, 2017) Must be because of Scoops (First among First Basemen, since 2016, with 70)
But what about the intangibles?!?!
In a weird way Werth did work out for the nationals. They became relevant. Maybe now the pads can in three years use this cache to sign their version of Scherzer… Preller is the next Rizzo?
So I’m guessing 2021 is the year for the Padres because Hosmer can only play well in odd-numbered years and 2019 is a little optimistic.
Print the World Series ticket now Ryan
2019 or bust
Good thing he doesn’t play for the Giants, then.
I thought the exact same thing
2016? Asking for a friend.
Interestingly enough, he’ll be able to opt out during an odd-numbered year. Maybe the Padres are on to something.
“He’s a guy with an inquisitive mind.”
Haha, this is exactly what I used to write in the comments section of my students’ report cards, as a gentle hint to the parents that their kid asks too many stupid questions.
It’s definitely a justifiable reason to sign a mediocre player to 144 million dollar contract. I guess that “intangibles” word got overused.
I had a good chuckle when I read that. Maybe it’s going to be a Lebron James-type situation where the player is going to use his “inquisitive mind” to offer up his two cents to the front office on who they should trade for or sign in the future. That would be hilarious.
If Hosmer settles in as a 3.5 WAR player and provides all these unbelievable intangibles he apparently possesses I suspect his contract will become less of an issue. But it seems that SD is paying for projected on the field improvement, and that’s a dicier bet.
So how will The D-Backs utilize their outfielders like Souza and Dyson? I would put Souza in RF/LF over Tomas. Let Dyson be the bench speed/late game defensive replacement, and let Tomas be the RF/1B off the bench. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they just outright released Tomas. That contract has not panned out at all, except for one ok offensive season.
If you look at the Dbacks roster, there isn’t a spot for Tomas on the 25 man as it sits now (w/o injuries). Besides the power he is a boat anchor. Tomas maybe ends up being a power bat off the bench that sees the field as little as possible. I suspect they would consider moving him for another bad k, but that power potential probably convinces them to keep him one more season. I don’t think there is much of a chance that they will release him, but AAA is a real possibility.
Couldnt u just sign Jonny Gomes for his clubhouse presence, keep Myers at 1B, and save 143.5M
because they aren’t signing him to be a clubhouse presence, they are paying him to play first base, with the extra addition of hosmer being a nice guy
well then you could sign a better/similar 1B for a ton less money. Lucas Duda has a higher career wRC+. Ironically… Matt Adams, CJ Cron, Adam Lind and Steve Pearce all have wRC+ within 5 points of Hosmer. Heck.. Carlos Santana has double Hosmer’s WAR since 2010
but Hosmer is coming off a great year unlike the options you mentioned, and is younger. All teams should want a young former world series champion who was 2nd in hits in the AL last year
Second in hits with an unsustainable BABIP.
If Bumgarner wants to be a Giant for his career then SF’s competitive window can be prolonged for 4-5 years. Good thing Boras isn’t his agent.
I look at that picture of Hosmer and think one thing — the Padres have a really bland looking uniform.
They’re going for the “Penn State of the West Coast” look.
Haha says the Indians fan lol that is rich. “Give him the heater ricky”
If only we had a clown indian face as our mascot and hand over a world series to the cubs people would respect us
When was the last time the Padres were even relevant ?
Simply, Hosmer needs to pull the ball more. His batted ball profile shows that the majority of his fly balls and line drives are to Left Center-Left.
Stupid move by the Padres, why get a first baseman when you have Meyers? Especially when there are so many other needs
Because Myers is train wreck
hurrrrr da durrrrr
*fart noises*
Hosmer had a career year with a SLG% just south of 500. Things are not going to go well for him in San Diego.
When the rays designated corey dickerson the padres should have opted to claim him and place him at 1st or in the OF instead of signing hosmer.
Dickerson has 2 years left via arb and will make less than 20 mill in those 2 years combined. And dickerson has shown to be better offensively than hosner with a career OPS+ of 119 while Hosmer has 111.
I still have no idea how the Rockies have not already locked up Arenado long-term.
My guess would be that Arenado wasn’t interested in signing long term yet. It will be interesting if the two sides can come to terms on a deal before Blackmon or DJ go to free agency. I would think the Rockies would want to lock Arenado up before they sign Blackmon or DJ. Even though those two reach free agency a year before Arenado does. The Rockies do have infield and outfield depth to replace both Blackmon and DJ….though they aren’t at the same level as those two players yet. Replacing Arenado though is a much tougher thing to do.
Exactly. DJ is by far the easiest of the three to replace. Brendan Rodgers could easily be ready for that next season.
The #1 solution to keeping all three players is to sign them all to extensions. I’m sure they would each like to stay in Colorado, but it will take some serious money to keep them here. I’m thinking Rodgers at shortstop if Story continues to struggle.
Question. If the Giants extend Bum this year, does the AV for his contract go up. And if so , all the work they’ve done to stay under the Tax goes out the window. So unless I’m wrong, which I am several times a day. This extension, won’t happen till next spring and then anything can happen.