Padres Sign Eric Hosmer

After enduring the most boring baseball offseason in recent memory, the Padres took a metaphorical sledgehammer to the frozen free agent market and signed first baseman Eric Hosmer to an 8 year, 144 million dollar contract- by far the largest and most lucrative in team history.

Obviously, the prospect of signing Hosmer has been an extremely polarizing subject amongst Padre fans, but he does indeed have a nice resume; he had an All-Star season last year (25 home runs and 4.1 Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement), won two Gold Gloves, will be a clubhouse leader (essentially a worthless construct, but whatever lol), and was a key contributor to the Royals' 2015 World Series-winning team.

The Padres even got him for less than we were expecting- the first five years of the contract are front-loaded and will pay him 20 million dollars annually, in addition to a 5 million dollar signing bonus. After the fifth year, Hosmer can opt out of his deal. Should he decide to stay (and considering the weak market for him this year, he probably will), his contract will pay him 13 million dollars annually for the last 3 years of the deal. There were rumors that Hosmer had been offered the same 144 million dollars for 7 years (as opposed to the 8 they signed him for), so he'll be playing for less money per year. 

The pre-opt out terms of the contract essentially amount to 100 million dollars over 5 years, which actually isn't atrocious. In fact, I'd say that's pretty close to market value relative to Hosmer's performance last season. It might EVEN be a weird kind of value in the best case scenario, wherein Eric Hosmer becomes the face of the new era of Padres baseball: a consistent All-Star first baseman who hits for power and can play Gold Glove defense.  

Unfortunately, Hosmer has had an quite an inconsistent career. He has thrice been a replacement level player or worse (most recently in 2016), bottoming out in 2012 to finish as the second worst position player in baseball by WAR.

Even with those flaws in mind, newly-minted Padres beat writer Kevin Acee notes that the team was apparently so smitten with Hosmer that they decided to offer him a franchise-changing contract that will preclude them from making a big signing in the loaded 2018-2019 free agent class. 

The Padres can only take one bite of the big-name free agent apple, so to speak, only one bullet to shoot... I could go on with the metaphors. The Padres are taking a massive risk by making an expensive, long-term commitment to Eric Hosmer. 

Small market teams like the Padres have the financial resources to make such signings once (and only once)- and misfires can be absolutely disastrous. These moves aren't made unless the front office is absolutely certain that the man they're giving a gargantuan contract is a bonafide franchise cornerstone. It's clear that AJ Preller is certain that Hosmer is that guy. 

Look, he probably can't be any worse than Matt Kemp (famous last words hahahah), but I'm not convinced that Hosmer is that guy. I trust AJ Preller- but moves like these terrify me. But hey- the Padres are interesting again! That's never a bad thing- me and you both are going to be in for a wild ride over the next 5 years.

I'll tell ya what: if we live in a world where a Nick Foles-led Eagles can run roughshod over the Patriots- the greatest dynasty in sports- 2023 World Series MVP Eric Hosmer leading the San Diego Padres championship parade down 19 Tony Gwynn Drive doesn't sound so implausible anymore.