Royals Rumblings

Royals Rumblings - News for December 26, 2017

Cam Gallagher is in the best shape of his life?

By Max Rieper@maxrieper Dec 26, 2017, 8:00am EST

Royals Rumblings - News for December 26, 2017

Buster Olney at ESPN reports on the Padres’ interest in Eric Hosmer.

There is a deep split of opinion within the San Diego Padres organization about whether the pursuit of Eric Hosmer is the right thing for the team to do at this time. Hosmer would be the leader of a group of developing young players in 2018 and 2019, but with enormous holes in the rotation, the Padres don’t appear close to contending with the Dodgers in the immediate future. If San Diego gave Hosmer a big-money deal -- and at the winter meetings, the buzz among executives was that the Padres were prepared to invest about $120 million over six years -- then Hosmer might start to decline at about the time the team started to turn the corner.

But the Padres certainly have the payroll flexibility to gamble on Hosmer or some other player: San Diego has only $7 million committed to player contracts in 2019; Wil Myers is the only player in the organization with a contract containing guaranteed dollars beyond ’19. (His back-loaded deal gets very expensive in 2020, 2021 and 2022, at $22.5 million annually.)

MLB Trade Rumors asks who will sign Hosmer.

Alex Speier at the Boston Globe looks at the difference between Hosmer and Mitch Moreland.

Still, a strong case can be made to bet on Hosmer’s future. But for the Sox, it would have been one thing to make such a bet if the Sox would have been comparing the prospect of a three- or four-year contract for a bigger number than what Moreland received.

Paying Hosmer $100 million more than Moreland on the basis of an upside bet trying to capture something that Hosmer has never been ultimately made less sense to the Sox than signing Moreland for a modest deal and then looking to add an additional player or players in free agency.

Cam Gallagher talks about his experience in winter ball in the Dominican, where he lost 12 pounds with a stomach ailment.

"Going into it, I thought, 'Oh, this will be kind of like the Instructional league,''' he said. "It was definitely an eye-opener. You can feel the emotion from the Dominican players and fans. It really drove me to try to win, and I got caught up in the emotion, too.''

Amazin Avenue thinks Jason Vargas could help the Mets.

The Twins have interest in Mike Napoli.

The Giants want to add an outfielder, but probably through a trade.

Is visual acuity the next market inefficiency?

MLB complains to ESPN after Rob Manfred is subject to a tough interview by Dan LeBetard.

The other ownership groups bidding on the Marlins might not have cut payroll.

Why it feels good to hate the Yankees again.

A preview of next year’s free agent class.

Jeff Zimmerman at Fangraphs looks at who could be the next great middle reliever.

A minor league baseball player paid off his parents’ mortgage for Christmas.

The new Chart Party from Jon Bois shows the depths of hell Browns fans live in.

The NFL cancels this week’s Sunday Night Football after realizing it is on New Year’s Eve.