Should the Royals lock up Eric Hosmer now? - MLB

Eric Hosmer has played exactly five games in the major leagues and has made exactly 22 plate appearances. And Sam Mellinger of the KC Star says the Royals should lock him up right now:

Five games into his big-league career and he’s already batting third and drawing comparisons to Joey Votto and Adrian Gonzalez. That’s all great. It’s the lines to Johnny Damon and Carlos Beltran that make Royals fans nervous, and the ones that are worth addressing this week.

In other words, the Royals should offer Hosmer a long-term and lucrative contract right now.

As he always does, Mellinger makes a compelling argument. The key points: The Evan Longoria contract shows that you can get a good one signed young to a team-friendly deal. And that while Hosmer may be a Scott Boras client, as evidenced by the Carlos Gonzalez contract, Scott Boras isn’t the same Scott Boras today that he was a few years ago and may not be hellbent on taking everyone to free agency. Mellinger’s idea: try to split the difference between the Longria and Gonzalez contracts with Hosmer.

I wonder how much of the Gonzalez contract, however, was a function of Boras’ own evaluation of Gonzalez as less of a sure thing than a lot of young guys who break onto the scene. In other words, did his advice to Gonzalez to sign now represent an exception that he would not make in the case of Hosmer, who is much more highly touted than Gonzalez was at a similar point in his career?

What say you? If you’re the Royals, do you try to lock him up now or do you wait a bit, realizing that the guy won’t even be arbitration eligible until after the 2012 season, and maybe not even until after 2013? If you’re Hosmer, do you consider it, realizing that, while guaranteed money is great, you did get a $6 million signing bonus a couple of years ago?

SAN DIEGO — The scuffling San Diego Padres claimed catcher Gary Sánchez off waivers from the New York Mets.

The two-time All-Star was designated for assignment after playing in three games for the Mets. He went 1 for 6 with three strikeouts and an RBI, looking shaky at times behind the plate.

With the disappointing Padres (24-29) getting meager offensive production at catcher, they hope Sánchez can provide a boost. Austin Nola is batting .131 with three extra-base hits and a paltry .434 OPS in 39 games. His part-time platoon partner, second-stringer Brett Sullivan, is hitting .170 with four extra-base hits and a .482 OPS in 21 games since getting called up from the minors April 16.

Luis Campusano has been on the injured list since April 17 and is expected to be sidelined until around the All-Star break following left thumb surgery.

San Diego is responsible for just over $1 million in salary for Sánchez after assuming his $1.5 million, one-year contract.

The star-studded Padres have lost seven of 11 and are 3-3 on a nine-game East Coast trip. They open a three-game series at Miami.

San Diego becomes the third National League team to take a close look at the 30-year-old Sánchez this season. He spent time in the minors with San Francisco before getting released May 2 and signing a minor league contract a week later with the Mets, who were minus a couple of injured catchers at the time.

After hitting well in a short stint at Triple-A Syracuse, he was promoted to the big leagues May 19. When the Mets reinstated catcher Tomás Nido from the injured list last week, Sánchez was cut.

Sánchez’s best seasons came early in his career with the New York Yankees, where he was runner-up in 2016 AL Rookie of the Year voting and made the AL All-Star team in 2017 and 2019.

He was traded to Minnesota before the 2022 season and batted .205 with 16 homers and 61 RBIs in 128 games last year.

With the Padres, Sánchez could also be a candidate for at-bats at designated hitter, where 42-year-old Nelson Cruz is batting .245 with three homers, 16 RBIs and a .670 OPS, and 37-year-old Matt Carpenter is hitting .174 with four homers, 21 RBIs and a .652 OPS.