Boras shoots down idea of Royals locking up Hosmer

Those who follow the Kansas City Royals expected Eric Hosmer to be a star.

But they probably didn’t expect him to hit home runs on consecutive days in the Bronx and lead back-to-back victories over the New York Yankees. They also probably didn’t expect they would have to consider the 21-year-old’s departure from Kansas City so soon, either.

There is already talk in Kansas City that the Royals should try to lock up Hosmer – who has played all of six games in the majors – to a long-term contract. It worked for the Tampa Bay Rays with Evan Longoria, so why wouldn’t it work for the Royals? Well there is one huge reason why the stragegy might not work: Scott Boras.

From Jeff Passan of Yahoo!:

Agent Scott Boras on Thursday shot down any hopes the Kansas City Royals had of signing burgeoning star Eric Hosmer to a long-term extension, telling Yahoo! Sports he expects massive increases in television revenue to change the landscape of salaries in baseball.

“Athletes have to know that you have to look at the market you’re in,” Boras said. “You can’t look at the markets of the past. For players like Hosmer, as you go back and look, as [Mark] Teixeira had his own market and [Prince] Fielder had his own market, Hosmer will have his own. And something tells me it’s going to be a rather eventful one.”

Well so much for that idea.

Boras said he expects the market to be vastly different by the time Hosmer becomes a free agent, and that increased revenues will trickle down to lower-revenue teams like the Royals. Whether or not that means Kansas City will have the resources to retain Hosmer remains to be seen. And frankly, it’s far too early to tell.

Hosmer is not eligible to be a free agent until after the 2017 season, and a lot can happen in the meantime. Boras’ market predictions could prove to be way off. The economy could undergo another down period. Hosmer could end up being merely a decent player. There is also the possibility that Hosmer could overrule Boras and opt for the security of an extended deal, like Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies did last winter.

So don’t panic just yet, Royals fans. Just enjoy the moment.

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