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KC Royals: Giants May Have Just Helped The Royals

By Scott Dillon

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The San Francisco Giants, the villains of 2014, may have just helped out the KC Royals. The groundwork for an Eric Hosmer extension has been set.

Much has been said about the potential departure of the core following the 2017 season. The Royals are set to lose Mike Moustakas, Wade Davis, Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, and Eric Hosmer.

This past off-season, David Glass did something he doesn’t normally do; he spent money on players. Not only did he spend big to keep Alex Gordon, but he went out and got Ian Kennedy who had a heck of a Royals debut last night.

Those two signings give fans hope that the core can be retained beyond 2017. Now, the Royals may see what it’s going to take to sign fan-favorite Eric Hosmer.

The San Francisco Giants signed first baseman Brandon Belt to a contract extension worth a total of 79 millon dollars over six years. That should be welcome news to the Royals and their fans as Belt and Hosmer are very similar players.

Both Belt and Hosmer are left-handed first basemen. Belt is only one year older than Eric Hosmer and both debuted in 2011. Neither have been named an All-Star but both have contributed to World Series championships.

Hosmer has slashed .280/.336/.427 across 3,067 plate appearances in his career. Now entering his fifth full season, he has hit 151 doubles, 77 home runs, and 369 RBIs since joining the team in 2011.

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Brandon Belt has slashed .271/.348/.455 across 2,065 plate appearances since he joined the Giants in 2011. In that time, he has hit 116 doubles, 63 home runs, and drove in 237 runs.

Eric Hosmer has almost exactly 1,000 more plate appearances than Brandon Belt does. Projecting his numbers over the same amount of plate appearances looks like 172 doubles, 94 home runs, and 252 RBIs.

Eris Hosmer does have more hardware, in the form of three Gold Gloves, than Brandon Belt. Defensive metrics, however, show that Belt may be a better defender of the two.

Hosmer has a dWAR of -4.9 compared to a -1.2 by Belt. Hosmer also has negative seven in the defensive runs saved category compared to 24 runs saved by Brandon Belt.

In terms of straight up bWAR, Belt beats Hosmer at a rate of 12.6 to nine. While the statistics show otherwise, Eric Hosmer may be able to use his Gold Gloves for more money but it likely won’t be much.

Carl Triano, at Beyond the Box Score, wrote an article a while back that took a look at what it might take to keep Eric Hosmer.

"… I would sign Eric Hosmer to an extension reaching 6 years for $110 million."

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Looking at Belt’s contract, starting in 2017, comes in with an average annual value of $14.6 millon. That’s nearly four million dollars per year less than what Triano has proposed for Eric Hosmer.

A six-year contract for Eric Hosmer using the Brandon Belt model would look like $87.6 million at $14.6 millon per year. Go ahead and round up to 90 million and Royals fans should still be happy given the estimated $20 million savings.

While it seems unlikely that Eric Hosmer won’t test the free-agent market given his agent is Scott Boras, this contract helped set a precedent for Hosmer’s worth. If he signs for that much it won’t be considered a hometown discount but rather a fair contract for both parties. It will also make Eric Hosmer ‘Forever Royal’.

Next: Hosmer's Five Biggest Moments

So what do you think KC Royals fans? Are there enough similarities between the two to use Belt as a comparison to Hosmer? Is Eric Hosmer going to be ‘Forever Royal’? Is $90 million over six years to much for his services? Let me know your thoughts in the comments’ section below.

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