Royals Rumors: KC will try to keep Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas

Royals rumors have the KC Royals saying they’re going to make a run at keeping both Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas. This is great news for the fans who want to see this team keep its stars.

Not even a week ago, Jim Duquette of MLB.com made his predictions as to where the top 25 MLB free agents would land. He sent Royals rumors into a frenzy when he predicted both Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas would stay members of the Kansas City Royals.

It seemed unrealistic, and it still does, but the difference now is that Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports has reported that the Royals are going to “try hard to retain” the two key free agents. Both players were first round picks for Kansas City, both guys helped rebuild this team, and both of them mean a lot to Royals fans.

"The Royals-owning Glass family seems to have come to the conclusion they team can remain competitive and doesn’t want to disappoint an enthusiastic fan base, that has wildly supported the team during his recent heyday, including pennants in 2014 and ’15, and a World Series title in ’15."

There are two ways this offseason can go. Either the Royals re-sign a key player (or two) or they don’t and decide to tear everything down and start from scratch. Should the Royals ink Hosmer and Moustakas to deals, however, they can’t just stop there.

The Royals aren’t the Red Sox or the Yankees. They can’t just shell out money to whoever they want.

Fans want to see a competitive team on the field. Keeping Hosmer and Moustakas would be great, but if there aren’t enough other good players to help this team win games, then why put so much money into just two guys?

While I’d love to see Hosmer and Moose stay in Kansas City, it’s not going to be cheap. Giving both of those guys massive contracts would mean that the Royals have shelled out giant deals to Hosmer, Moustakas, Alex Gordon, and Ian Kennedy. I think we can all agree the last two have not lived up to what they’re earning.

Perhaps a big reason in why the Royals are willing to go in on both of these players is that they’re still under 30. Gordon was in his early 30s at the time of his re-signing and a lot of fans expected him to decline (just not to this degree, of course).

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"Hosmer and Moustakas are likely in for even bigger paydays, particularly Hosmer, but the Royals seem to see them as cornerstone players for the future. Unlike Cain, both Hosmer and Mosutakas are still in their 20s, and that could be a big reason they are the focus, at least for now."

Another big worry has been that Hosmer and Moustakas have Scott Boras as their agent and he’s notorious for getting his players the most money possible. That will be a bigger deal than people think. Both guys are going to make more than what Gordon received in 2016 and this could become a situation that holds the franchise back years down the road.

"K.C.’s $72-million deal for Gordon is their franchise record, but they understand Hosmer will be a $100-million player and Moustakas could top the Gordon deal, too. One other issue is that neither has to sign quickly, and both have Scott Boras as an agent, so there’s no guarantee either will"

Look, I’m not knocking this move. I love Eric Hosmer and I love Mike Moustakas, but the Royals aren’t the Red Sox or the Yankees. They can’t just shell out money to whoever they want. They especially can’t do it after giving Gordon and Kennedy the type of deals that they did.

At the end of the day, I could see Kansas City keeping one of the two, but don’t think they should they handicap themselves into what would be four mega deals. The Royals have proven they can win via rebuild and that might be the smartest decision to make here.

I know it’s painful, but in a few years, fans might think otherwise.

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