Eric Hosmer to the Cardinals? a National Writer Outlines How That Could Happen

Daily Clips

October 10, 2017

LOCAL

If Mike Moustakas decides to play elsewhere, which ballparks bring out his best performances?

October 9, 2017By Lee Judge/KC Star

Eric Hosmer to the Cardinals? A national writer outlines how that could happen

October 9, 2017By Pete Grathoff/KC Star

NATIONAL

Fans can help choose Aaron Award winners

Annual honor goes to best offensive player in each league

October 9, 2017By Mark Newman/MLB.com

MLB TRANSACTIONS
October 10, 2017 •.CBSSports.com

LOCAL

If Mike Moustakas decides to play elsewhere, which ballparks bring out his best performances?

October 9, 2017By Lee Judge/KC Star

One morning, this past spring, Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer and I stood around the Royals’ clubhouse in Surprise, Ariz., talking about pitchers’ release points and seeing the ball out of a pitcher’s hand — which should give you some idea of just how exciting spring training can be.

Anyway…

Even though they’re both left-handed hitters, Mike pointed out that he’s 6 feet tall and Eric’s 6-4. Because they have different points of view, Mike might find a pitcher’s release point easy to see and Eric might have trouble picking up the ball out of the same pitcher’s hand.

The same thing happens with ballparks.

Because hitters’ height, stance or position in the box differ, some players see the ball well when playing in a certain park and other players might struggle in the same stadium. And if a player is looking at multiple offers, he might want to play his home games in a park where he sees the ball well.

Take Brandon Moss, for instance.

Brandon says he sees the ball really well in Kauffman Stadium and his numbers bear that out. When playing in Kauffman, Moss has hit .272 and slugged .533. It’s one of the reasons Brandon wanted to come here, he knew he saw the ball well and played well in Kauffman Stadium.

Moustakas at home

Certain players like to play in certain parks, so we’re taking a look at the Royals four free-agent position players and the parks that favor their style of play. Today, we’ll talk about Mike Moustakas.

Mike’s overall career numbers are: .251 batting average, .305 on-base percentage and .425 slugging percentage. When playing in Kauffman Stadium those numbers are: .253/.311/.419.

Moustakas on the road

Assuming I transcribed the numbers off Baseball Reference correctly, here are some of the parks where Mike has had at least 50 plate appearances and performed well:

▪ Busch Stadium (St. Louis): .385/.448/.481

▪ Progressive Field (Cleveland): .283/.338/.466

▪ Rogers Centre (Toronto): .302/.324/.508

▪ Target Field (Minnesota): .283/.332/.473

Depending on how you define playing well or how many plate appearances you think constitutes a good sample size, other parks might have made the list, but these are the ones I went with.

Parks with short right-field porches

Think left-handed power hitter and you’d probably assume that guy would perform well in a park with a short right-field porch. But here are three parks with relatively short right-field porches — at least compared to Kauffman — and the numbers Moustakas has put up there:

▪ Camden Yards (Baltimore): .217/.250/.464

▪ Minute Maid Park (Houston): .194/.239/.358

▪ Yankee Stadium (New York): .175/.200/.404

Hitters will tell you when they come to the plate with a short porch to aim for, it’s hard to get that short porch out of their minds and pitchers can take advantage of that. If a pitcher knows a left-handed hitter is trying to pull the ball, it can simplify the pitcher’s job.

Pitch the left-handed hitter on the outside part of the plate, let him try to jerk the ball to the right side of the field and he’s likely to hit a rollover grounder. It’s the same principle behind all the left-handed shifts we see.

Playing in your own backyard

Mike’s from Southern California and there’s been speculation that, should he get an offer, he might choose to play for a Southern California team.

Some players enjoy playing in their hometown; others find it a distraction.

Every time a third cousin or former high school classmate wants to go to a ballgame, they call up wanting to know if they can get tickets. And sometimes playing in front of his family and friends can put extra pressure on a player and if a player responds to that pressure by trying harder, the results are rarely good.

Here are Mike’s numbers when playing in Angel Stadium: .224/.313/.400.

Once again: the ballpark is just one factor

If Mike Moustakas faced Clayton Kershaw in Dodger Stadium and me in a Walmart parking lot, I’m guessing it would look like Moustakas liked hitting in Walmart parking lots.

Just as we did with the piece on Eric Hosmer, we’ve focused on ballparks and ignored almost every other factor that affects a player’s performance. Ballparks aren’t the only thing that matters, but they do matter, so we’ll do the same thing later this week when I write about Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain.

Until then, enjoy the playoff games.

Eric Hosmer to the Cardinals? A national writer outlines how that could happen

October 9, 2017By Pete Grathoff/KC Star

Game 7 of this year’s World Series is scheduled for Nov. 1, so it’s still a few weeks until the group of Royals stars will become free agents.

But the speculation about the fate of Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain and the others has already started. And here’s one theory that would likely turn the stomach of Royals fans: Hosmer signing with the Cardinals.

The Cardinals are eager to add a premium hitter, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and they have expressed interest in Toronto third baseman Josh Donaldson.

But what if they turned their attention to Hosmer? ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote Sunday that many of the big-market teams may be set at first base. But the Cardinals might benefit from adding Hosmer, Olney said.

This is what Olney wrote:

The Cardinals again face the challenge of trying to figure out a way to make all of their ill-fitting pieces work. Matt Carpenter has been one of their best hitters for years, and during the 2017 season, he posted a .384 on-base percentage. Increasingly, however, evaluators view him as a defensive liability. The Cardinals have moved him from second base to third base to first base without settling on any one spot.

What follows is speculation: Carpenter is owed $30.5 million for the next two seasons, including a $2 million buyout on a 2020 option. The Cardinals have discussed the need to get better defensively, to get more athletic, and unquestionably, they would do so if they dealt Carpenter away and invested in Hosmer to be their everyday first baseman — and Hosmer would make the Cardinals’ pitching and the rest of the St. Louis infielders better with his defensive prowess.

As noted, that’s conjecture, but, whew, it would be tough for Royals fans to see Hosmer in red and white.

Olney finished his thought on Hosmer with a note that could be good news for Royals fans who want Hosmer to return. You can read what Olney wrote here.

NATIONAL

Fans can help choose Aaron Award winners

Annual honor goes to best offensive player in each league

October 9, 2017By Mark Newman/MLB.com

"As a ballplayer, I always figured that I had a bat and all the pitcher had was a little ball, and as long as I kept swinging that bat, I'd be all right."

-- Hank Aaron, from his autobiography "I Had A Hammer"

Voting is underway through Friday to help decide who wins the 2017 Hank Aaron Awards, recognizing two Major League Baseball players who kept swinging on their way to the title of most outstanding offensive performance in each league.

American League nominees include: Mike Trout of the Angels, Jose Altuve of the Astros, Khris Davis of the Athletics, Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays, Jose Ramirez of the Indians, Nelson Cruz of the Mariners, Jonathan Schoop of the Orioles, Elvis Andrus of the Rangers, Logan Morrison of the Rays, Mookie Betts of the Red Sox, Eric Hosmer of the Royals, Nicholas Castellanos of the Tigers, Brian Dozier of the Twins, Jose Abreu of the White Sox and Aaron Judge of the Yankees.

National League finalists are: Freddie Freeman of the Braves, Travis Shaw of the Brewers, Tommy Pham of the Cardinals, Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs, Paul Goldschmidt of the D-backs, Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers, Buster Posey of the Giants, Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins, Michael Conforto of the Mets, Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals, Jose Pirela of the Padres, Odubel Herrera of the Phillies, Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates, Joey Votto of the Reds and Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies.

Winners will be announced during the 113th World Series.

"It is an honor that the awards, which distinguish the top offensive performers in baseball, have my name on it," Aaron said at last year's presentation to David Ortiz and Kris Bryant.

Aaron faithfully shows up for each year's ceremony, adding to the weight of this honor.

Considering that more home runs (6,105) were hit this regular season than in any other, the obvious question is whether these awards -- named for a slugger so synonymous with power -- will go to two of the biggest bashers.

Or will other elements like on-base percentage, speed and clutch hits influence the vote? Will voters reward batting titles, or perhaps high rankings in Statcast™ exit velocity?

Fifteen finalists were named All-Stars this year, and overall the 30 finalists combined to have been named All-Stars 65 times. The group of nominees also features 19 players under the age of 30, with eight aged 25 or younger.

It is the eighth year in a row that fans have a say in the voting process. In addition, a special panel of Hall of Fame players, led by Aaron himself, will vote on the winners. The panel includes Roberto Alomar, Johnny Bench, Craig Biggio, Ken Griffey Jr., Eddie Murray and Robin Yount. These Hall of Famers -- who combined for 17,010 hits, 8,844 RBIs and 2,275 home runs -- have all been personally selected by Aaron to lend their expertise.

Aaron's career stats over 23 seasons bear repeating here, just in case they aren't cited often enough: 3,771 hits (3rd), 755 homers (2nd), 142.6 WAR/position players (5th), 6,856 total bases (1st), 3,298 games (3rd), 2,174 runs (fourth), 2,297 RBIs (1st). He averaged only 60 strikeouts a season, never hitting triple digits in any year.

There was also an element no statistic could measure: courage and resolve. In breaking Babe Ruth's longstanding record of 714 home runs for the Braves in 1974, The Hammer withstood relentless racial taunts and death threats. His award carries on that legacy of strength.

Six former Aaron Award winners are amongst the finalists. Here are the previous winners:

Bryant and Ortiz (2016); Donaldson and Bryce Harper (2015); Stanton and Trout (2014); Miguel Cabrera and Goldschmidt (2013); Cabrera and Posey (2012); Jose Bautista and Matt Kemp (2011); Bautista and Votto (2010); Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols (2009); Aramis Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis (2008); Alex Rodriguez and Prince Fielder (2007); Jeter and Ryan Howard (2006); Ortiz and Andruw Jones (2005); Manny Ramirez and Barry Bonds (2004); Rodriguez and Pujols (2003); Rodriguez and Bonds (2001-02); Carlos Delgado and Todd Helton (2000) and Manny Ramirez and Sammy Sosa (1999).

The Hank Aaron Award was introduced in 1999 to honor the 25th anniversary of Aaron breaking Ruth's all-time home run record. At that time, it was the first major award introduced by MLB in more than 25 years. Fan voting now is conducted exclusively on MLB.com and club sites.

MLB TRANSACTIONS
October 10, 2017 •.CBSSports.com