Showing posts with label press conference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label press conference. Show all posts

Sunday, February 25, 2018

When You Know You've Been Around These Bases Before - Free Agency 2018 Pt 2 of 2


continued.

The reactions of fans at the reality of their favorite team player leaving for greener pastures cannot be expressed appropriately.  The crying and sobbing gifs and cries of "Don't leave us, Hos!" on social media far outnumbered any excitement of Padres fans. Eric Hosmer was the calm of the storm for the Kansas City community and organization. He was an eloquently spoken representative, often sought out by the media, always with the right words.  That he would leave for a larger salary was anticipated, but when his departure became official that he was leaving for a team further down in the standings than the Royals, well let's just say that the baseball savvy observers did have to wonder at least a little bit about his choice.


 

There's the expected and then there's the unexpected. How about unexpectedly expected?


 


 

Super Agent Scott Boras seemed to have coined a meme at the press conference with the reference to the Padres' farm system as being a bed of hot lava talent.  



Hot. Talent. Lava.

Three words, uttered by new San Diego Padres player Eric Hosmer’s agent on Tuesday, have excited a city and fan base that doesn’t always have a lot to be excited about.

[edit.]

At Hosmer’s introductory press conference, Hosmer’s agent Scott Boras said the following:

“I think the organization is a volcano of hot talent lava. To turn that lava into major league rock, that’s a hard thing to do. It’s a very, very difficult thing to do. … What Eric Hosmer brings is he went through all that in Kansas City. He along with many people were all prospects. They were, too, that major league lava, and they turned into championship rocks. When you can have a young veteran champion, I think your chances of guiding lava into rocks are pretty good, and I think that’s the destiny and the plan.”

The quirky quote gained a lot of attention on social media and MLB Network Radio even turned it into a song.

The hashtag #hottalentlava quickly caught fire [get it] on social media, and the team was seen wearing shirts that said both #hottalentlava and #majorleaguerock at spring training in Peoria, Arizona on Friday.

Fans are loving the new motto. - "San Diego is Loving 'hot talent lava' as the Padres' New Motto"
 

Less than 48 hours later following the press conference?  

There were T shirts, all ready to go.



via GIPHY

 So things are cooking in San Diego by Friday the 23rd, two days after the press conference, time to move on.  Royals fans, time to also move - oops, not yet. Not quite yet.



A full-page ad taken out in the Kansas City paper, tears flowed all over again, while at the same time, the bruise soothed.

Aaah yes.  Well done.  Classy and also the #goodbye that never ends, lol.  Come on, Mr. Hosmer, let the jilted begin to heal!  

 And still, another free agent client of Scott Boras' is without a team as of February 25 - Mike Moustakas.  Yes, that's right, both Hos and Moose share the same agent.  Does the pairing of Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal ring a bell? Maggie left CAA in December of 2011, Jake followed very soon afterwards, the announcement of his departing for WME as well coming barely two months later on January 9, 2012.  But in this case, these two men will not follow each other to the same team.  They'll be separated professionally for the first time in their major league careers.

 As we look back at this free agency saga of Eric Hosmer's, there are many puzzling aspects Narnia would like to look back on:

 • Isn't it interesting that in late January, there was allegedly a "hacking" of the S.D. Padres' social media which hinted that the Padres had already signed Hosmer.  source

The Padres issued a denial and the proverbial "sorry for any confusion".

• That with such a carefully constructed description of "volcano of hot lava talent" by agent Scott Boras, T shirts, slogan and rally cry were at the ready. Car-Hopped and Ready to Go. #hotnready

•  Eric Hosmer changing his cell phone number during the off season.

 • Allegedly he never contacted Kansas City manager Ned Yost when he had been seriously injured during the off season and many of his other teammates had visibly reached out.  The explanation for Ned not being able to "get through" via text was that Hos' phone number had changed. 

• Hos stating at the press conference that he didn't realize he wouldn't get his jersey number #35 until a few minutes after signing on the dotted line with the Padres.

• The team of choice has an abysmal W-L Pct of .438. The only real selling point San Diego's weather.


 

 • The release of the story of who Eric's all-time favorite teammate was.  No mention anywhere of long-time friend and teammate Mike Moustakas, in either this story, interviews, or the full-page ad.
In stark contrast, Eric captioned this social media post: "not enough room on here to type out everything we've been through together". #family"  

As Jared Padalecki/Jensen Ackles followers, we'll also make note of that "my brother" mention in Hos' Instagram, won't we? *wink*


• The change in Eric's Twitter header, altering his physical appearance to one more rugged and hirsute.
• The beard, I mean "girlfriend" being flown into San Diego to make an appearance at the press conference.  Kacie McDonnell.  Remember that name because she's likely part of the bargain and trade-off* for the lucrative contract, with an established reputation for being arm candy to a variety of professional athletes.  The first introduction came on both Eric and Kacie's Instagram accounts in 2015.  Eric's:


In addition to random "private" pictures, McDonnell appears in high profile situations, i.e., following division or championship title clinches on the field, Gold Glove presentations in NYC, World Series win victory parades, well, you get the drift...



Just another note. I'm not quite sure how they met; the "how did they meet" story seems evasive online. All we know is that they both posted pictures on their Instagrams in late spring of 2015. She had "broken up" with (at that time) KC Chiefs' QB Aaron Murray in January 2015.  When she and Hos allegedly "broke up" in 2017, she immediately left her jobs as a KSHB-TV traffic reporter and network host of Kansas City's Major League Soccer team, Sporting KC and returned to the east coast.  Guess the idea of being in the same town as Hos was unbearable!

 She reappeared in Eric's social orbit via his Instagram in 2017 and now shown to be at the San Diego Padres' press conference.  Will wedding bells be part of this new chapter in Eric's life?  Don't be surprised when it is.  He is 28 years old now and San Diego promises exposure to a larger media market than Kansas City did.  Endorsements have become an important part of fixed income for professional athletes and celebrity entertainers.  An example of just how important endorsement money is and how social media plays into this can be seen in this article on Cristiano Ronaldo and how he was one of soccer's highest paid players in 2017:  source


Even though Ronaldo is gay, he makes sure to have female attachments at the ready.  
Will the change in scenery and leaving behind a successful tenure in Kansas City be worth it for Eric Hosmer?  Let's hope so for his sake.  And undoubtedly an eventual San Diego World Series win would help to offset the sober pictures from Wednesday, Feb 21.  Remember, this should have been a festive, celebratory event:



Which seemed to be only a continuation of this image from the last day of the Royals' season last year:



Narnia will continue to watch for what kind of deal Moustakas is able to obtain, as we wait to see how all this plays out both on and off the field. This is a big change in Hosmer's career and life and with Super Sports Agent Scott Boras one can only imagine how many other "deals" are in the making. 

collaborated:  PG & Methodical Muser
pic sources:  sportsmasher, busted coverage, KC Star
our playlist: Never Can Say Goodbye - The Communards
                    Rikki Don't Lose That Number - Steely Dan
                    Talk It Over - Grayson Hugh
                    The Heartbreak Kid - Icehouse            


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