Royals Awards Luncheon notes

I really enjoy my job. I do. But there are moments when I get a brief look into a guy like Eric Hosmer’s life and get a little jealous.

Wednesday was the Royals’ annual Awards Luncheon and I was following my ‘Royals guys’ closely on Twitter for notes, updates and interesting material from the event. That was provided and then some from the Kansas City Star’s Rustin Dodd, (@rustindodd) who teased his followers with a tweet about a story he had coming on Hosmer receiving a text message earlier this offseason from Alex Rodriguez to work out with him in Miami.

The tweet from Dodd had me interested and anxiously awaiting his story, because it is my duty as an official member of the Eric Hosmer Fan Club to consume any news related to him.

The story accomplishes its perceived goal to outline Hosmer’s transformation from hot-shot prospect to well-known, established big leaguer. And  it mentioned his honor of being named Royals Rookie of the Year.

The article is available online and will be in today’s Star and is your required Royals reading for the day.

A few notes from the story that I found interesting—aside from Hosmer frequenting workouts with one of the best in the game:

—Hosmer received an autographed bat from Jim Thome that had a personalized inscription reading, “When I retire, I’ll be pumped to watch you on my couch for the next 15 years.” 

First off, that only adds credence to the tremendous reputation Thome has as being on of the better dudes in the game. Secondly, it speaks volumes to the type of talent Hosmer possesses when a future Hall of Famer makes a gesture like that and another future Hall of Famer is texting him to come launch bombs at his personal training spot in Miami.

Did I mention I really like my job?

Aside from that, the article, along with a few other videos on the site, give you a good look into Hosmer and this team’s mindset. They truly believe they are going to be playing in October. And I honestly can’t remember a time in my educated Royals fan existence where I was reading quotes like this before the season started.

“It’s a long season. We plan on playing in October,” Hosmer said. “You start your hitting process a little later, just so when October rolls around, you’re still fresh.” 

Other notes from the luncheon included Bruce Chen being honored as the Royals Pitcher of the Year and a lot of people discussed the excitement of the 2012 All-Star game coming to Kansas City.

Mike Sweeney showed up to the luncheon and I’m extremely interested to read the comments on his video. A lot of people dislike Sweeney for the organization’s mistake to retain him, rather than Carlos Beltran. And of course, Sweeney’s back became as solid as putty soon after and he was never the same player after the 2005 season. Anyway, I like Sweeney and I don’t hold his final injury-plagued years with the Royals against him.

Alex Gordon backed off his “dominating” comments from last off-season slightly, which disappointed me a little bit. I mean, winning a Gold Glove in your first full season in left field and hitting .303/.376/.502 qualifies as “dominating” considering past years, to me at least. But to be transparent, Gordon’s initial response to the question of how he was going to top last year’s dominance was, “We’re going to win games.”

Which not only continues with our theme, but is a great freaking response in itself.

Lastly, the real Ned Yost was looking sharp and has much better hair than (@fakenedyost). And he is also excited about the upcoming summer.

Royals fans are as well, Ned.