Kansas City Royals: Checking in on the lost free agents

Seeing our Kansas City Royals heroes in other uniforms still stings a bit, especially guys like Hoz and Lo-Cain. I’m whole heartily rooting for them but it is still a little tough to watch them.

That ends today, most teams are about 60 games into the season and it’s time we take a look at our former All-Stars.

At times it is easy to look at how bad the Kansas City Royals are right now and wonder what it would be like with the free agents who left. Would they have made an improvement? How big of an improvement would they make? What kind of salary issues would they bring?

Lorenzo Cain

In the offseason, Lorenzo Cain (one-time All-Star in 2015) signed a five-year, $80 million deal with the Milwaukee Brewers.  Cain has been impressive thus far, slashing .278/.387/.431. That doesn’t sound great but his outstanding defense and eleven steals on the year give him a WAR (Wins Above Replacement) of 2.9. Making him second among position players in the NL, only trailing Freddie Freeman and his 3.0 WAR on the year.

Cain is the only player to appear in both the Top-10 of NL offensive and defensive WAR. Cain being an all-around stud will be the thing I miss the most, that and his Lo-Cain lean back. I will be rooting for Cain a little extra as he tries to keep the St. Louis Cardinals out of the playoffs as they battle it out in the NL central for the coming years.

Jason Vargas

Jason Vargas (one-time All-Star in 2017) was signed by the New York Mets in the offseason to a two-year, $16 million dollar deal. So far Vargas has struggled in first seven starts of the season compiling a 7.71 ERA in 30.1 innings. To say the least, Mets fans aren’t thrilled with their investment in Vargas thus far. He’ll look to rebound in the second half of the year and prove he’s worthy of still being a major league starter.

Eric Hosmer

Eric Hosmer (one-time All-Star 2016) signed an eight-year, $144 million contract with the San Diego Padres this offseason.  So far Hosmer has slashed .290/.376/.473 with seven home runs. Not far off his career slash line of .284/.344/.441, as expected his on-base percentage and power have gone up over his career.

We basically know what kind of hitter Hosmer is. He’s going to consistently hit .300 and go for somewhere around 20-25 home runs a year. His offensive numbers aren’t the reason he received his $144 million deal. His stability and clubhouse presence earned him that deal with the Padres.

Hoz is the championship Royal I will miss the most, I wish him the best of luck and hope he can bring the Padres their first World Series Championship in franchise history.

Final Thoughts

Some of the Royals playing somewhere else are hard to watch sometimes because of what we think they could do here in Kansas City. However, players like Vargas, I don’t think many people are upset he is playing somewhere else with the way his year is panning out.

What do you think Royals fans? Which former Royal are you going to miss the most? Are you going to miss any? Let us know below!