KC Royals Midweek Musings: Hosmer, Fasano and more

This week’s KC Royals Midweek Musings covers news about Eric Hosmer, former catcher Sal Fasano and other odds and ends.

Some KC Royals Midweek Musings while wondering, considering the huge financial hit baseball took this year, how much money John Sherman will authorize Dayton Moore to spend this winter:

World Series.  The 2020 major league season is over, seemingly almost as soon as it began. The Dodgers, freed in the sixth inning from the utter domination of Tampa starter Blake Snell, beat the Rays 3-1 in Game 6 of the World Series, bringing an end to a shortened, but exciting, campaign. MLB deserves credit for handling the difficult circumstances surrounding the season well.

Tampa outfielder and former Royal Brett Phillips, the hero of Game 4, got in the finale as a pinch runner.

Postgame analysts.  Is there a better postgame team in baseball than the one Fox gives us every World Series? Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz and Frank Thomas are tremendous together. Best in the business. Let’s hope the network keeps them together long enough for another Kansas City appearance in the Fall Classic.

Eric Hosmer gets engaged.  Former Royal Eric Hosmer, a fan favorite throughout his days in Kansas City, is apparently engaged. He posted a photo of himself, girlfriend Kacie McDonnell and a conspicuous diamond on social media Monday night:

Former Royal Fasano joins the crowd.  It looks like Atlanta coach Sal Fasano, who started an11-season major league catching career in 1996 with the Royals, has joined present Kansas City coaches Pedro Grifol and Vance Wilson in the growing ranks of baseball people vying for the Detroit managing job. Fasano coaches the Braves’ catchers.

Fasano reportedly interviewed with the Tigers earlier this week. Grifol, the KC Royals’ bench coach and Wilson, their bullpen coach, were among the earliest to have their names linked to the position and, as we recently mentioned, Grifol may be a top candidate after interviewing for it.

With the World Series and season now over, baseball’s annual moratorium on major announcements will soon end. Look for the Tigers to make a move and announce it soon.

Free agent season.  The annual free agent frenzy is about to begin. Under the terms of baseball’s Basic Agreement, which controls the terms and conditions of player employment and ties the kick off of free agency to the conclusion of the World Series, players eligible for the process officially became free agents at 8 a.m. Kansas City time today and can immediately negotiate contract terms only with their former club.

They can have general discussions with other teams, but can’t negotiate with them until 4 p.m. Kansas City time Sunday.

The Royals have three major league free agents: Greg Holland, Matt Harvey and Ian Kennedy. The club would be wise to pursue only Holland, who proved in his return to Kansas City that he can still pitch and ended 2020 as the team’s closer.

Arbitration will be much more of a challenge for the franchise than free agency—11 Royals are arbitration-eligible.

Alex Gordon.  Retired Kansas City left fielder Alex Gordon just reaped one honor and is up for another. Our David Scharff wrote about the former here, and the latter here.

Aoki and Escobar.  The baseball season is winding down in Japan and two ex-Royals are hitting well for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Nori Aoki has 18 home runs, 48 RBIs and a .316 average in 99 games, while Alcides Escobar has a homer, 28 RBIs and is hitting .277 through 95 contests.

Wichita Wranglers.  Wanting to learn about the Wichita team that served for over a decade as the Royals’ Double A farm club? Then check out Shawn Bauman’s new weekly Kings of Kauffman feature about KC’s minor league affiliates here.

That’s all for now. We’ll be back next week with more KC Royals Midweek Musings. Until then, stay safe and healthy.