In many ways, the San Diego Padres inking Eric Hosmer to an eight-year deal and thereby spiriting away the face of the Kansas City Royals to sunny California is as important symbolically as it is in pure baseball terms. That is because Hosmer himself is a symbol of all of the New Golden Age Royals, from Danny Duffy to Jarrod Dyson to Mike Moustakas to Greg Holland and beyond.
So it is fitting that San Diego’s snapping up of Hosmer specifically is as much of a turning point for the franchise as it was when he debuted in May 2011.