Eric Hosmer will begin spring training with the San Diego Padres this week, having inked an eight-year contract that could pay him up to $144 million. The deal includes an opt-out after five years and is heavily frontloaded, two qualities that caused him to prefer the offer over what the Royals had offered, according to Kansas City Star reporter Rustin Dodd. Dodd wrote that the Royals’ offer was “believed to be in the neighborhood of $140 million” at one point, but suggests that was not the final number.
FanRag reporter Robert Murray, who works with Scott Boras-connected reporter Jon Heyman, writes today that the Royals’ final offer was for five years in the $100 million range.