If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.
It’s doubtful that the Friar faithful turn to Eric Hosmer’s social media account for words of wisdom. Years of subpar performance after inking an eight-year, $144 million deal is a surefire way to have the San Diego Padres fanbase tune you out.
But Hosmer’s X account received some attention recently after the New York Yankees won the ALCS and punched their ticket to the World Series. After Juan Soto’s three-run homer in Game 5 put the Yankees up 5-2 over the Cleveland Guardians, a popular Padres’ account on social media posted the caption, “Both teams won the trade holy cow.”
San Diego, of course, dealt Soto to New York this past offseason in exchange for a number of prospects, as well as pitcher Michael King and catcher Kyle Higashioka.
Padres fans rip Eric Hosmer on social media after his odd Juan Soto take
Hosmer responded to the post, “You win a trade when you win a World Series!” As you can guess, Hosmer’s response netted quite the blowback from the Padres fanbase. Some even (correctly) pointing out that had the Padres not been on the hook for Hosmer’s $12 million, San Diego may have been able to keep Soto heading into last season.
Padres fans will remember that Hosmer famously would not waive his no-trade clause and held up the initial Soto trade between San Diego and the Washington Nationals back in 2022. The Padres eventually traded Hosmer to the Boston Red Sox a few days after acquiring Soto, but agreed to pay the majority of the remaining salary on his contract.
Others pointed out the lack of logic when it came to Hosmer’s comments. By his standard, unless a team wins a World Series following a trade, it’s unsuccessful? Of course every organization has the ultimate goal of World Series championship, but oftentimes much more is taken into account with such big trades.
Looking at this trade specifically, the Padres were able to get a frontline starter in King and one of the prospects (Drew Thorpe) included in their deal with the Chicago White Sox helped San Diego acquire Dylan Cease. Both pitchers are under team control through next season, while Soto will be a free agent.
Hosmer comes off as a sore sport who’s still bitter about being traded in 2022. And Pads fans know that the Soto deal was a win-win. New York will be looking to win their first World Series since 2009 and San Diego has their 1-2 punch atop the Padres starting rotation heading into 2025 with King and Cease.
