TODAY: The deal is official. Hamilton will receive a $4.25MM salary in 2019, with a $1MM buyout on a $7.5MM mutual option, per MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (via Twitter). Hamilton’s incentives package is based upon plate appearances, beginning with his 325th and maxing out at 550.
YESTERDAY, 7:58pm: Hamilton and the Royals have agreed to the deal, Fancred’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter).
11:02am: Saying that Hamilton’s defensive abilities make for a good fit at spacious Kauffman Stadium, Royals GM Dayton Moore confirmed that the club is down the line in talks with the free agent in an interview with MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link).
It’s a $5.25MM deal that includes up to $1MM in available incentives, per Buster Olney of ESPN.com (via Twitter).
9:57am: The Royals are “close” to striking a deal with free agent outfielder Billy Hamilton, according to Jim Bowden of The Athletic (via Twitter). Terms of the prospective agreement are not yet known.
This potential match was reported recently and seems to have continued to progress over recent days. Hamilton, 28, was recently non-tendered by the Reds. He had projected to take home a $5.9MM salary in arbitration, a price tag deemed too steep by his longtime organization.
For the Royals, Hamilton would become the second player added under similar circumstances. The organization just nabbed infielder/outfielder Chris Owings after he was cut loose by the Diamondbacks. It seems the Kansas City club is willing to place some low-priced value bets on younger players whose time ran out with other teams.
Hamilton, certainly, is an interesting asset for any organization. Though the switch-hitter has never done much with the bat, especially against left-handed pitching, he’s an elite defender and baserunner. His skillset could benefit the Royals’ uncertain pitching staff while potentially leaving the team with a marketable mid-season trade piece.
It stands to reason that adding Hamilton would push out one of the Royals’ existing left-handed-hitting outfielders. Unless there’s a taker for the remainder of Alex Gordon’s contract, or the K.C. club does not wish to extend the audition of Brett Phillips, it could be that Brian Goodwin will ultimately be nudged out of the roster picture. The right-handed-hitting Jorge Soler is also a factor in the mix, though he could see time in the DH slot as well.
Owings now Hamilton, just signing up defensive minded bench bats, for some reason.
Probably what they should be doing – another year of giving the majority of the ABs to O Hearn, Dozier, Mondesi, Phillips, Bonifacio etc to see for sure what they have. Sign a few cheap veterans to fill holes and turn them into a prospect in July if they have decent seasons.
They probably had 0 competition for him.
Bobby Evans was still sitting on his couch at home trying to acquire him.
This comment is so underrated
Defensive minded bench bats that will probably start
Boy, if all KC is looking for is defensive-only, no-bat OFs, the Indians have a ton of of them they could trade (Zimmer, Allen, Naquin, etc).
Only if you could steal 1B…
Billy needs to just start swinging at anything in the dirt when he has two strikes and try and beat out the passed ball
Pitchers don’t need to throw it in the dirt, throw it down the middle, he isn’t hitting it.
Is he worse than Brett Phillips or Brian Goodwin? Someone has to play center field and Hamilton has some upside at least.
Plus Jarrod Dyson was a fairly productive player for us and he’s a similar player. Hamilton could rack up triples in our park if he can hit a gap.
Hamilton doesn’t need to hit triples, all he needs to do is get on base and it’s practically an automatic triple with his base-stealing skills.
If he could get on base he’d still be in Cincy.
Problem is, his OBP is one of the worst in the majors.
He quit stealing bases last year
Right, he was only second in the majors in steals, “quit stealing.”
I said this on another post, I think Billy Hamilton might actually benefit offensively from leaving Great American. In a park that small, he hits it in the air it’s Landing in someone’s glove. At the K, a ball hit in the air has a much better chance of landing on the ground, and if Hamilton can hit it where they ain’t, he’s at third easy.
Best case scenario he plays great defense, hits .275 with 50 steals and we flip him for something. Worst case he hits around .250 with 40 steals and elite CF defense, which ain’t bad for the #9 hitter on a losing team. Again, the chances that Brett Phillips or Brian Goodwin outperform that worst case scenario are pretty low. We’re not going to win, so we can’t lose.
Worst case is more like .220/.280/.310 with 25SB/8CS
0.0 WAR season w/ 350 PA.
Could be a good flip, seems like a lottery ticket to me.
Damn nice write-up. You had me nodding like cray cray. Hamilton at that price, in that park, just straight up savvy.
He was 5th in steals. Research is difficult, took me about 10 seconds to check. Only 12/18 success rate in August thru September covering 56 times on base
He needs to learn how to bunt for base hits, like speedsters in the past used to do.
Problem with that is with how far the third and first basemen play in on him it’s practically impossible. People always leave that factor out.
He tried. He couldn’t. Maybe change of scenery helps but lordy the Reds put a lot of time and effort into trying to make him something, ANYTHING with the bat
Rickey never bunted. He’s only one of the ten best players in history and the best basestealer in history; Hamilton’s problem is that he just is bad. Great defender, great speed, but he doesn’t have the baseball acumen to even lay down a decent bunt. Even bunting requires some knowledge of how to hit.
Never stopped players like Lofton and Rivers.
Alex Cole circa 1990?
What upside does he have? 5 seasons as a regular, he is who he is
Have to think that someone like Phillips has way more remaining upside than Hamilton.
i agree, if i was a KC fan i’d prefer to see what Phillips is capable of, we all know what kind of player Hamilton is and it’s not a very good one. he has a role on a team, maybe a pinch running/defensive replacement for a contending team, but he is not an everyday player.
Would he play everyday in KC?
Id imagine platoon type. Depends on how much they give him too.
Boom. 4 HR power. That’s the cleanup spot taken care of.
Funny.
I look forward to him hitting 3 homers against the White Sox next season.
More like 3 in one game. Against giolito
This team is going to have 200+ stolen bases next year
And still lose 90 plus games
Don’t think it will happen, unless they implement a new rule allowing players to steal first base
these guys would have to get on base a combined 200 times for that to happen which is unlikely
Whit Merrifield can steal 30+ also.
I was completely against this deal until I realized Brett Phillips still has a minor league option. He hasn’t shown he can hit at the major league level so until he does rolling Billy and Goodwin and center may actually turn out pretty nicely.
Royals have plenty outfielders. Address pitching!
Moore’s doing it the right way. Set a salary floor; get to that floor with (marginal tho they may be) flip-able FAs; maybe take on a bad contract or two and get prospects.
I know there’s some dark days in KC coming, but with their draft last year and Moore’s ability to “reimage”, I think it gets brighter quicker than you might think.
Please Royals sign him, just afraid the Reds May bring him back
It’s too bad the Reds don’t have a cf now
$5 million??? Offer him half that. I don’t see any team giving him $5 million and if he doesn’t sign, it’s not like the Royals are competing anyway.
Billy needs to watch Major League “Hit the ball on the ground. Everytime you hit the ball in the air, you owe me 20 pushups”
Um, that just doesn’t work anymore.
Not since infield hits were ceremoniously Banned by our Dear Leader Harold Baines
i was simply using a Major League reference to make a funny. Took the L though
Dude can rake. If given half a chance .320/.450/.500
slugging coming from triples
This is satire I assume, but if not, where are you getting a 450 OBP from?
Adding 2 seasons worth of obp together.
The .500 part might be right … if you were referring to his OPS.
Haha, gotta be a joke. He’s had no less than 450 PAs in the last 5 years, topping 600 twice, all while playing in the bandiest bandbox in the bigs. That’s more chance than 99% of guys get. Until they let players steal 1st base to improve pace of play, he’s a defensive-only #8-9 hitter.
*defense-only
Suiting up with Jimmy Johns would make more sense. He is freaky fast after all.
Try to not let Dayton’s WS ring blind you.
With Hamilton and Phillips in the outfield I don’t think too many balls will drop out there. Unfortunately they won’t be getting themselves on base very much either.
Billy Hamilton is a classic example of a player being rushed to the majors. He got to the majors based off speed. The Reds didn’t give him enough time for his bat to mature
He played in over 500 Minor League games before reaching the bigs. Pretty sure the Reds figured out what he could contribute with the bat by then.
When you have elite defense, elite baserunning, and over 2,000 PA’s to figure out what your stick can do, you’re not rushed – you’re a known quantity.
Deal done. I think the report is something like 1/$5.25M with $1M in incentives.
$5M sure is a lot of money for a player best suited as a defensive replacement and pinch runner that gets caught stealing too much.
With maxed out incentives… Salary moves past est. Arb
Now that’s what I call a compromise
I know pretty much everyone is against him getting a deal but I’m jealous the O’s didn’t get him. I think he is the perfect low risk high reward signing. Worst case is solid centerfold defense with 35 +steals. Great move IMO
Despite a poor bat, a valuable trade piece before the deadline for a contender
Sigh
Enjoy that mess. Watched it for six years in Cincy. Won’t run when needed to put ball in the air not on the ground. He’s one hell of a centerfielder though
This guy can’t hit his weight…boy can he run though
I wonder if a player has ever had more Stolen Bases than Plate Apperances. He should play in every single game as a pinch runner, there’s always going to be a situational need. Give him the green light 162 times, he’ll end up with 114 SBs and 47 CS.
Herb Washington?
Quite a few jokes and praise about Hamilton’s speed and basestealing ability, but he actually wasn’t so prolific in that department last season. Have to wonder if he’s slowing down a tad.
I think he was protecting his body from wearing down after a couple years of late-season injuries. He was trying to pace himself, probably knowing that his defense is worth more than a few more SBs.
What a waste of money
I wonder if a mutual option has EVER been picked up by both sides. Seems kind of worthless… if the guy rakes, he’ll take the buyout and his chances If he sucks, the team will obviously just buy him out.
Being an old school guy who scoffs at metrics I’m a Hamilton fan. I long for the day when teams were concerned about roster construction and having a true leadoff man and table setter at number two. Lenny Dykstra and Wally Blackmon, Dave Lopes and Bill Russell, etc. Back when guys like Brett Butler were valuable. These guys hit and ran, put pressure on opposing defenses, bunted, stole bases, opened up holes in the defense for the middle lineup guys etc. They are sadly pretty much a thing of the past now. Before you guys rant about Hamilton’s obp and average I’ll concede they’re really bad and that he doesn’t qualify as a leadoff man now or in the past. This notwithstanding, it’s exciting to watch him fly on the bases and on defense and there’s certainly a role for him even today’s new math era game. Good luck in KC Billy. I hope your offense develops similar to how Ozzie Smith’s improved later in his career.
Even though I love to know how the game truly operates…I do miss the speed game growing up with Whitey Ball. Of course that game worked better on all the astro turf in the league. It also helped when most teams were playing that traditional game…most teams werent getting great value. But all teams cant do that playing the same type of game now. Nit everyone can sign the best players no matter what the overriding era definition is…theres just limited number of players.
In of the thinking though that most reasonable plans can work so long as a team adheres to it…but most get off track
I’m confused, there wasn’t 25 different advanced stats listed in this post. Is everyone feeling ok?