Garrett Hampson signs 1-year deal with Royals

Wednesday featured the most MLB free agent signings of any day so far this offseason, including former Miami Marlins utility player Garrett Hampson going to the Kansas City Royals. Hampson inked a one-year, $2 million deal for his age-29 season.

Hampson began 2023 with Triple-A Jacksonville, but finished it on the Marlins postseason roster. He slashed .276/.349/.380 (101 wRC+) in 98 regular season games, posting a career-best 0.7 fWAR. He started at six different defensive positions, including 26 starts at shortstop.

As covered in our Hampson season review, though, it's very unlikely that he replicates that offensive production moving forward. The Marlins also exhausted his final minor league option, so they wouldn't be able to send him down when he slumps or lacks a path to playing time.

I frequently defer to MLB Trade Rumors' arbitration projections. They had Hampson projected for $1.3M in 2024 (his final year of arbitration eligibility). To see him non-tendered and quickly sign elsewhere for a substantially larger guarantee is eyebrow-raising at first glance. Even if the Marlins didn't want Hampson moving forward, how did they fail to get anything in return for him via trade?

I'm giving the club the benefit of the doubt. Upon closer inspection, this seems to be a hole in the MLBTR model.

Hampson made the pro-rated league minimum salary ($720k) in 2023 and MLBTR projected him for a raise of approximately $580k. However, in 2022 (his first arb-eligible year), Hampson's salary with the Colorado Rockies was $1.863M. I reviewed the MLB Basic Agreement and it says "the record of the Player’s past compensation" can be used during arbitration hearings. While the most recent season typically carries the most weight, Hampson's camp could—and presumably would—argue that his raise should be applied to his previous arb-eligible negotiation and exceed $2M for 2024. In that scenario, it's easy to understand why Hampson had negligible or even negative trade value.

Anyway, good luck to Hampson with the rebuilding Royals, and good luck to the Marlins in their search for a shortstop. On the same day that they non-tendered Hampson, they traded for Vidal Bruján. Despite his impressive prospect pedigree and winter ball prowess, it's doubtful that Bruján hits as well as Hampson did in 2023. Certainly worth taking a flier on, but can't put serious expectations on him. Also on Wednesday, Joey Wendle, who started half of the Marlins' games at shortstop, agreed to a Hampson-like deal with the New York Mets.

The Marlins' only free agent signings during the Peter Bendix era have been of the minor league variety (IF Tristan Gray and RHP Ignacio Feliz).

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