It’s January 25th, and Eric Hosmer is still a free agent looking for a new home. One of his mooted destinations could be the San Diego Padres, and when baseball fans woke up on Thursday, they saw bizarre posts from the Padres social media accounts talking about Hosmer, and they’re cryptic, weird, and in the end, nonsense.
#Padres posted a picture on Instagram of Eric Hosmer. Also tweeted stay tuned…
Both have now been deleted.#Padres must be close to either signing Hosmer, or firing their social media operators. pic.twitter.com/UcP2U0PUqi
— Mickey Koke (@mickeykoke) January 25, 2018
From earlier. pic.twitter.com/feCCF61QTe
— Mickey Koke (@mickeykoke) January 25, 2018
Some reports suggested that the team offered Hosmer seven years and $140 million to sign, however, he hadn’t actually signed yet, in spite of these social media posts. The Royals have reportedly offered $147 million over the same seven years. So what’s the explanation for the posts if they’re not right? They were hacked, of course!
Padres team official: The club's social media accounts, which posted and deleted Eric Hosmer items late last night, were hacked. As of now, it is unclear how that happened. Although teams run their respective accounts, they technically are assets controlled by MLB Advanced Media.
— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) January 25, 2018
Padres statement regarding Eric Hosmer posts: "The Padres social media accounts were inappropriately accessed last night, and messages that were inaccurate and unauthorized were posted. MLB Cybersecurity is now investigating the matter, and we apologize for any confusion."
— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) January 25, 2018
When in doubt, we were hacked. So Eric Hosmer isn’t yet a Padre or a Royal, but we do have another example of social media accounts being “hacked” in situations like this.
Why haven’t teams (and MLB Advanced Media) invested in better cybersecurity yet?
