"Any effort by the Royals to sign first baseman Eric Hosmer to a long-term deal is likely to be a waste of time.

Agent Scott Boras, who represents Hosmer, scuttled those hopes Thursday by telling Yahoo! Sports that baseball's changing financial picture argues against such an extension at this time.

"Athletes have to know that you have to look at the market you're in,' Boras said. "You can't look at the markets of the past. For players like Hosmer, as you go back and look, as (Mark) Teixeira had his own market and (Prince) Fielder had his own market, Hosmer will have his own.

"And something tells me it's going to be a rather eventful one."

The Royals have not expressed any interest publicly in signing Hosmer to the type of long-term deal as a rookie that Tampa Bay negotiated in 2008 with third baseman Evan Longoria.

Boras' message seems clear: Don't bother trying. He cited the anticipation of increased television revenues in coming years that should impact Hosmer's expected eligibility for arbitration after 2013 and free agency after 2017.

"The arbitration markets and free agent markets are going to be vastly different," Boras predicted. "Sports are not DVR'd. People stay and watch it. They don't flip channels. There's a broader way of understanding the market. There's huge values in sports broadcasting rights.""