Alex Kielar | December 2nd, 2019
The Reds have finally gotten Mike Moustakas out from under being subject to one-year deals after the last two years and signed him to a four-year $64 million deal. The rebuild in the southwest of Ohio now gets a boost with Moustakas being a great bat to add to the middle of the lineup.
After being traded to the Brewers last July from the Royals, Moustakas earned $7 million this year and earned an additional $3 million in buyout money after declining a $10 million option for 2020. The 31-year old will now make $16 million over the next four years. The Reds plan to play him at second base.
What Moustakas Brings
Moustakas had one of the best years of his career last season, helping the Brewers overcome the odds and still make the postseason following the September injury to MVP-candidate Christian Yelich. He set career highs with .845 OPS and 80 runs, while also smashing his second-most home runs in 35, walking the second most times (53) and driving in his second-most runs in 87. He also adds some discipline with his highest walk rate in 2019 at 9.1%. Moustakas started last season at second base for the Brewers before moving to third when Travis Shaw slumped.
Moustakas adds a powerful bat into the Reds lineup that features Joey Votto, Eugenio Suarez, and second-year player Nick Senzel (who looks to be moving to full-time outfielder). They will be a dangerous team with an already very solid pitching staff. The Reds only scored 4.3 runs a game in 2019, so that should definitely go up with this signing to give their pitchers more run support. Moustakas has playoff experience with the Royals, twice going to the World Series and winning once in 2015, and then helping the Brewers reach the Championship Series last year while hitting .364 in Milwaukee’s sweep of Colorado.
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