Mike Moustakas Should Finally Get That Multiyear Deal
As we celebrate Thanksgiving, baseball enthusiasts are optimistic that another prolonged stalemate between clubs and free agents will not materialize again this off-season. With the recent free agent signings by the Braves and the White Sox, the consensus top catcher and relief pitcher have both found new homes.
However, the big-ticket free agents, Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg and Anthony Rendon, all remain on the market as we inch closer to the Winter Meetings in December. Whether one or more sign in the coming weeks, it stands to reason the bulk of the “second-tier” signings will occur after their deals are settled.
Of this free agent class, the hot corner is particularly deep with names like the aforementioned Rendon and Josh Donaldson manning the top tier and getting most of the media attention.Close behind these two is another player who deserves similar attention from GMs and fans alike: Mike Moustakas.
Moustakas is not new to the free agency game, and his recent journeys down this road have been anything but a smooth one, but here he finds himself again on the business side of baseball, approaching the holidays not knowing where he’ll call home in 2020.
Moustakas has been linked to a number of teams who appear to be in the market to add a third baseman, including the Braves, Nationals, Phillies, Rangers, Indians and White Sox. Of course, a return to the Brewers is not out of the question for Moustakas either, especially since they are currently projected to start Travis Shaw at the hot corner again. Even dark-horse teams like the Cardinals, Twins and Dodgers have been rumored to be in the market for his services.
With this level of demand for third basemen, the free agency stars appear to have finally aligned for Moose to get that multi-year deal he was expected to sign a couple winters ago.
Regardless of where he lands, the gaining fanbase should readily fall in love with this blue-collar player. By all accounts, Moustakas is an exceptional teammate on the field and in the clubhouse, as well as with fans. As a relatively young “veteran” at 31, Moustakas has experienced almost everything baseball throws at a player, from playing for a sub-.500 team to winning the World Series, contract stability versus contract uncertainty, adding positional flexible to meet team needs, and staying relatively healthy through it all. In this last case, Moustakas has proven to be an iron-man of sorts, playing 84% or more games in 7 of the previous 8 games.
Playing almost every day, he has also become a mark of consistency at the plate.While no one stat stands out as exceptional, this All Star’s greatest contribution is the whole body of work, day-in and day-out. When his manager pens his name on the lineup card on opening day, he has come to expect top-10 statistics in HR and RBI and top half of all MLB third baseman in virtually every other offensive categories.
Arguably, Moustakas is also the best left-handed power bat on the free agent market.
While still primarily a pull hitter, a look at his 2018 vs 2019 spray charts shows he is learning to beat the shift. In 2018, only 3% of his HRs went out left of center field but in 2019, that number grew to 26%. He can also hit southpaws at an admirable clip, with a full 150-point increase in OPS from 2018 to 2019 and about a third of his long balls coming off left-handed pitchers in 2019.
In fact, Moustakas’ triple-slash of .276/.343/.534 versus lefties comfortably surpassed his .244/.323/.508 versus righties. Again, these numbers may not be Hall of Fame worthy, but for a team ready to make a World Series run in 2020, the better options are few and far between. I’m speaking to you Atlanta, or Cleveland, or Washington, or St. Louis, or….you get my point!
As fans of the game, we’ll be watching closely to see how this off-season shakes out. When the dust settles and players report to Spring Training in February, the one thing we can be certain of, no matter what uniform he dons next season, the Moose will quickly endear himself to his fans and teammates, becoming a bedrock of stability and success for his new team.
