Report: Three-time All-Star joins Rockies on minor league deal

Report: Three-time All-Star joins Rockies on minor league deal,The Colorado Rockies have agreed to a minor league deal with veteran infielder Mike Moustakas, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding reports.

Report: Three-time All-Star joins Rockies on minor league deal

The Colorado Rockies have agreed to a minor league deal with veteran infielder Mike Moustakas, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding reports (Twitter link). Moustakas became a free agent after being released by the Cincinnati Reds in early January.

Assuming Moustakas makes Colorado’s roster, the Rockies will only owe him the Major League minimum salary. The Reds will be responsible for the rest of the $22MM salary Moustakas is slated to earn in 2023, as per the four-year, $64MM deal he signed with Cincinnati during the 2019-20 offseason. The Moose will earn $18MM in salary, and the Reds are also on the hook for a $4MM buyout of a $20MM club option for the 2024 season.

It makes for a pretty low-risk experiment for a Rockies team that is suddenly short on infielders, given how second baseman Brendan Rodgers seems likely to miss most or all of the 2023 season while recovering from a dislocated shoulder. With surgery a distinct possibility for Rodgers, Colorado was aiming to fill his second base spot by moving Ryan McMahon over from third base. Nolan Jones and Elehuris Montero were slated to get the bulk of the playing time at the hot corner, but since both players are entering only their second MLB seasons, Moustakas now provides the Rox with a more experienced option.

Moustakas’ left-handed bat might also factor into the Rockies’ plans at first base and DH, since C.J. Cron and Sean Bouchard are both right-handed hitters. Plus, Moustakas also has experience as a second baseman, and could even get some looks at the keystone if the Rockies would prefer to keep McMahon in the third base mix.

While Moustakas is a good fit on paper, however, it remains to be seen what version of the Moose the Rockies are getting as he enters his age-34 season. Moustakas was plagued by injuries over his last two years in Cincinnati, resulting in a mediocre .212/.289/.356 slash line in 491 plate appearances since the start of the 2021 season. With those two sub-replacement level seasons cratering his trade value, the Reds opted to simply release Moustakas heading into the final guaranteed year of his contract, eating his salary and opening up more playing time as Cincinnati continue its rebuild.

Prior to those injury-shortened 2021-22 seasons, Moustakas was a solid performer for the Reds, Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers from 2015-20, hitting .262/.326/.490 with 138 homers over 2,707 plate appearances (good for a 113 wRC+). The Moose was named to three All-Star games during that stretch, and he was also a big part of Kansas City’s World Series championship team in 2015.

While staying healthy is naturally the key to any hope for a rebound season, Moustakas’ move to Coors Field might help reinvigorate his bat. The new defensive rules would seemingly help given how Moustakas faced shifts 81 percent of the time in 2022, though his production against shifts (in the Statcast era) has fluctuated heavily, with some seasons of better production hitting into shifts than against a regular fielding alignment. If anything, the new defensive rules might put more pressure on Moustakas from a second base perspective, as he’ll now be asked to cover more ground in the field.