Moustakas, Brewers close on $10M deal

A person familiar with the negotiations says Mike Moustakas and the Milwaukee Brewers are nearing a deal that would keep the third baseman in Milwaukee for a guarantee of about $10 million (U.S.). The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday because the agreement will be subject to a successful physical.

The sides were negotiating a deal that would include a club option for 2020, the person said.

Moustakas’s deal would be the second in a row for one guaranteed year on the free-agent market. He rejected a $17.4-million qualifying offer from Kansas City after the 2017 season and returned to the Royals in March for a one-year contract that included a guaranteed $6.5 million: a $5.5-million salary and $1-million option buyout.

A 30-year-old left-handed hitter, Moustakas had a .251 average overall with 28 homers and 95 RBIs last year.

TEE TIME FOR OHTANI: Shohei Ohtani hopes to hit off a tee next week for the first time since Tommy John surgery.

“That’s the thought, but I’m not trying to rush myself,” the two-way Los Angeles Angels star said through an interpreter Sunday.

The American League rookie of the year had surgery Oct. 1 to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament, and the Angels think the earliest he could hit in games is in May. The 24-year-old hopes to start the pitching phase of his rehabilitation at the end of spring training.

Ohtani went 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA in 10 starts as a pitcher. He played 104 games overall as a rookie, hitting .285 with 22 homers and 61 RBIs.

OPENING ACT: San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner was joking when he told manager Bruce Bochy he absolutely refuses to pitch behind an opener.

It won’t happen anyway. The Giants’ ace lefty is hardly a likely candidate to follow someone else to the mound who works the first inning.

“If you use an opener in my game, I’m walking right out of the ballpark,” Bumgarner wrote in a text to Bochy after new team president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said in December the Giants were open to the idea.

Bochy recalled the message this month during Fan Fest.

“Everybody in this clubhouse knows what kind of teammate I am,” Bumgarner said. “Some people may have forgotten that. Not in here. Outside, according to all this being talked about right now with that junk. It’s OK. All I care about is the guys in here, and that’s it.”