Reds add Moustakas to help beef up infield
The Cincinnati Reds and freeagent infielder Mike Moustakas have agreed to a four-year, Us$64-million contract, multiple outlets reported Monday.
Moustakas, 31, batted .254 with 35 homers and 87 RBIS in 143 games with Milwaukee in 2019. He made the all-star team for the third time.
Moustakas was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 draft and played his first seven-plus seasons with the Royals, earning all-star honours in 2015 and 2017 and helping Kansas City win the World Series in 2015. The Royals traded him to the Brewers in July 2018.
He was named the 2017 American League Comeback Player of the Year after slugging a career-high 38 homers. Moustakas missed most of the 2016 season with a torn ACL.
With all-star Eugenio Suarez at third base in Cincinnati, the Reds are expected to move Moustakas to second base. He played 47 games at second last season.
The Boston Red Sox traded catcher Sandy Leon to the Cleveland Indians on Monday in exchange for minor-league righthander Adenys Bautista.
Leon, 30, played in 358 games during five seasons in Boston. In 2019, he appeared in 65 games at catcher (50 starts) and hit .192 with five home runs and 19 RBIS.
For his career, which includes parts of three seasons with the Washington Nationals (2012-14), he is a .221 hitter with 25 home runs and 123 RBIS.
Bautista, 21, signed with Cleveland in 2018 out of the Dominican Republic. In 2019, he made seven relief appearances in the Dominican Summer League and seven in the Arizona League, giving up 15 earned runs in 17 1/3 innings for a 7.79 ERA.
The San Diego Padres acquired second baseman Jurickson Profar from the Oakland A’s for catcher Austin Allen and a player to be named later.
Profar, 26, is entering his final season of arbitration and was a non-tender candidate for Oakland, which is looking at a payroll crunch for 2020. He was projected to earn US$5.8 million next season.
Profar hit .218 with 20 home runs and 67 RBIS in 139 games last season.
Minnesota Twins slugger Nelson Cruz was named the winner of the 2019 Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award on Monday.
The 39-year-old veteran batted .311 with 41 homers and 108 RBIS in 120 games as he helped the Twins claim the American League Central title.
The six-time all-star led AL designated hitters in runs, hits, total bases, home runs, RBIS, batting average and slugging percentage.
Cruz, who also won the award with the Seattle Mariners in 2017, is the 10th player to claim the honour multiple times since it was introduced in 1973. That group includes hall-of-famers Harold Baines, Paul Molitor and Martinez.