Kansas City Royals: How Mike Moustakas fits in St. Louis

For the Royals, it is pretty simple. The only player they would be losing is Moustakas. So how does that impact the Royals?

Moustakas has been holding down third base for the Royals for the last eight years. While the beginning of his career wasn’t followed with a lot of success, he finally started coming into his own in 2015.

Since 2015, Moustakas has been hitting .271/.325/.490 with a .813 OPS. He has increased his power each year, hitting a Royals franchise record 38 home runs in 2017. When looking at his wRC+, he has had 100+ wRC+ every year since 2015. His oWAR is 8.6 since 2015 and has been over 1.0 every year except for 2016 when he played just 27 games and tore his ACL.

Defensively, he has been above average as well. His dWAR since 2015 has been above 0.0 every

year, except for 2016 again when he tore his ACL. Excluding that year, he has a UZR from 0.8 in 2018 to 3.0 in 2015. He has not declined much at the position, either.

He has also represented the Royals twice since 2015 in the All-Star Game and was the first Royal in the Home Run Derby since Danny Tartabull in 1991.

This move leaves the Royals in an interesting situation.

The Royals don’t technically have a third baseman within the system. While they do have recently acquired Kelvin Gutierrez, who is considered a third baseman, his power numbers suggest otherwise. He is also currently in Double-A, so he wouldn’t be able to fill in immediately. Cheslor Cuthbert has shown an inability to be productive offensively. The only option that is close is Hunter Dozier, who has been playing first base this year.

Trading Moustakas does leave the Royals in an interesting situation, however, the trade is necessary. So what was the deal we came to with Redbird Rants?