St. Louis Cardinals: A trade proposal for the Cardinals and Royals

Mike Moustakas

The St. Louis Cardinals would receive 29-year-old Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas, in our mock trade with the KoK.

MIke Moustakas came to the Kansas City Royals as the second overall pick in the 2007 amateur draft right out of high school.  By 2009, he was considered the top minor prospect in all of baseball.  Moustakas was called up to the Royals on June 9, 2011 and made his major league debut against the Los Angeles Angels the following night.

Moutaskas is a left-handed power bat that plays a steady third base.  In his eight year career with Kansas City, he has a slash line of .252/.306/.429, a career WAR of 12.5, and has averaged 24 HR and 76 RBI.  “Moose” as Moutaskas is affectionately called by Royals fans, has two All Star Game appearances, a World Series Championship(2015), and the 2017 AL Comeback Player of the Year.

During the Royals 2014 AL Championship run, he hit five home runs that lead all lead all postseason players.  In the 2015 World Series versus the New York Mets, he hit .304 in 23 plate appearances to help the Royals win their first World Series in 30 years.

On March 10, 2018,  Moustakas and the Royals agreed a one year $5.5 million contract with a mutual option for 2019.  Thus far in 2018, Moustakas has a slash line of .255/.312/.463 with 14 HR, 48 RBI, and a WAR of 1.5.

With the trade market saturated with third base options, the Royals have used him at first base two games this year, in order to show versatility to potential suitors.  Manny Machado, Josh Danielson, and Andrian Beltre are other potential third base options teams will be looking at before the Trade Deadline.

Therefore, Moustakas value will be measured against the affordability, health, age, and production of at least four other players.