Brewers trade for third baseman Mike Moustakas; Travis Shaw is likely to move to second base

The Milwaukee Brewers got the second base help that they were looking for late Friday night by acquiring an established third baseman. Go understand.

The Brewers made a move to revive their offense by trading against Mike Moustakas, a third baseman from Kansas City, a left-handed slugger. To acquire Moustakas, the Brewers sent outfielder Brett Phillips and reliever Jorge Lopez to the Royals.

The Brewers were expected to announce the trade after their match in San Francisco but sources confirmed that the deal had been concluded

. A left-handed slugger at third base, Travis Shaw, who has never played a second base game in the major leagues. Shaw took ground balls at the second base during the training sessions, probably to help when he plays on the right side during the field quarter.

At 6 feet 4 inches, 230 pounds, Shaw is a bit big for a second baseman but he recently said that he was "excited" by the possibility of playing there.

Moustakas, 29, played four games in first base this season, his first major league action. But the Brewers are well supplied to first base with Jesús Aguilar, Eric Thames and Ryan Braun, both of whom are also playing in the field. Shaw also had an action in first place in the majors.

In 98 games this season, Moustakas is batting .249 with a .309 percentage on base and .778 OPS, not particularly impressive numbers on a bad club. But he compiled 21 doubles, 20 homers and 62 RBIs by shooting 30 goals and hitting 53 times.

In eight years with Kansas City, Moustakas beat .251 with .736 OPS, 139 homers and 441 RBIs.

Moustakas fell victim to the frozen free-agent market last winter, forcing a return to Kansas City instead of making him rich with another team. He eventually took a salary of $ 5.5 million from the Royals, cutting his salary by $ 8.5 million in 2017, when he broke a record of 38 home runs with 85 points beaten.

This agreement with Kansas City included a mutual option The 24-year-old Phillips player was considered one of the top 10 hopes of the Brewers, but he was prevented from getting a time of Regular play in the majors by a series of off-field players, especially off-season. acquisitions of Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich. He has had five seasons with the Brewers this season, but he has only 24 appearances on the boards. He scored .182 with 11 strikeouts, .523 OPS and four RBIs, all in one Pittsburgh match before the break.

Lopez, 25, has been on six occasions with the Brewers this season. Converted from last year to last year, he played 10 games in 2018, 0-1 with a 2.75 ERA, 13 outs and 15 strikeouts in 19 innings and two thirds.

Phillips and Lopez were returned to Colorado AAA Springs earlier in the week.

The Brewers received very little attack from the inside of the field this season, which resulted in a big hole at the bottom of the formation. They took a race to trading for the Baltimore short-handed Manny Machado, who instead was handed out to the Los Angeles Dodgers. On Thursday, the Brewers recalled the stop-off Orlando Arcia, who had been downgraded to the AAA clbad of Colorado Springs after not providing any fouls.

Jonathan Villar had another chance to play second after a bad season. batting average .261 and .693 OPS. Villar is currently on the 10-day wounded list with a thumb injury.

Nobody else ensured production at this post, with Hernán Pérez and Brad Miller having obtained the majority of the remaining shares. The Brewers .646 OPS composite at second base ranks 25th in the majors, and their 36 RBI ranks 23rd.