Mike Moustakas' return thrills Brewers teammates

PHOENIX – The most useful player in the National League, Christian Yelich, tweeted the GIF of a leaping moose.

The Milwaukee brewers were delighted to know that Mike Moustakas would stay in 2019.

Moustakas and the Brewers are on the verge of concluding an agreement that would keep the third-baseman in Milwaukee for a $ 10-million guarantee, confirmed Sunday a league source at Jeff Passan of ESPN. There is a mutual option the second year.

Athletic was the first to report the agreement.

"I've known Mikey since childhood," said Ryan Braun, who, like Moustakas, grew up and lives in Southern California. "He came here last year, perfectly integrated, and performed very well in the field, and it is obvious that he is now an integral part of our culture in the locker room.

Yelich, also a resident of Southern California, has spent the off season working with Braun and Moustakas and is also associated with them to arrange relief after the California wildfires last fall.

"A great competitor, a great teammate and a great contributor to us in the extension," Yelich said. "It's nice to find it, and it just brings that advantage, that clubhouse mentality, a winning culture and a way to play the game well. It's important, and guys like him play an important role in this game. "

Manager Craig Counsell was scheduled to play Travis Shaw in third place and allow Hernan Perez, Tyler Saladino and Cory Spangenberg to play in the second period. Shaw moved into second place after the acquisition of Moustakas in Kansas City last July.

Counsell wants to see during the spring training if Moustakas can move to second place. Shaw said Milwaukee had discussed the possibility of bringing Moustakas back with him and that although he hopes to stay at third base, he is ready to relocate again.

"It was kind of a hypothetical situation, but now that it's real, we'll see what the plan is," Shaw said. "At the moment, I still plan to try to play third base."

Moustakas' return gives the Brewers a new left-handed threat with Shaw, Yelich and catcher Yasmani Grandal, a pass hitter who had 20 runs and a .844 OPS against the right last season.

"We faced about 120 right-handed and 40 left-handed from the starting pitcher's point of view," Counsell said. "There are four left-handers in our division, probably, if you draw rotations, so I think we have some answers for left-handers."

Moustakas beat .256 with eight homers and 33 RBIs in 54 regular season games for Milwaukee. After defeating Colorado 4 with 11 points with the RBI in the NL Division Series, he was eliminated 12 times in 31 games in the defeat against the Dodgers in the series, including the pennant win for Los Angeles.

"You sort of have a glimpse of what he did for us last year," said a Brewers center player. Lorenzo Cain, former teammate of Kansas City. "He's going to bring some leadership and toughness to this team, he has all this and we all know what he can do on the field, I've been around for a while, so I understand what he's doing." can do and what he brings. "