Colorado Rockies sign Mike Moustakas to minor league deal

In the wake of the awful news that promising young infielder Brendan Rodgers will potentially miss all of the 2023 season with a busted shoulder, the Colorado Rockies have turned to former Cincinnati Reds infielder Mike Moustakas as something of an insurance policy.

Moose will be brought into Rockies camp on a minor league deal, according to MLB.com’s Thomas Harding, giving him the chance to play his way onto Colorado’s roster.

Moustakas, who’ll turn 35 in September, was released by the Reds in January while entering the final year of the team-record 4-year, $64 million contract he’d signed in free agency. That disaster resulted in just 21 homers, an 80 OPS+, and -1.8 total bWAR in just 184 total games, with a litany of leg injuries serving to derail what had, to that point, been quite an impressive career for the former Kansas City Royal and Milwaukee Brewer.

The Rockies rarely, if ever, show that they actually know what the heck they’re doing with any of their decision-making, but I do truly hope they strike a bit of gold with Moose in this deal. Selfishly, it’d be quite enjoyable to watch Moose and Kris Bryant sock homers through the thin Denver air into the depths of the front range on the regular while the Rockies lose 11-7 to the Padres.