A Big Day For Second Basemen (Moustakas, Profar & Villar)

Today was a good day to be a second baseman as Mike Moustakas, Jurickson Profar and Jonathan Villar all have new teams in 2020.

Moustakas has reportedly signed a four year, $64 million contract with the Cincinnati Reds after spending the past year and a half with their NL Central rival Milwaukee Brewers. In 2019, Moustakas earned his first NL All-Star Team selection (he was twice selected to the AL All-Star Team while with the Kansas City Royals in 2015 and 2017) blasting 35 HR and driving in 87 runs in 143 games. While Moustakas, 31, has spent the majority of his career at third base, he played 47 games at second base and will play that position in Cincinbati so long as Eugenio Suarez and his 48 HRs are at the hot corner. I believe Moustakas will be sorely missed in Milwaukee as he provided protection to Christian Yelich and stepped in the breach when Yelich sustained a season ending broken kneecap en route to a NL Wild Card berth. Perhaps Moustakas is the missing ingredient to help the Reds reach the post-season for the first time since 2012.

The San Diego Padres haven't seen post-season action since 2006 much less had a winning season since 2010. Could the acquisition of Jurickson Profar from the Oakland A's end those streaks? The Padres acquired Profar for catcher Josh Allen and a player to be named later. After several injury plagued seasons with the Texas Rangers, Profar hit 20 HR for them in 2018 and hit another 20 for Oakland in 2019 although he only batted .218. The upside is that the Curaçao native is only 26 and could prove the missing piece in an infield consisting of Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis, Jr. and Eric Hosmer. If nothing else the Padres are stronger up the middle.

One of the few bright spots for the Baltimore Orioles in 2019 was Jonathan Villar who played in all 162 games hitting a career high 24 HR and 74 RBI with 40 stolen bases to boot. But the O's opted not to tender him a contract and traded him to the Miami Marlins for minor league pitcher Easton Lucas. I don't know if Villar will replicate those power stats, but a return to the NL could see an uptick in his stolen bases as he did lead the NL in stolen bases in 2016 with 62 while with the Brewers. At 28, Villar will be an ideal lead off hitter for the Marlins while a solid presence at second base.