The union between Mike Moustakas and the Cincinnati Reds is over, as the Ohio team terminated the star player’s contract on Thursday.
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The Reds were expected to free up a spot after acquiring wide receiver and free agent Curt Casali, who signed a one-year, $3.25 million contract and an option year for 2024.
“We had to decide what our team was going to look like next year,” Reds general manager Nick Krall told the Cincinnati Enquirer. We’re already paying for it, so it’s really what’s best for the team to move forward. It was obviously a difficult decision. These are all tough decisions. I had to make sure to take the best one for our organization.”
Often injured, Moustakas is very limited physically, while several young people in training, including Spencer Steer, knock on the door in training. So there was no room for anyone who hit 21 homers between 2020 and 2022.
This decision is quite costly for Cincinnati, since he had one year left on his four-year, $64 million contract.
According to the local outlet, Krall had been trying to trade the third baseman for a year, without success.