With arbitration looming, Kansas City Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas still does not have a new contract.
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Moustakas and Royals Have Had Dialogue
Friday, Jan. 29
Moustakas told MLB.com's Jeffrey Flanagan that he and the Royals have discussed a two-year contract.
This is nothing new for Moustakas and the Royals. Both parties avoided arbitration last season when he signed a one-year, $2.6 million deal per Spotrac.com.
It was quite a last season for him, too. Moustakas was selected to his first All-Star game in his five-year career after achieving career highs with a .282 batting average, 22 home runs and 82 RBI.
In seasons in which he played over 100 games, the 27-year-old had never batted over .242 until 2015.
He was one of the centerpieces of a Royals team that won its first World Series in 29 years, beating the New York Mets in five games.
While he and the Royals are flying high this offseason, they have had a lot of work to do in order to find him a new deal, per Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan on Jan. 15:
Moustakas is just one of the pieces that embodies what the Royals are all about. He possesses a blue collar mentality and doesn't bring anything flashy to his play at the hot corner.
The Royals are not a team of superstars. They're just a unit of solid players who know how to give their all for one another and find ways to win games.
So far, the Royals have done well this offseason to hold onto their core after their championship. While they lost Ben Zobrist to the Cubs, they managed to retain long-time Royal Alex Gordon with a four-year, $72 million deal.
They also avoided arbitration with outfielder Lorenzo Cain with a two-year, $17.5 million contract earlier in January.
After the year the Royals had and what Moustakas brings to the chemistry of this team, Kansas City should make it a priority to get on the same page with their third baseman. He is right in the prime of his career and looks like he is only getting better so they should lock him up for the foreseeable future.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com
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