The Reds have clearly become an analytics-driven team under the leadership of president of baseball operations Dick Williams. They have a game-planning coach, after all. And they turned the minor league pitching development over to a spin-rate guru.
But with the signing of Mike Moustakas for four years and $64 million, they looked largely beyond the numbers. (Williams, by the way, said there would be another deal – perhaps as big or bigger than Moustakas').