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Yoan Moncada

Angels To Re-Sign Yoan Moncada

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The Angels are reportedly in agreement with Yoán Moncada on a one-year deal. It’s a $4MM guarantee for the client of The Movement Baseball. The Angels have an opening on the 40-man roster and will not need to make a corresponding move to finalize the contract.

Moncada is back for a second season with the Halos. It’s a similar contract to the $5MM deal that he signed last February. Moncada played reasonably well when healthy but missed a third of the season to a pair of injured list stints. A right thumb sprain and inflammation in his right knee kept him out of action for the majority of the first half. He only played in 36 games before the All-Star Break, though he was available for the entire second half.

The 30-year-old Moncada put together a .234/.336/.448 showing across 289 plate appearances. He connected on 12 home runs and drew walks at a strong 11.1% rate while striking out a little more than a quarter of the time. It was a typical Moncada season — solid power and on-base skills with lots of strikeouts and a couple injury absences.

Moncada was once the top prospect in MLB. He had a couple star-level performances with the White Sox in 2019 and ’21 but didn’t become the franchise player they expected when they signed him to a $70MM extension in Spring Training 2020. Moncada combined for a .234/.288/.386 batting line between 2022-23. He barely played in ’24 because of a serious adductor (groin) strain, and the White Sox had an easy call to buy him out for $5MM instead of a $25MM club option.

A switch-hitter, Moncada has been better from the left side of the plate over his career. The Angels used mostly in a platoon capacity last year, as he only took 27 plate appearances against southpaws. He’ll get the majority of playing time at third base but could cede some at-bats against lefties, with righty-hitting Vaughn Grissom and Denzer Guzman options for at-bats.

Grissom, acquired from the Red Sox in a buy-low trade at the Winter Meetings, is a better fit at second base. The Angels are likely to give former first-round pick Christian Moore another look at the keystone, but he struggled to a .198/.284/.370 line in his first 53 MLB games. Moore has only 30 games of Triple-A experience and could need more time in the minors. Grissom is out of options and will be on the big league roster in some capacity. Former top prospect Oswald Peraza is also out of options but seems less assured to avoid landing on waivers out of Spring Training.

The Angels have signed five MLB free agent contracts this offseason, all via one-year deals. Kirby Yates, Drew Pomeranz, Jordan Romano and Alek Manoah came aboard for $5MM or less. They’ve spent a combined $16.95MM this offseason without making any moves that extend beyond 2026. RosterResource now calculates their payroll around $180MM, about $13MM south of where they opened the ’25 season. They still need to add at least one starter and would ideally upgrade in center field, where Josh Lowe, Bryce Teodosio and Wade Meckler are the top options.

Francys Romero first reported the agreement. Jon Heyman of The New York Post had the $4MM guarantee. Image courtesy of Peter Aiken, Imagn Images.

Several Teams Interested In Yoán Moncada

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Infielder Yoán Moncada is currently a free agent after playing out a one year, $5MM deal with the Angels. He was an above-average hitter in 84 games in 2025 but missed time due to right thumb and right knee injuries. According to Francys Romero of Beisbol FR, several teams have expressed early interest in signing Moncada, including the Angels, Pirates, White Sox, and Blue Jays.

The 30-year-old originally signed with the Red Sox out of Cuba for a $31.5MM bonus in February 2015. He made his debut late in 2016 before being traded to the White Sox as their key return for Chris Sale. Moncada had a 105 wRC+ in 231 plate appearances in 2017 but fell below average in his first full season in 2018. He broke out in 2019 with a .315/.367/.548 batting line in 559 PA, along with 25 home runs. Granted, the ball was juiced that year, but Moncada’s output was still 39% better than average by wRC+. The White Sox were confident enough to give him a five-year, $70MM extension in March 2020, which covered the 2020-24 seasons and contained a club option for 2025.

Moncada slumped during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, posting a 94 wRC+ while seeing a drop in power and spending two weeks on the injured list. He rebounded in 2021 with a line of .263/.375/.412 and a 120 wRC+. The power wasn’t quite back to his 2019 levels, though he looked like a more mature hitter overall, dropping his strikeout rate to 25.5% while posting a career-best 13.6% walk rate.

Unfortunately, Moncada has struggled with injuries and inconsistency ever since. From 2022-24, he batted .236/.291/.387 with an 88 wRC+ while playing in just 206 out of 486 possible games. In 2024, he spent most of the season on the 60-day IL with a left abductor strain, making just 45 plate appearances with a 118 wRC+. After the season, the club declined their $25MM club option on Moncada in lieu of a $5MM buyout, making him a free agent.

This year with the Angels, he had a 117 wRC+ in 289 PA over 84 games. His strikeout rate of 26.0% was high, while his 11.1% walk rate was better than average. His .214 ISO was his highest since his 2019 breakout season, as was his .448 slugging percentage. Although he is nominally a switch-hitter, most of his damage came as a lefty facing right-handed pitching. He posted 125 wRC+ in 262 PA against righties, but just a 37 wRC+ in 27 PA against southpaws. Meanwhile, both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average saw Moncada as a liability at third base. His -13 OAA was worst in the league among third baseman with at least 300 defensive innings.

Altogether, Moncada showed above average offense but was weighed down by injuries and newfound defensive struggles. As a free agent, he is more or less in the same position as last offseason, with a one-year deal being his most likely outcome. The current market has Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suarez as the top options at third base. Kazuma Okamoto is still available, with his posting window closing on January 4. The next-best options after that are utility players, so teams needing an everyday third baseman could look to Moncada as a low-cost flier.

Among the clubs with reported interest, the Angels might be the best fit. Anthony Rendon is expected to retire after an injury-riddled tenure in Los Angeles. After Moncada, Luis Rengifo got the most time at the hot corner in 2025, though he is a now a free agent. The club acquired infielder Vaughn Grissom from the Red Sox earlier this month, and he has not played third base in his big-league career. Another one-year deal with Moncada would fill the third-base vacancy and set Grissom up to compete for second base time, where the incumbent Christian Moore was unimpressive offensively in 2025.

Looking at the Pirates, the team traded Ke’Bryan Hayes to the Reds in July and saw Isiah Kiner-Falefa claimed by the Blue Jays in August. Jared Triolo played 260 1/3 innings at the hot corner, but he is more of a multi-positional player and did not hit as well as Moncada. The club is interested in signing Okamoto, but Moncada could be a fallback option for them.

The White Sox recently signed Munetaka Murakami to play first base and have Miguel Vargas as the projected starter at third. Moncada would be an offensive upgrade over Vargas if the club limits his exposure to left-handed pitching. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays are known to be interested in signing Bregman. Ernie Clement and Addison Barger are already on the roster if he signs elsewhere. Both are average hitters, while Clement is an excellent defender at third (11 DRS in 2025), so they are a more curious fit for Moncada.

Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images

Angels Place Yoán Moncada, Robert Stephenson On Injured List

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The Angels announced today that infielder Yoán Moncada has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to right knee inflammation. Right-hander Robert Stephenson landed on the 15-day IL due to right biceps inflammation, retroactive to May 31st. The Halos didn’t provide any information about how long either player is expected to be out of action. Outfielder Matthew Lugo and righty Sam Aldegheri were recalled to take the two vacated active roster spots.

Moncada, 30, signed with the Halos this offseason on a one-year deal which pays him $5MM. He has been excellent when he’s been on the field. He has stepped to the plate 113 times over 30 games. His 28.3% strikeout rate is high but he has six home runs and has drawn walks at a strong 11.5% clip. His .237/.336/.505 batting line translates to a 135 wRC+, indicating he’s been 35% better than league average at the plate overall.

But as has often been the case with Moncada, injuries have gotten in the way. He hasn’t played more than 104 games in a season since 2021 due to various ailments. He only got into 12 contests last year due to an adductor strain. He already missed almost a month this year due to a thumb sprain and now this knee issue has him on the shelf again.

It’s a bit of a double blow for the Halos, who are struggling to hang in the American League playoff race. They are 26-32, ahead of just three American League clubs and five games back of the final Wild Card spot. Losing Moncada will hurt their ability to stay in the race. Shortstop Zach Neto is the only position player on the team with a higher wins above replacement tally this year, in the eyes of FanGraphs. If they fall back in the race, Moncada would be one of their more interesting trade chips, though each injury compounds his injury-prone reputation and hurts his trade value.

With Moncada ailing in recent days, the Halos have had Luis Rengifo move from second to third with Scott Kingery taking over the keystone. That could perhaps be their regular alignment while Moncada is out, with Kevin Newman and Chris Taylor also on hand.

For Stephenson, it’s a frustrating setback. He signed a three-year, $33MM deal going into 2024 but required Tommy John surgery in April of last year, before he even got a chance to throw a pitch for the Angels. He recovered from that surgery and was reinstated from the IL a few days ago. But in his second appearance, which was on Friday, he departed after just three pitches with an apparent injury.

The Angels’ bullpen has a collective 6.04 earned run average, worse than every club in the majors except for the Athletics. Ideally, Stephenson’s return would have strengthened the group. In the second half of 2023, he was one of the best relievers on the planet. With the Rays, he threw 38 1/3 innings with a 2.35 ERA, 42.9% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate. That prompted the Angels to give him a hefty deal but he hasn’t been able to give them a return on that investment yet and that won’t change for a few more weeks at least.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Angels Select Héctor Neris, Connor Brogdon

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The Angels announced that they have selected the contracts of right-handers Héctor Neris and Connor Brogdon. Infielder Yoán Moncada was also reinstated from the 10-day injured list. In corresponding moves, right-hander Michael Darrell-Hicks and infielder Niko Kavadas have been optioned to Triple-A, while righty Touki Toussaint has been designated for assignment. The club had one open 40-man vacancy coming into today.

The Angels have been busy swapping in fresh arms to their bullpen lately. After some heavy bullpen usage on Thursday and Friday, Toussaint and Darrell-Hicks were called up on Saturday. On Sunday, the club got torched, losing 13-1 to the Tigers. Both pitchers took on some mop-up duty and have been swapped out for more fresh arms today.

Neris, 36 next month, just signed a minor league deal with the club a couple of months ago. He started the season on a minor league deal with Atlanta and made the Opening Day roster but was bumped off after two bad appearances. He elected free agency and landed a new deal with the Halos. He has since made four Triple-A appearances, allowing two earned runs with eight strikeouts and one walk.

The righty has a lengthy track record of major league success but has been more wobbly in recent years. In 2021, he had a 31.6% strikeout rate but that dropped to 30%, 28.2% and 24.6% in subsequent seasons. He was able to work around that with a 1.17 ERA in 2023 but that jumped to 4.10 last year, which likely led to him settling for a minor league deal with Atlanta coming into 2025.

Brogdon, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Halos in January. He has thrown 14 2/3 Triple-A innings this year, allowing 21 earned runs for an eye-popping 12.89 ERA. His 25.3% strikeout rate is actually pretty good and his 9.6% walk rate passable but he has allowed six home runs already in that span.

He was a solid major leaguer as of a few years ago but has been struggling more recently. He tossed 113 innings for the Phillies over the 2020 to 2022 seasons with a 3.42 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate. But in 2023, his ERA jumped to 4.03, with a 20.5% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate. Last year was mostly lost due to injuries, with plantar fasciitis being the main culprit. The Angels presumably hoped to get him back on track but the Triple-A results so far this year have been mixed, to say the least.

As mentioned earlier, Toussaint gets bumped off the roster just a few days after being added. He tossed two innings in his lone appearance, allowing two earned runs on four hits and a walk while striking out three.

He should be placed on waivers in the coming days. Once a notable prospect, he has never been able to rein in his control enough to find success. In 282 1/3 major league innings, he has a 5.42 ERA, 23.1% strikeout rate and 47.6% ground ball rate but a big 14.1% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Denis Poroy, Imagn Images

Angels Select J.D. Davis, Place Yoan Moncada On IL, Designate Jack Dashwood

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10:46am: The Angels have formally announced Davis’ selection to the big league roster. Moncada is indeed headed to the 10-day injured list due to a right thumb sprain. Left-hander Jack Dashwood has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot for Davis.

10:42am: The Angels are selecting the contract of veteran corner infielder J.D. Davis, MLBTR has confirmed. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register first reported that Davis was in the visiting clubhouse in Tampa this morning. A corresponding move isn’t yet known, though third baseman Yoan Moncada has been dealing with a thumb issue this season and exited yesterday’s game early.

Davis, 32 later this month, signed a minor league deal with the Angels over the winter. The eight-year veteran didn’t originally make the cut this spring but has gotten out to a strong start with Triple-A Salt Lake, slashing .297/.357/.486 with a pair of homers, a double, four walks and eight strikeouts in 42 plate appearances (9.5 BB%, 19 K%).

Originally selected with the No. 75 overall pick by the Astros back in 2014, Davis debuted with Houston briefly in 2017. He didn’t get much of a look that year or in 2018, and the ’Stros traded him to the Mets ahead of the 2019 campaign. From 2019-23, Davis was a productive hitter for the Mets and Giants, batting a combined .268/.352/.443 (119 wRC+) with 63 homers in just over 1800 plate appearances. He was a bit strikeout-prone, at 27.3%, but he also walked in 10.2% of his trips to the plate.

Davis’ numbers slipped closer to average in the final season of that stretch, however, and he experienced a pronounced downturn at the plate in 2024 when he batted just .218/.293/.338 in 157 plate appearances between the A’s and Yankees. Davis actually cut his strikeout rate a few points last season and still made hard contact at a strong 43.7% clip, but his ground-ball rate spiked to a career-high 61.4%. For a player with sub-par speed, a deluge of even well-struck grounders isn’t a recipe for success. At his peak from 2019-22, Davis saw his ground-ball rate settle in just shy of 47%.

Moncada, 29, signed a one-year deal this offseason that guaranteed him $5MM. He’s battled thumb pain throughout spring and the season’s early stages. He’s appeared in only eight games and tallied just 27 plate appearances, going 4-for-21 with a pair of doubles, six walks and eight strikeouts (.190/.370/.286).

A ballyhooed international signing and one of the focal points of the failed White Sox rebuilding efforts, Moncada looked destined for stardom early in his career — so much so that Chicago signed him to a five-year, $70MM extension. Given the switch-hitter’s .315/.367/.548, 25-homer breakout back in 2019, that contract seemed like a sound investment. But Moncada’s output in subsequent seasons has routinely been sapped by injuries. He appeared in only 404 games over the life of that five-year pact (which, notably, included the shortened 2020 campaign) and hit just .244/.326/.395 along the way. That was roughly league-average production, so it wasn’t a total flop, but the Sox had much, much loftier expectations when signing him to that deal.

The 27-year-old Dashwood was added to the Angels’ 40-man roster ahead of the 2024 Rule 5 draft. He only pitched 10 innings in Double-A last year due to injury, but Dashwood posted a 15-to-1 K/BB ratio in that time and followed that truncated season with a big performance in the Arizona Fall League: another ten innings with just four runs on 10 hits and a huge 17-to-2 K/BB mark. The 6’6″ southpaw has been rocked for a dozen runs through his first two Triple-A frames this season, however.

The Angels will have five days to trade Dashwood, after which he’ll need to be placed on waivers. That’d be another 48-hour process. It’s possible he could be waived prior to that five-day mark as well, but either way, the Halos will get a resolution on his DFA within the next week.

Angels Notes: Rengifo, Neto, Moncada

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TODAY: Washington told Jeff Fletcher and other reporters today that Moncada’s thumb has “some deep bruises” but “nothing is torn,” so “we’ve got to let it settle down before we start letting him try to hit.”  The manager isn’t yet sure if Moncada may or may not need an IL stint to begin the season.

MARCH 15: The Angels have had a number of health woes throughout the spring, with among the most recent being concern that a nagging hamstring issue could keep infielder Luis Rengifo off the club’s Opening Day roster. Fortunately for the club and Rengifo, however, things appear to be trending in the right direction with less than two weeks remaining until the Angels begin their season in Chicago against the White Sox. As noted by Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, Rengifo started the club’s spring game yesterday at third base and declared to reporters (including Fletcher) that he would be ready for Opening Day. Manager Ron Washington was more reserved, but acknowledged that Rengifo does have enough time to be ready for the start of the season so long as he avoids any further setbacks.

That Rengifo figures to be ready for the start of the season is surely a huge relief for the Angels. After all, the switch hitter was the club’s top offensive performer last year aside from Mike Trout, who was limited to just 29 games due to injuries last year. Rengifo was not healthy in 2024 himself, playing in only 79 games with 304 trips to the plate, but in those limited appearances he hit a solid .300/.347/.417 with a wRC+ of 117. Rengifo is currently penciled in as the club’s starting second baseman, though he has the versatility to handle third base, shortstop, and the outfield corners as well. With second baseman and 2024 first-rounder Christian Moore seemingly already knocking on the door of the major leagues with a phenomenal spring, it’s easy to imagine that versatility being key to Angels’ plans for Rengifo in the near future.

In other positive injury news, Fletcher relays that shortstop Zach Neto has been making progress as he works his way back from offseason shoulder surgery. Neto has already been ruled out for Opening Day, but isn’t expected to miss much of the regular season as he’s already ahead of his expected schedule. The 24-year-old has yet to progress to facing live pitching, but is preparing for game action by standing in the box for the bullpen sessions of his teammates and is currently throwing from 105 feet, nearly the full length from shortstop to first base. The Halos’ top hitter by both bWAR and fWAR last year, Neto figures to slide back into his job as the club’s everyday shortstop sometime in April as things stand.

Not all of the latest news out of Angels camp is positive, however. As noted by MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger, third baseman Yoan Moncada was scratched from yesterday’s lineup due to thumb soreness. He remained out of the lineup today, and while there’s been no indication of the severity of the issue to this point, it’s at least somewhat concerning given the veteran’s lengthy injury history and the issue’s proximity to Opening Day. If Moncada’s thumb issue were to prove more serious, non-roster invitee J.D. Davis may be best positioned to take advantage of the vacant job at third base although fellow non-roster invitees Tim Anderson and Carter Kieboom could also theoretically be in the mix.

Christian Moore To Get Third Base Reps In Camp

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Angels prospect Christian Moore has primarily been a second baseman but he will be getting some work at third base in camp, manager Ron Washington tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.

Moore, 22, was only drafted last summer. On most clubs, that would make him a long shot to crack the major league roster, but the Angels have been very aggressive in promoting their top picks. First baseman Nolan Schanuel was drafted in July of 2023 and was up in the show by the middle of August, just over a month later. Shortstop Zach Neto was drafted in 2022 but was up in the majors less than a year later, getting promoted in mid-April 2023.

Fletcher adds that Moore was almost promoted in September of last year before hurting his knee, so a 2025 debut would appear to be firmly on the table. Selected eighth overall in last year’s draft, he had hit 61 home runs in 186 games over three years at the University of Tennessee, producing a line of .338/.447/.698.

After the draft, the Angels put him into two games at Single-A and then 23 contests at the Double-A level. He hit a combined .347/.400/.584 in those minor league contests. He only played one game in the month of September because of that aforementioned knee injury.

After he recovered, the Angels gave him some work at third base in the instructional league. During his time in Single-A and Double-A, he only played second base. That was his primary position at Tennessee as well, though he did see some limited time at shortstop and in the outfield. He played one game at third base in the Cape Cod League in 2022.

“He plays third base pretty good,” Washington said. “It’s wide open. It’s freelancing at third base. Second base, he’s got to make decisions. That’s what I want to see at second base, the type of decisions he makes. Third base, you do or don’t, you will or you won’t.”

Diversifying his defensive skill set would give Moore another path to the big leagues. The Angels project to have Luis Rengifo as their regular second baseman. He can play other spots but he’s been at the keystone most often. At third base, Anthony Rendon is going to be on the injured list for an extended period of time following hip surgery. The Angels signed Yoán Moncada to take over at the hot corner, though he has an extensive injury history of his own. He has only got into more than 104 games in a season three times in his nine-year career, the most recent instance being back in 2021.

If Moore looks capable of holding down third base and Moncada gets bit by the injury bug again, then perhaps the Angels will give Moore consideration there. Other options would include Kevin Newman or Scott Kingery, who are on the roster, as well as non-roster invitees like J.D. Davis or Tim Anderson. With Rengifo’s ability to move to third, those guys could potentially play second.

Even if Moore takes the third base job at some point this year, that will likely be a short-term proposition. Rengifo is slated for free agency at season’s end. Assuming the Halos still think the keystone is Moore’s long-term home, it should be available to him. Moncada is also on a one-year deal, so taking over third is also possible if they think he’s a better fit there. Rendon is under contract through 2026 but he hasn’t played more than 58 games in a season since 2019 and the Angels don’t seem committed to giving him playing time even when he recovers from his surgery.

Angels Sign Yoan Moncada

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TODAY: Moncada’s deal with the Angels is now official, as is the club’s deal with Kenley Jansen. Anthony Rendon and Robert Stephenson were transferred to the 60-day injured list to make room on the 40-man roster.

FEBRUARY 11: The Angels are reportedly in agreement with third baseman Yoán Moncada on a one-year, $5MM deal. The signing is pending a physical for the Quality Control Sports client. The Angels will need to create a 40-man roster spot once it is finalized.

Moncada, 30 in May, is looking for a rebound after a disappointing end to his eight seasons with the White Sox. The former top prospect had an up-and-down tenure in Chicago. He earned down-ballot MVP support during his best year, a 2019 season in which he hit .315/.367/.548 with a career-high 25 home runs. The Sox signed Moncada to a $70MM extension the following spring, believing he’d cemented himself as a core piece coming out of their rebuild.

That is not how things have played out. Moncada slumped to a .225/.320/.385 showing in 2020. That looked like a short-season aberration the following year, as he posted a strong .263/.375/.412 slash across 144 games. Moncada’s bat hit another sharp decline thereafter. He combined for a .234/.288/.386 line in nearly 800 plate appearances over the next two seasons. His final year in Chicago was tanked by injury. Moncada suffered a significant left adductor (groin) strain two weeks into the year. He was immediately ruled out for 3-6 months. Moncada didn’t return to the active roster until the middle of September.

By that point, the White Sox were playing out the string on the worst season in modern history. It was a foregone conclusion that they’d buy Moncada out for $5MM instead of a $25MM club option. The Sox had little reason to put him back in the lineup. He only made one appearance as a pinch-runner in the final two weeks. His season ended with 12 games and 45 plate appearances.

Moncada is now three years removed from his last strong season. At his best, he has shown above-average power and speed with a patient offensive approach. Moncada took walks at an excellent 13.6% clip back in 2021. He takes a lot of called strikes as well, so he has punched out in 29.2% of his career plate appearances. He’s a .254/.331/.424 hitter in more than 3100 major league plate appearances.

After playing second base during his first two seasons, Moncada kicked to third base in 2019. He hasn’t played anywhere other than the hot corner over the past six years. That’ll very likely be his home with the Halos. General manager Perry Minasian said at the beginning of the offseason that the Angels were not committed to giving that job back to Anthony Rendon. He’s likely headed to the bench as he enters the sixth season of his seven-year free agent deal. Luis Rengifo can take the majority of the playing time at second base, while the Halos acquired Jorge Soler to serve as their primary designated hitter.

This is the Angels’ first move of consequence in months. They were the league’s most active team in the offseason’s first few weeks. They pulled off the Soler trade while signing Kyle Hendricks, Travis d’Arnaud and Yusei Kikuchi before Thanksgiving. They had not made a major league free agent pickup since finalizing the Kikuchi deal. They’ve added a few veteran infielders on minor league contracts, including Moncada’s longtime Sox teammate Tim Anderson. With Zach Neto questionable for Opening Day following postseason shoulder surgery, Anderson could compete with free agent signee Kevin Newman for the season-opening shortstop job. The Angels may have Moncada and Anderson on the left side of their infield for at least a few weeks.

Moncada was also tied to the Blue Jays, Mariners and Cubs at points this offseason. Francys Romero reports that the Cubs made a one-year offer worth around $3MM. Moncada declined and came out $2MM ahead with the Angels. (Chicago has signed Jon Berti to serve as a multi-positional infielder and is likely to turn third base over to top prospect Matt Shaw.) This pushes the Angels payroll to approximately $193MM, as calculated by RosterResource. They’re at $210MM in luxury tax commitments, a little more than $30MM below the lowest threshold.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported the $5MM agreement. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Yankees Checked In On Enrique Hernandez, Yoan Moncada

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As the Yankees continue to looking for infield help, the team has shown some degree of interest this offseason in Enrique Hernandez and Yoan Moncada, the New York Post’s Mark W. Sanchez writes.  Regarding Moncada, Sanchez writes that the club asked for Moncada’s medicals “early in the offseason,” but a source tells Sanchez “the Yankees have [since] not re-engaged” on the former White Sox third baseman.

This isn’t the first time that the Yankees have been linked to Hernandez, as New York was a finalist for the veteran utilityman’s services when he was a free agent last winter.  Hernandez instead re-signed with the Dodgers to a one-year, $4MM deal, and the decision paid off in the form of another championship ring.  The Yankees got a direct look at Hernandez during the postseason, when he hit .278/.316/.389 over 20 plate appearances during the Dodgers’ five-game triumph over the Bronx Bombers in the World Series.

There hasn’t been any public buzz about Hernandez’s free agent market this offseason, which could be due to the perception (as Sanchez notes) that a reunion with the Dodgers is inevitable.  Today, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, “The door will never be closed on Kiké” at DodgerFest.

Los Angeles could be waiting until Spring Training opens and roster space can be created when players are shifted to the 60-day injured list, but until that happens, another team could theoretically be able to swoop in and make Hernandez a more attractive offer.

For instance, New York could offer Hernandez more playing time than he might find on the crowded L.A. roster.  The right-handed hitting Hernandez could complement Jazz Chisholm Jr. or Cody Bellinger (both left-handed bats) on the infield or in center field, or complement the switch-hitting Jasson Dominguez in left field.  Hernandez’s versatility gives the Yankees even more flexibility in figuring out Chisholm’s eventual position at either second base or third base, and in deciding how DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera, and Oswald Peraza all fit into the roster picture.

Hernandez’s offense has tended to ebb and flow over the course of his 11-year MLB career, balancing out at a .238/.308/.405 slash line and 93 wRC+ over 3896 career PA.  Come October, however, Hernandez has surged to hit .278/.353/.522 in 259 postseason PA with the Dodgers and Red Sox, earning the 33-year-old a reputation as a big-game player.  This kind of production from an unheralded spot on the roster could be just what the Yankees need to take that final step towards another title after falling short to Los Angeles this past season.

Moncada hasn’t played second base since the 2018 season, so he would more directly slot into the third base mix if he indeed ended up in New York.  Sanchez’s note about the Yankees’ seeming lack of follow-up about Moncada might indicate that the Bombers were simply doing a due-diligence ask and have since moved onto other targets.  The Mariners, Cubs, and Blue Jays are among the clubs who have also been linked to Moncada this offseason, as he begins a new chapter in his career after the White Sox declined their $25MM club option on the infielder last fall.

Chicago’s decision came as no surprise given how Moncada played in only 12 games in 2024 due to a left adductor strain, though that total could’ve been bumped up by a few games had the White Sox not sparingly used Moncada after he was activated from the 60-day injured list in mid-September.  It marked a tough end to an up-and-down eight-season run for Moncada on the South Side, as he hit .254/.332/.425 over 3122 PA in a White Sox uniform.  Much more was expected given Moncada’s past status as an elite prospect, and the five-year, $70MM extension he signed with the Sox prior to the 2020 season.

Now looking to rebuild his value after a few injury-marred seasons, Moncada might have to settle for a minor league contract given this increasingly late date in the offseason, or a low-cost one-year guarantee.  The amount of interest Moncada has received indicates that multiple teams believe he might have some change-of-scenery potential once removed from what became an increasingly dismal situation in Chicago.

Cubs, Mariners Among Teams Interested In Yoan Moncada

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“Several” teams remain involved the market for third baseman Yoán Moncada, according to a report from Francys Romero this afternoon. Romero goes on to report that the Cubs and Mariners are among the clubs with interest in Moncada’s services in addition to the Blue Jays, who were previously reported as a potential suitor last month.

After spending eight seasons on the south side of Chicago, the prospect of Moncada moving on to the north side and joining the Cubs makes plenty of sense. The switch-hitter has primarily played third base throughout his career but has also spent time at the keystone. Those are perhaps the two positions where the Cubs could stand to benefit most from shoring up their depth. The club parted ways with third baseman Isaac Paredes as part of the deal that brought Kyle Tucker to Chicago last month, and while top prospect Matt Shaw seems poised to take over everyday reps at the hot corner he has just 35 games of experience at the Triple-A level.

It would be a surprise for the club to simply anoint an unproven player as an everyday player, even one as talented as Shaw. To that end, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer indicated last month that Shaw will have to “earn” the position in Spring Training. There’s at least some semblance of internal competition for the role in the form of Rule 5 draft pick Gage Workman as well as utility infielders Miles Mastrobuoni and Vidal Bruján, but adding a player with more of a big league track record to the mix could give Shaw some more robust competition for the role. Moncada is as good a choice as any player available on the infield market for that role. Though he’s often been injured in recent years, he’s hit a respectable .262/.311/.422 (101 wRC+) over the past two seasons and was a well above-average regular as recently as 2021.

In addition to providing competition to Shaw this spring, adding Moncada to the Cubs’ infield mix would give the club additional protection against the possibility that incumbent second baseman Nico Hoerner isn’t ready for Opening Day. Hoerner underwent flexor tendon surgery back in October, and the Cubs have subsequently indicated that although he’s expected to be ready early in the 2025 season at the latest, a specific timetable for his return won’t be clear until camp opens next month. With so much uncertainty surrounding both second and third base, the addition of Moncada to the mix would give the Cubs a high-upside veteran who could fill in for Hoerner in the lineup early in the year and act as an insurance policy against Shaw struggling in his first taste of big league action.

As for the Mariners, MLBTR discussed Moncada as a potential fit for their needs at third base in a post last night. Given the club’s wide-open third base competition, the prospect of everyday playing time is one that would surely appeal to Moncada if it were to be made available to him. With that being said, Moncada’s 29.4% strikeout rate over the past two seasons could give the Mariners some level of pause given their efforts to cut down on strikeouts in their lineup over the past couple of years. With that being said, the third base options available in free agency this winter are fairly limited and it’s difficult to imagine Seattle finding a clearly better option for the hot corner unless they can swing a trade for a player like Alec Bohm or Willi Castro.

While Toronto’s interest in Moncada’s services isn’t exactly news, it’s nonetheless noteworthy given that prior reports of interest in his services originated prior to the Andrés Giménez trade last month. With Giménez and Bo Bichette seemingly locked into the club’s middle infield barring a Bichette trade coming together at some point, that seemingly left youngsters like Ernie Clement and Addison Barger to jockey for playing time at the hot corner. Adding Moncada to the mix might push those youngsters to the bench or Triple-A, though it’s also possible that the Jays could instead have a bench role in mind for Moncada while Clement remains as the club’s likely regular at third.

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