{"id":375558,"date":"2025-12-28T07:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T07:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/375558\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T07:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T07:28:10","slug":"several-teams-interested-in-yoan-moncada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/375558\/","title":{"rendered":"Several Teams Interested In Yo\u00e1n Moncada"},"content":{"rendered":"

Infielder Yo\u00e1n Moncada<\/a> 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<\/a>, several teams have expressed early interest in signing Moncada, including the Angels, Pirates, White Sox, and Blue Jays.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>. 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> and Eugenio Suarez<\/a> as the top options at third base. Kazuma Okamoto<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Among the clubs with reported interest, the Angels might be the best fit. Anthony Rendon<\/a> is expected to retire after an injury-riddled tenure in Los Angeles. After Moncada, Luis Rengifo<\/a> got the most time at the hot corner in 2025, though he is a now a free agent. The club acquired infielder Vaughn Grissom<\/a> 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<\/a> was unimpressive offensively in 2025.<\/p>\n

Looking at the Pirates, the team traded Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes<\/a> to the Reds in July and saw Isiah Kiner-Falefa<\/a> claimed by the Blue Jays in August. Jared Triolo<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

The White Sox recently signed Munetaka Murakami<\/a> to play first base and have Miguel Vargas<\/a> 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<\/a> and Addison Barger<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Infielder Yo\u00e1n Moncada is currently a free agent after playing out a one year, $5MM deal with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85,16067],"class_list":{"0":"post-375558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-yoan-moncada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}