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Yoan Moncada

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.

Blue Jays Among Teams Interested In Yoan Moncada

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Yoan Moncada’s eight-season run with the White Sox ended when Chicago bought out its club option on the infielder’s contract in October, sending Moncada into free agency.  Though Moncada’s last three seasons have been defined by injuries, reporter Francys Romero (via X) writes that “Moncada is generating a lot of interest in the market,” and that the Blue Jays are ones of the clubs interested in the 29-year-old’s services.

Only three teams in baseball got more from the hot corner than the cumulative 4.0 bWAR posted by Toronto third basemen in 2024, with a lot of that production on both sides of the ball coming from Isiah Kiner-Falefa before the Jays dealt him at the trade deadline.  Ernie Clement also got a lot of playing time at third base and was very solid with the glove, though he hit only .263/.284/.408 over 452 plate appearances.  Heading into 2025, the Blue Jays have Clement and more inexperienced options like Addison Barger, Orelvis Martinez, Leo Jimenez, all capable of playing third base, even if Clement is the best defensive player of the group.

It therefore isn’t surprising that the Blue Jays have been linked to such big-name infielders as Alex Bregman, Willy Adames, and Ha-Seong Kim as Toronto tries to figure out how to address either third or second base.  Moncada is a much lower-profile type of free agent than that trio, though since the Jays have been broadly in on many players this winter, it isn’t surprising that the club is exploring all levels of the market.  The Juan Soto pursuit has naturally dominated the Jays’ focus to date this winter, and a player like Moncada could be on the radar whether or not Soto is suddenly taking up an outsized chunk of Toronto’s payroll.

In a sense, signing Moncada as a veteran counterpoint to the younger in-house options has some similarity to the Jays’ signing of Kiner-Falefa last winter.  Whereas at least IKF brought defensive versatility to the table, Moncada is much more of a question mark, and not necessarily a clear upgrade over what Toronto already has on the third base depth chart.

Once regarded as one of baseball’s top prospects, Moncada’s blue-chip status made him the centerpiece of the four-player trade package the White Sox received from the Red Sox for Chris Sale back in December 2016.  A seeming breakout year in 2019 inspired the White Sox to ink Moncada to a five-year, $70MM extension prior to the 2020 season, and a solid 2021 campaign on Chicago’s AL Central-winning team looked to cement Moncada’s place as a building block on the South Side.

However, that’s when the injury bug again impacted Moncada’s career.  The infielder has played in only 208 of a possible 486 games since Opening Day 2022, as Moncada has been sidelined by back problems, an oblique strain, injuries to both hamstrings, and an adductor strain that cost him the majority of the 2024 season.  Moncada missed over five months of action last year and played in only 12 games.  Just one of those appearances came after his activation from the 60-day injured list on September 16, as the White Sox opted to give playing time to younger players instead of a player they were already planning to cut ties with after the season.

It isn’t surprising that Moncada’s production nosedived in the wake of all these injuries, as he has hit only .236/.291/.387 in 835 PA over the last three seasons.  He played for Cuba during the Premier12 tournament in November to get some extra playing time in the wake of his lost 2024 season, though he hit just .143 over 14 at-bats.

Despite of the lack of recent results, it makes sense why the Blue Jays and other clubs could view Moncada as an interesting rebound candidate.  Simply staying healthy might help Moncada get on track, and could a change of scenery from a troubled White Sox organization that hit rock bottom with a 121-loss season in 2024.  As a relatively low-cost flier, Moncada has appeal to any team looking for part-time help at third base, or potentially at second given that Moncada played that position earlier in his career.

White Sox Decline Team Option For Yoán Moncada

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The White Sox will not exercise their $25MM club option for Yoán Moncada’s services in 2025. He will receive a $5MM buyout instead. Francys Romero of BeisbolFR reported the news this afternoon on X.

This has been the expected outcome for a while. Moncada has had some good performances in the majors but the past three seasons have seen him underperform, miss significant time due to injury or both.

Moncada appeared in just 208 games during the 2022-2024 seasons due to various injuries. That includes just 12 games in the ’24 campaign, as a left adductor strain kept him on the injured list for most of the year. Even when he came off the IL, the Sox didn’t play him much, preferring to give that time to younger players who could be part of the next competitive window.

Even when on the field, Moncada hasn’t performed especially well of late. He has hit .236/.291/.387 since the start of 2021 for a wRC+ of 88. With that performance, it’s unsurprising that the Sox would balk at giving Moncada another $20MM to stick around for one more year.

That leaves Moncada as a buy-low bounceback candidate in free agency this winter. He was once a high-profile defector from Cuba and highly-regarded prospect with the Red Sox, heading to Chicago as part of the Chris Sale trade in December of 2016.

It took Moncada a few years but he finally had his long-awaited breakout in 2019, launching 25 home runs and slashing .315/.367/.548 for a wRC+ of 139. When combined with his strong defense, he was worth 5.2 wins above replacement that year, in the eyes of FanGraphs.

Going into 2020, the Sox bet on Moncada by giving him a five-year, $70MM extension which included a club option. He struggled a bit in the shortened 2020 season but bounce back with another strong campaign in 2021. But then, as mentioned, the past three seasons have been very disappointing, leading the Sox to turn down the option today.

Despite the may ups and downs in his journey, Moncada is still relatively young, not turning 30 until May. He will likely find some club willing to make a small bet on his past pedigree, perhaps on a deal loaded with incentives, on account of his many health issues.

The third base free agent market is headlined by Alex Bregman, but most of the other options are bench/utility guys like Paul DeJong, Gio Urshela and Amed Rosario. The trade market could feature Nolan Arenado or Eugenio Suárez, but it’s unclear how available either player is while Arenado’s no-trade clause could complicate matters. Moncada is obviously a risky play right now but also has demonstrated upside.

Latest On Yoán Moncada

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Infielder Yoán Moncada is going to get some reps next month. Per Francys Romero on X, Moncada will play for Cuba in the upcoming Premier12 tournament, which is set to take place in multiple countries in November.

He’s likely happy to get the playing time, as he only got 45 plate appearances over 12 games in 2024. That was mostly due to injury, as Moncada suffered a left adductor strain in April and didn’t come off the IL until mid-September. Even when he was back with the club, the Sox didn’t play him much, preferring to give the work to younger players with more potential to contribute in the long run.

Moncada is about to become a free agent. The Sox have a $25MM club option to keep him around for 2025 but they will certainly go for the $5MM buyout instead, since he hasn’t been his best self in a while.

Marketing himself to other clubs in free agency will be a challenge after an essentially lost season, which is surely part of the reason he’s planning to put his spikes on and play next month. He was also limited by injuries in the previous two seasons, playing just 196 games over 2022 and 2023 while hitting .234/.288/.386 for a wRC+ of 86.

Though he’s been injury prone of late and has seemingly been around forever, it’s easy to forget that he still hasn’t celebrated his 30th birthday, which will be in May. His high-profile defection from Cuba was over a decade ago, but he was just a teenager at that time. He went on to sign a huge deal with the Red Sox, when that was still possible under the old amateur spending rules, later getting traded to the White Sox as part of the Chris Sale mega trade before signing a notable extension with Chicago.

But he’s still relatively young and was in good form as recently as a few years ago. In 2021, he stayed healthy enough to play 144 games for the Sox. He slashed .263/.375/.412 that year for a 120 wRC+. He also received solid marks for his glovework, as he usually does, leading to a tally of 3.7 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs.

The recent injuries and tepid performance will both send him to free agency and knock down his earning power on the open market, but it’s possible that some clubs will view him as a strong bounceback candidate who could potentially provide strong return on a modest investment.

White Sox Notes: Sizemore, Managerial Search, Crochet, Moncada

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When the White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol (along with bench coach Charlie Montoyo, assistant hitting coach Mike Tosar and third base coach Eddie Rodriguez), they handed Grady Sizemore the unenviable task of steering the ship for the remainder of a historically inept season. The Sox are currently tied for the modern era record with 120 losses and figure to establish a new benchmark for futility in the coming days. At the time Sizemore was elevated to the top job in the dugout, general manager Chris Getz plainly stated that the Sox would conduct a managerial search and hire a new skipper from outside the organization after the season. It now seems that Sizemore will at least be considered for the permanent post, however.

“Grady’s in consideration,” Getz said this week (link via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times). “He has a lot of traits we’re looking for.”

The Sox will still conduct an extensive search for their next skipper, Getz emphasized. Sizemore will be one of many candidates from what the GM called a “deep pool” that they’ve cultivated since Grifol’s dismissal. (It’s not clear whether that pool will include Double-A manager and former Sox reliever Sergio Santos, but he’s publicly thrown his hat into the ring and voiced a desire to manage the club.) Still, Getz noted that Sizemore’s “temperament is exactly what we needed” for the remainder of the current season and praised his rookie manager’s communication skills with the players. Van Schouwen adds that Sizemore has another year remaining on his coaching contract, so it seems likely he’ll remain with the organization beyond the ’24 season in at least some capacity.

ESPN’s Buster Olney and Jesse Rogers report that Sizemore had never voiced a desire to manage prior to being promoted to his current post, but his strong relationship with the players made him the front office’s pick. Time will tell whether that leads to a more solid appointment following the season.

More broadly, Olney and Rogers explore the staggering levels of dysfunction that have permeated the White Sox organization this season. It’s a deep dive into the team’s many failures across virtually all levels, highlighting clubhouse rifts that date back to the 2023 season and questionable decisions from owner Jerry Reinsdorf, among many other fascinating aspects.

As has been suggested in the past, Rogers and Olney write that former general manager Rick Hahn appeared to have zeroed in on A.J. Hinch as the team’s new manager following the 2020 season when Reinsdorf went over his head and hired longtime friend and former White Sox skipper Tony La Russa. One club source told the ESPN pair that Grifol inherited “as negative a place as I’ve seen anywhere” in the game when he took over as manager. La Russa remains involved with the organization as an advisor and, notably, gave positive feedback about Getz when Reinsdorf fired longtime baseball operations leaders Hahn and Kenny Williams. That’s not to say Getz was promoted based solely on La Russa’s recommendation, but it’s a notable bit of context given that he was tabbed the new GM after just nine days and with no external search conducted.

There are countless other bits throughout the ESPN piece making it a must-read piece for fans not only of the White Sox but any club. Rogers and Olney delve into some specifics on the trade deadline, noting that the Sox targeted top Phillies prospect Andrew Painter when Philadelphia was in pursuit of Garrett Crochet — a price at which the Phillies balked. The Dodgers, per the report, believed they could make a compelling offer without including catcher Dalton Rushing, but that offer “never developed” in the end. They instead acquired Jack Flaherty from Detroit in exchange for another top catching prospect, Thayron Liranzo, and current Tigers shortstop Trey Sweeney.

Crochet stayed in Chicago, as Getz and his staff were intent on getting their price met or revisiting the trade market for Crochet this winter. That’ll surely be the case, and Crochet will enter the season as perhaps the top trade candidate in the sport. The asking price will again be astronomical, but there will also theoretically be more bidders for him — in addition to a lack of concern about his status for pitching in the postseason and/or his reported desire for a contract extension.

Crochet and Luis Robert Jr. will be the last vestiges of the core that propelled the White Sox to playoff berths in 2020 and 2021. The rest have either been traded or, like third baseman Yoan Moncada, will become free agents at season’s end. Moncada has a $25MM club option, but the Sox will pay a $5MM buyout on that option and send him into free agency for the first time in his career.

Moncada, still just 29 years old, tells Bruce Levine of 670 The Score that he plans to play winter ball this offseason in order to showcase his health for the other 29 teams in the game. He missed nearly the entire season due to an adductor strain and has scarcely played since being reinstated from the 60-day injured list earlier this month. Chicago has been committed too getting the younger Miguel Vargas — acquired at the deadline in the three-team Erick Fedde/Michael Kopech/Tommy Pham swap — regular playing time at the hot corner even as he struggles mightily at the plate.

That’s left Moncada with just one plate appearance this month, despite the fact that he was activated back on Sept. 16. He’s hitting .275/.356/.400 on the season in a tiny sample of 45 plate appearances. On the one hand, it’s confounding that the Sox would leave a talented and fairly productive veteran out of the lineup as they try to stave off their inevitable date with history. On the other, Moncada clearly isn’t in the team’s plans going forward, so there’s some sense to allocating those at-bats to younger players.

Moncada once ranked as the top prospect in the sport. He signed with the Red Sox after leaving Cuba, taking home a massive $31.5MM signing bonus (which cost Boston a 100% tax under the former international free agent system, bringing their total price to $63MM). He landed in Chicago alongside Kopech as one two headliners in the trade sending Chris Sale to Fenway Park. It took a couple years, but by 2019 Moncada looked on the cusp of stardom. He swatted 25 homers while batting .315/.367/.548 in just 559 plate appearances. That breakout contributed to Chicago extending Moncada on a five-year, $70MM deal covering the 2020-24 seasons.

The contract hasn’t aged well. Moncada gave the Sox one healthy, productive season in 2021 but has otherwise spent more time on the injured list than in the lineup. Even when healthy, he’s been below-average at the plate more often than not. He’s appeared in 404 of 703 possible games during that five-year period and slashed .244/.326/.395 along the way. That’s league-average production on the whole (101 wRC+), but the vast majority of that positive output came during the aforementioned ’21 season.

A healthy showing in winter ball would surely help Moncada’s stock this offseason. He’s likely looking at a low-cost one-year contract with incentives baked in to potentially boost his guarantee. There’s clearly a talented player beneath all the recent health troubles. Moncada has had seasons worth five wins above replacement (2019) and four WAR (2021). He’s still on the right side of 30. It wouldn’t be a total shock to see him return to form in ’25 — almost assuredly with a new club — and then cash in on a multi-year deal the following offseason.

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