The New York Yankees are riding a wave of success in the American League East. Winning 15 of their last 20 games, including a series-opening victory over their arch-rivals the Boston Red Sox on Friday, the Bronx Bombers sit five comfortable games ahead of the second-place Toronto Blue Jays in the division, and entered the weekend with MLB’s second-best record.
But all is still not completely well in the Bronx. Since New York lost seven-year second-baseman Gleyber Torres to free agency over the offseason, Yankee manager Aaron Boone has been playing mix-and-match with his infield — an infield which has also been punctured by a series of injuries.
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To finally fill that infield gap, Pinstripes Nation writer Sara Molnick proposed a trade target for the Yankees who could provide stability at third base, a position that has been in flux all season, and by extension settle down the whole infield situation.
To do that, the Yankees — under Molnick’s plan — would go out and get a player who was once the most highly prized prospect in all of baseball, but whose career never reached its expected potential, mainly due to injuries. A change of scenery to a winning organization, perhaps, could put him on the right path.
In 2017, Cuban infielder Yoán Moncada was ranked as the overall No. 1 prospect in the game by MLB Pipeline. Just two years earlier, the Boston Red Sox won a bidding war for the then-19-year-old prospect, paying him a $31.5 million signing bonus, at the time a record for an international free agent.
Because the massive bonus exceeded the Red Sox’ limit for international signings, the team was hit with a hefty luxury tax bill, bringing its total price tag for signing Moncada to $63 million.
But Moncada appeared in just eight games for the Red Sox, all in 2016, with four hits. After that, Boston packaged him in a trade with the Chicago White Sox for lefty ace Chris Sale.
Eight years after that, Moncada is now with the Los Angeles Angels, on a one-year, $5 million contract.
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“Moncada has shown flashes of his potential, with a .237 average, sixhome runs, and 19 RBIs. Currently on the injured list with right knee inflammation, his health status will be a key factor in any trade considerations,” Molnick wrote.
She listed the factors in favor a trade for Moncada as the fact that he is a “switch-hitter with power potential,” and “could be a bounce-back candidate in a new environment.”
Perhaps most important, Molnick wrote, Moncada remains “versatile across (the) corner infield.”
Dealing for Moncada would likely be a low-risk, potentially high-reward proposition that would cost the Yankees little in the way of prospect assets. At the age of 30, he may now have an extra jolt of motivation, as he approaches the now-or-never point in his career.
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