Yoan Moncada’s eight-season run with the White Sox ended when Chicago purchased out its membership possibility on the infielder’s contract in October, sending Moncada into free company. Although Moncada’s final three seasons have been outlined by accidents, reporter Francys Romero (by way of X) writes that “Moncada is producing a number of curiosity out there,” and that the Blue Jays are ones of the golf equipment within the 29-year-old’s companies.
Solely three groups in baseball bought extra from the recent nook than the cumulative 4.0 bWAR posted by Toronto third basemen in 2024, with a number of that manufacturing on either side of the ball coming from Isiah Kiner-Falefa earlier than the Jays dealt him on the commerce deadline. Ernie Clement additionally bought a number of taking part in time at third base and was very stable with the glove, although he hit solely .263/.284/.408 over 452 plate appearances. Heading into 2025, the Blue Jays have Clement and extra inexperienced choices like Addison Barger, Orelvis Martinez, Leo Jimenez, all able to taking part in third base, even when Clement is the perfect defensive participant of the group.
It subsequently isn’t stunning 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 determine the best way to deal with both third or second base. Moncada is a a lot lower-profile kind of free agent than that trio, although for the reason that Jays have been broadly in on many gamers this winter, it isn’t stunning that the membership is exploring all ranges of the market. The Juan Soto pursuit has naturally dominated the Jays’ focus so far this winter, and a participant like Moncada might be on the radar whether or not or not Soto is all of a sudden taking on an outsized chunk of Toronto’s payroll.
In a way, signing Moncada as a veteran counterpoint to the youthful in-house choices has some similarity to the Jays’ signing of Kiner-Falefa final winter. Whereas not less than IKF introduced defensive versatility to the desk, Moncada is rather more of a query mark, and never essentially a transparent improve over what Toronto already has on the third base depth chart.
As soon as thought to be one among baseball’s high prospects, Moncada’s blue-chip standing made him the centerpiece of the four-player commerce bundle the White Sox obtained from the Pink Sox for Chris Sale again in December 2016. A seeming breakout yr in 2019 impressed the White Sox to ink Moncada to a five-year, $70MM extension previous to the 2020 season, and a stable 2021 marketing campaign on Chicago’s AL Central-winning workforce appeared to cement Moncada’s place as a constructing block on the South Facet.
Nevertheless, that’s when the harm bug once more impacted Moncada’s profession. The infielder has performed in solely 208 of a attainable 486 video games since Opening Day 2022, as Moncada has been sidelined by again issues, an indirect pressure, accidents to each hamstrings, and an adductor pressure that value him the vast majority of the 2024 season. Moncada missed over 5 months of motion final yr and performed in solely 12 video games. Simply a kind of appearances got here after his activation from the 60-day injured checklist on September 16, because the White Sox opted to present taking part in time to youthful gamers as an alternative of a participant they have been already planning to chop ties with after the season.
It isn’t stunning that Moncada’s manufacturing nosedived within the wake of all these accidents, as he has hit solely .236/.291/.387 in 835 PA during the last three seasons. He performed for Cuba in the course of the Premier12 match in November to get some further taking part in time within the wake of his misplaced 2024 season, although he hit simply .143 over 14 at-bats.
Regardless of of the dearth of current outcomes, it is sensible why the Blue Jays and different golf equipment might view Moncada as an attention-grabbing rebound candidate. Merely staying wholesome may assist Moncada get on monitor, and will a change of surroundings from a troubled White Sox group that hit all-time low with a 121-loss season in 2024. As a comparatively low-cost flier, Moncada has enchantment to any workforce trying to for part-time assist at third base, or probably at second provided that Moncada performed that place earlier in his profession.
