Editorials

Dodgers Rumors: ‘Reservations’ Exist Over Signing Yoan Moncada

Yoan Moncada

Labeled as a team with seemingly endless money to spend, the Los Angeles Dodgers refrained from throwing piles of money at their needs this offseason. Instead, they’ve paid salaries to trade players (read: Dan Haren and Matt Kemp), and cut loose Brian Wilson along with $9.5 million remaining in the final year of his deal.



Rather than spend $210 million on Max Scherzer, $155 million for Jon Lester, or commit to James Shields for $75 million, the Dodgers signed Brandon McCarthy to a four-year, $48 million deal and Brett Anderson for one year.

Although the anticipated spending spree this offseason has yet to occur, the expectation is that may soon change now that Yoan Moncada was cleared by Major League Baseball to sign as a free agent. The Dodgers’ deep pockets have them pegged by some as the favorite to sign the 19-year-old Cuban talent and they’ve already held a private workout for the young infielder.

According to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com, the Dodgers will be among the teams who watch another Moncada workout this week:

The Cubs, Dodgers and D-backs are all expected to watch Moncada work out in Florida this week. The Padres conducted a private workout for him on Monday.

As Sanchez notes, Moncada recently worked out for the San Diego Padres, who have been extremely active this offseason and are reportedly prepared to aggressively bid for him. While the Dodgers presumably will be involved in Moncada’s free agency, they may have some concerns:

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and manager Don Mattingly attended a private workout by Moncada earlier this month. However, the club has serious reservations about the 19-year-old because of the extreme cost, a source told MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick.

The information Gurnick received contradicts a New York Post report that quoted one NL West source as saying the Dodgers ‘are going to go crazy’ for Moncada. The penalties for signing Moncada certainly aren’t the most favorable, though for a talent of his magnitude they may be more than worth the cost of doing business.

[divide]

Dodgers 2015 FanFest

Staff Writer

Staff Writer features content written by our site editors along with our staff of contributing writers. Thank you for your readership.

17 Comments

  1. Funny, they were saying the same positive things about Alex Guerrero at this point last year . They could have had a real Cuban Superstar had they signed Jose Abreu instead. Point and winner goes to the Chicago White Sox

    1. Nope. They weren’t. Guerrero was never considered a 5 tool player like Moncada. Guerrero has a weak arm and slow feet on the infield. He’s not that fast either. Moncada has a strong arm, great feet, very fast (bunter/base stealer)…not even close to the same league. Moncada is likely the infielder version of Puig

  2. If they don’t sign Moncada, it’s because they’ve pissed away so much other money. Over paying for McCarthy and Anderson. Trading not only Haren, but paying his salary. The damn Boston trade, that gave them the bad Crawford contract. Wadting millions on Wilson. Millions on two Cubans they don’t even have plans for now. And they retained Coletta as a special advisor. He should have been fired.

    1. Gary although I share your frustration that the Dodgers have not won a WS for 27 years! I do not blame them for the Boston trade. It made the team instantly viable. Gonzo, Crawford etc were solid additions and the trade did not look that bad at the time. They were trying to make a splash and did. The money on Wilson, Perez and League were clearly bad deals thank you Mr Colletti the Ethier contract was criminal. I think we have to wait on the McCarthy and Anderson deals. If they stay healthy and pitch to their ability their contracts are outright steals. Time will tell. Same as the Gordon trade if Hatcher and any of the other two minor league guys make the bigs it may turn out to be a killer deal. That is the thing about baseball you have to wait to grade trades. Now in retrospect the Boston trade was a bad one but it did serve its purpose it made them instantly viable and gave the new ownership group positive press and filled the stadium. It also led to a Huge TV contract. So we are back to that.

  3. to sign or not to sign….that is the question, whether it wiser to keepest thou’s millions take a chance on yon player!

  4. The guy is 19. It is a huge difference when comparing to big ticket free agents. They know what he can do. If they think he is going to be “that guy” in the future, he is undoubtedly worth the money. The new front office is all about bang for the buck. They will pay if they think the bang is there.

  5. Not signing the latest new DiMaggio/Mantle + not showing the product on local TV?
    – I’m about to overcome my Doyer addiction of 60 years and counting.

    1. Larry, We are in agreement on the Television contract. I am very fortunate that Torrance has a contract with TW. I have had a very good relationship with DirectTV but recently switched to TW as I am in my 60’s and did not want to miss anymore Dodger games. Dodger Mgmt has to be held accountable at some point for the fact that a very large percentage of fans cannot get the games no matter what they do. I was in Vegas last week and because the Dodgers somehow claim the area they cannot buy the games on MLB according to a friend there.

      1. Money, money, money …. I loved the game when it was a game – When we knew who our team was until it was changed by ownership – Of course, players ought to have the right to work for their own best interests but that diminishes the tribal affiliations inherent in fandom. Modern fandom includes an obligatory dalliance into realms of finance rather than pure sport and the world of sports suffers thereby. But hope springs eternal and baseball’s drama is still the best reality show ever invented. As for who should spend what on whom – it’s really none of our business – But this TV fiasco is and I’d suggest a boycott of the team that doesn’t provide the daily dose we all need.

        1. I agree it is all about Show Me the Money! Guggenheim looks at the Dodgers and says wow a few years a fixing this and we can and will get steady great interest on our investment. And they will. We are all OK with that if it means they understand and commit to having a very competitive team on the field. Which I think they do. Watching this whole thing play out I understand the Dodgers looking at the money Time Warner offers and figures TV is TW’s biz and they say they can sell this so we are all good. Later they find out TW is insane and cannot sell it and they look bad. Not their fault but they do need, I think, to negotiate a settlement, eventually. But as Direct and AT&T are talking to the FAA about a merger and Likewise TW and Comcast. Nothing is going to be done until those issues clear. it is a very unfortunate confluence of events as they say. I do not see the TV thing settling until the FAA decides what to do with the mergers and there have been unknown delays. So that is why, as I had the opportunity, I signed with TW because I wanted to see the Dodgers this year.

          1. I’m not suggesting anybody shouldn’t watch the team on TV if they can get it – but paying at the stadium or buying merchandise is foolish under the rapacious circumstances. Mostly, I just want to see the Dodgers and Kershaw get another shot at St. Louis and Carpenter, et. al. – Is Kershaw forever going to be linked to Mr. May? (Dave Winfield?)

          2. Yes I agree I am not going to a regular season game until they fix the TV contract. I did not go last year either and I usually catch a few games. I will, if I can swing it, go to a Spring game as I want to see Seager,Urias, Grandal and McCarthy up close. I am planning to see a game in San Diego. I am curious about their team and I have a close friend who is related to Shields. Shields really wanted to play for the Angels as he and Sciosca are friends or the Dodgers but unfortunately it did not happen. I think San Diego is very competitive this year and fights for the playoffs. I think the Central with the Cards, Cubs, Pirates, Brewers will beat each other up so will miss the playoffs. Nats run away in the East with maybe the Braves in contention in the East.

          3. All teams are competitive until they aren’t and some teams are a lot more competitive than they’re expected to be by the experts and then they are. In today’s baseball, teams go from worst to best and vice versa in a year’s time. Always expect the unexpected.

          4. Yes I agree. It is mostly about pitching and key injuries. Everyone has a certain amount of lost time to key starters and the team that overcomes that wins, usually. I still think the Dodgers will win the West by a bit. Last year, Kershaw, Ryu, Kemp, Uribe and Ramirez lost significant time,
            the Bull Pen self-destructed and we still won it. It is the health of the pitching rotation and the Bull Pen I am concerned about in the Play-offs.

          5. The playoffs are like flipping a coin. Baseball is so fluky (remember McCovey’s line out to Richardson as final out of world series) that the so-called best team doesn’t always win and in fact what “best team” even means is a mystery. And how in the frack did the Giants beat the Nats anyway?

          6. I agree. The trick is to get there, I think we will all agree, that you have to be a bit lucky. I am sure most of baseball will agree that the two best teams last year were not the Royals and Giants. I do not think it was even close. IT all about momentum and sometimes the erratic bounce of a ball. Or as I am a long time Kings fan a hot goalie/pitcher that just flat carries you to the win like Bumgardner.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button