In the beginning of January it was reported the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox were the "favorites" to land Cuban prospect Yoan Moncada, but since then his price tag has increased and may have changed the landscape of those in pursuit of the 19-year-old.
According to George A. King III of the New York Post, "the Yankees like the player but not the price tag." Moncada is regarded as the top prospect in Cuba and he was cleared by Major League Baseball at the beginning of the month to sign with a team. It was initially believed the switch-hitter would land a $30 million signing bonus, but some have recently estimated that number may jump to $50 million, which could be a problem for teams with tight budgets.
On top of signing an unproven prospect for such a large sum, whoever lands Moncada will also owe the MLB a 100% tax on whatever they pay him, so that $50 million turns into $100 million. The league's international guidelines dictate such a penalty because each team is allotted a limit on spending during these signing periods. Moncada's future contract will greatly exceed those limits.
Although the Yankees are a big market team, they have been looking to spend less this offseason because of the costly contracts of Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and C.C. Sabathia, which have proven to become onerous as the years progressed. New York only doled out two noteworthy contracts this offseason to third baseman Chase Headley (four years, $52 million) and reliever Andrew Miller (four years, $36 million) after passing on numerous high-profile free agents that could have immensely improved their roster. It doesn't seem like they would now be willing to spend $100 million on a 19-year-old.
A talent evaluator told King that he believes the Los Angeles Dodgers are the frontrunners for Moncada.
However, Ben Badler of Baseball America has different thoughts. On his list of "The Favorites to Sign Yoan Moncada," he has the Yankees listed as the top suitor, with the Dodgers, Padres, Red Sox and Tigers behind them. He says New York has a greater incentive to drop the money on Moncada because of their "dearth of impact young position players" and the fact that they can't sign pool-eligible international players that cost more than $300,000 for the next two signing periods.
"The organization's July 2 spending last year also shows that the team's international scouts have strong support from ownership and general manager Brian Cashman when they want to make an aggressive play," adds Badler.
Moncada's agent says his client would like to sign before spring training, so we'll see what happens within the next week or so.
