Yoan Moncada's Chicago White Sox career got off to so much promise. Injuries and inconsistency dashed all that.
Now, his time with the White Sox is over.
In an expected move, the White Sox did not exercise Yoan Moncada's $25M option, per sources.
— Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) October 31, 2024
Moncada will receive a $5M buyout and become a free agent.
He joins Eloy Jimenez as two of the biggest disappointments to ever play for the White Sox.
Yoan, Eloy, and Luis Robert Jr. were supposed to form a World Series-winning nucleus. Instead those three spent too much time on the IL for that to ever happen.
Man, the promise was there, especially with Moncada who was the No. 1 prospect according to Fangraphs in 2017 and the No. 2 prospect according to MLB Pipeline and Baseball America.
Michael Kopech and Moncada were the massive return in the Chris Sale deal that was supposed to get the Sox back to winning titles. Instead, Kopech just won a World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Sox managed just one AL Central Title and two playoff victories with them on the roster (and Kopech missed the 2020 season).
Moncada had a promising 2019 season when he hit .315 with 25 dingers and a 5.2 fWAR. Injuries ruined all of that as Moncada played in just 208 games from 2022-2024.
A hip injury limited him to just 12 games this season. Given the choice between paying Moncada $25 million to stay or $5 million to leave. the decision was easy.
Now, Moncada will head to winter ball to try to convince a major league team to give him a shot. Given his ability to play good defense and be able to drive the ball when healthy will give him another shot with a big-league club.
His glove work is why he will likely get another guaranteed shot to make a big-league roster. Whereas, Eloy likely will have to settle for a non-roster invite as he is a slugger with an injury history who cannot put the ball in the air.
Oh, what could have been had those two stayed healthy.