Badler: Yankees Favorites For Yoan Moncada

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With baseball’s Hot Stove season set to warm up, the New York Yankees have several holes to fill before the 2015 season begins. They might also look beyond this upcoming season.

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Ben Badler of Baseball America is reporting that the Yankees are the front runners for 19-year-old Cuban prospect Yoan Moncada.

Because of the fact that they’ve already exceeded their international spending limit and are in the maximum penalty range, they can only sign him if he is unblocked by the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control by June 15th when the 2014-2015 international signing period ends. However, if he is unblocked, look for the Yankees to make a big play for the Cuban infielder.

Badler points out that “no team seems to be a better fit for Moncada than the Yankees.” This is due to their lack of Major League ready position players and long term infield options as well as their history of spending on international talent.

Prior to the 2014 season, the Bombers signed Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka to a seven-year, $155 million contract (plus a $20 million posting fee.) Also. since July, they’ve set a spending record on young international free agents, signing eleven of MLB.com’s top thirty available.

The timing of Moncada’s free agency is perfect as they don’t have a third baseman and Martin Prado‘s contract ends following the 2016 season.

If they don’t sign a third baseman to a long term deal, they could possibly have two openings by the time Moncada is big league ready.