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Yankees News: Is MLB The Reason Why Yoan Moncada Isn’t Cleared? UPDATE

By Jason Evans |

Yankees fans have been waiting all off-season long for Yoan Moncada to be officially cleared. The 19 year old prospect has all the makings and the talent to be a superstar and all the big market teams are lining for him. Especially the Yankees. The Yankees and Red Sox need him cleared before June 15 to go after him because they’ve both spent more than their bonus allotment for international prospects.

We have been all waiting for OFAC to clear him, but according to Baseball America’s Ben Badler it isn’t OFAC that’s getting in the way of him being cleared but MLB. 

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The holdup is that MLB won’t let Moncada—or any Cuban player, for that matter—use the general license any more. That wasn’t always the case. Yasiel Puig, for example, signed using the general license. It’s not clear what exactly changed, but at some point in 2012 after Puig signed in June that year, MLB no longer allowed Cuban players to sign using the general license and instead required them to apply for the specific license, which is a written document from OFAC. That goes beyond what the government requires from Cuban players to be able to begin their careers, and with some players waiting six months to receive their licenses, MLB’s policy has added a significant bottleneck for those players.MLB issued the following statement to Baseball America on Sunday: “MLB is confident with the current plan we have in place regarding signing foreign born players and will abide by the guidelines of the OFAC requirements.”Except, by the OFAC guidelines, Moncada has met the criteria of the general license to be considered unblocked, and he is not alone. Cuban second basemen Hector Olivera and Andy Ibanez have both obtained residency in a third country. Yet none of them has signed yet because they are still awaiting response from the government on their application for the specific license that MLB requires. Several other less-noteworthy Cuban players are in the same situation.

Basically, all MLB is doing is trying to cover their rear end. Former Yankees prospect Rafael DePaula got suspended for a year because he filed false papers. In the interest of the quality of the game, they need to be declared soon if not before Spring Training so clubs can sign them and get them into camp to take a look at them.

New MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has been so interested in trying to change the rules among other things, so why is it that they are dragging their feet on available Cuban talent?  The Yankees and other teams are interested in any of the three players, let alone other guys.

If the new commissioner wants to make an impact, start by getting these players cleared.

UPDATE: 1/27/15 @6:57 p.m.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that according to one league official, he expect Moncada to be able to sign a contract within the next two weeks despite the inability of players such as Moncada and Hector Olivera to use the former “general license” that others have used. It is now up to MLB to determine the legalities of residency for players who have defected to a third country, and verify they indeed have set up a residence in the new country they are claiming.

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