Yankees offseason target (with serious baggage) swiftly becoming trade deadline option

Are New York Yankees fans prepared to hop aboard the Moncada Coaster after declining to engage this offseason? Come on, who wants a ride?!

It was only a decade ago — fast-moving decade! — that it felt like the Yankees' entire offseason, and return to prominence, hinged on wooing Yoan Moncada to sign an amateur contract out of Cuba. The fan base was instead gutted, as they often were in those days, to learn that Moncada had chosen the Boston Red Sox out of nowhere, taking an easy win off the Yankees' plate.

Since then, Moncada has been the top prospect in baseball and the prize of the Chris Sale trade. He's been a budding star in Chicago. He's been an oft-injured cautionary. He's been entirely irrelevant, and he's never peaked.

This past offseason, he was floated as an option for the Yankees on the third base market, and consensus was he was an unappealing choice. After all, despite a flop-filled career, he wasn't looking for a minor-league pact. He'd have to be paid real, major-league money. Were we sure he was better than Oswaldo Cabrera? Would he even be healthy enough to challenge Cabrera for the throne?

Instead, he signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, where he's alternated being bothersome and powerful. That's ... yeah, that's been pretty par for the course all along, huh? Moncada missed time early with a thumb injury, but has returned recently, and is bashing baseballs at an all-world clip from the left side of the plate.

That means there'd be a lineup balance issue if he came to the Bronx. That also means he'd be able to abuse the porch, possibly adding to his 134 OPS+. The Yankees would owe him just a pro-rated portion of his $5 million salary, and the hole at third base has only grown larger (though New York wouldn't exactly be able to offer him regular DH reps). So ... complicated as ever. What do you say?

Should Yankees dare to entertain trade for surging Angels third baseman Yoan Moncada?

When the Yankees passed on Moncada this offseason, it seemed briefly like theirindecision would have positive consequences. After all, without his $5 million on the books, they could potentially have considered swapping with the Angels for Luis Rengifo, a contact bat with purer speed who might've been frozen out in Anaheim.

Instead, Rengifo has subtracted 1.3 bWAR from the Angels to start the year, and while Moncada may be a flash in the pan, at least his salary is falling on LAA's ledger more and more every day. The Yankees' third base solution, instead of adding either player, was ... nothing at all.

Moncada will certainly be susceptible to more peaks and valleys, whether or not the Yankees obtain him. But it doesn't hurt to call.