Moncada Changes Red Sox System in Many Ways

By Marisa Ingemi | Feb 24, 2015

The Boston Red Sox better hope they hit a home run with the signing of 19-year old Cuban prospect Yoan Moncada. After spending $31.5 million on the signing bonus for the shortstop, Boston was forced to put up 100 percent of the signing with a luxury tax. That means it cost around $63 million for Moncada.

The Red Sox also will be unable to sign any International free agent for more than $300K for the next two seasons thanks to expending their entire luxury tax.

And Moncada still won’t be a part of the team for likely two years.

Moncada is now ranked the tenth prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America and also the top prospect in the Boston system. He was projected to sign with either the New York Yankees or the Los Angeles Dodgers before it seems like the Red Sox jumped into the hunt.

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The switch hitter has been compared to Robinson Cano at the plate and Jose Iglesias in the field. He has arguably been the most sought after Cuban free agent since Yasmany Tomas signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this off season.

The problem with Moncada that has many Red Sox observers concerned is if he will be blocked. Boston has committed to Dustin Pedroia long term at second base and Xander Bogaerts is supposedly the shortstop of the future. Meanwhile, they signed Pablo Sandoval to a five year deal to play third base.

One projection could be moving the Panda to first base if they decide not to re-sign Mike Napoli after this season. They have projected Garin Cecchini as the third baseman of the future, but the signing of Moncada could possibly mean there is room to trade Cecchini.

There is the possibility of Moncada playing the outfield as well, yet the Red Sox outfield seems even more stacked. Hanley Ramirez was signed for four years, along with Rusney Castillo, another Cuban who was signed for seven years. Mookie Betts is projected to be a starting outfielder as well.

Shane Victorino will likely not be with the team after this year due to being a free agent, but still, this creates a potential outfield situation in 2016 if Boston decides this is the spot for Moncada.

One idea behind the reasoning of this signing has been a trade. Going into 2015 the Red Sox have a gaping hole at the front of their rotation, and they’ve been connected to several pitchers on the trade market. Does Moncada’s presence open the door for a trade?

Certainly Cecchini is blocked right now for the foreseeable future and could be a trade chip. Betts has been connected as well, though it seems unlikely that they would move him before this season.

This also almost definitely means Jackie Bradley Jr is not in any of the team’s future plans. If he has any value anymore, they’d look to trade him. This could also be the case for Allen Craig who has four years left on his team-friendly deal and it already looked like he didn’t have a spot on the team.

Deven Marrero also doesn’t have any spot moving forward and he was the next best shortstop prospect in the system. He’s a slick fielding but weak hitting player, but there have been calls about him to general manager Ben Cherington and he could be on the market.

It’s unclear how the Red Sox will want to groom Moncada, but they have Marrero and Cecchini in their positions with Triple A Pawtucket and a weak second baseman in Jemile Weeks, so he might end up there to start.

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