Should I Stay or Should I Go: Yoán Moncada

fWAR: 0.9
bWAR: 1.0
WARP: 0.1

He should stay At the height of his powers, Yo-Yo is a game-changer. Typically a source of 30+ doubles, double-digit home runs, good base-running, and dependable on-base skills. Though he only once produced the sort of season befitting a former No. 1 overall prospect, he has developed into one of the better defenders in the game at third base and generally has produced enough offense to be relevant. He still has a potential ceiling of a superstar, even if that ceiling seems to be increasingly elusive.

He should go A Rick Hahn extension that is not aging well, Moncada has looked physically depleted for so long now that it’s easy to forget what a dynamic player he was in 2019. With two years and $42.6 million remaining on his contract (plus a $5 million buyout on a 2025 option), the team can ill-afford to wait for a healthy Moncada to show up again, if such a thing even exists any longer.

The verdict As is the case with several White Sox incumbents, Moncada provides the allure of elite production with a poor recent history of health and a salary that is bloating well beyond “value” status. Naturally, the recent results and high dollar amount makes a trade unlikely without eating a significant amount of money (in which case, what’s the point?) and/or getting next to nothing in return (or, like the Kimbrel trade last year, a similarly risky/expensive/damaged player). If the team could just salary-dump Moncada and commit that money to another player, that’d be great, but any trade partner would probably just target that same other player instead, anyhow. Maybe one of these days the team will actually make a significant effort to keep players healthy by, I dunno, making wholesale changes to their training staff or something, but what do I know? Regardless, the team will probably have to gamble on Moncada’s upside at an ever-increasing buy-in.