The wait is now over. Cuba's top prospect has been cleared by Major League Baseball to sign with a team after he presented the proper paperwork to the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, Yoan Moncada is now officially a free agent after the MLB changed its rules regarding the clearance of Cuban players. Passan also mentioned the favorites to land the 19-year-old prospect are still the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. A number of other teams are interested as well, but Moncada is expected to land a $30 million to $40 million contract, which could take others out of the running if the bidding gets intense.
Moncada experienced a delay in his clearance process because the MLB is now requiring Cuban players (ever since June 2012) to obtain a specific unblocking license, which is a written document, as opposed to the previously accepted general unblocking license that was simply a status given by the OFAC. General licenses were given to Cuban players who submitted the proper documents that proved permanent residency outside of Cuba. Under these guidelines, the government considers the applicant unblocked.
However, the league was keeping Moncada from gaining official free-agent status because the specific license takes a bit longer to receive. "Through the specific license, if a player uses false residency papers and OFAC were able to discover that, those who submitted false documents to the government could face federal felony charges," writes Ben Badler of Baseball America. Due to the recent influx of Cuban players, the MLB is likely trying to take every precaution possible.
But the MLB changed its rules on Tuesday, which officially cleared Moncada.
"Players who present sworn affidavits to Major League Baseball stating they are residents of another country, have no intention of returning to Cuba and are not Cuban government officials can sign with major league teams immediately, sources said. MLB distributed a memo to teams Tuesday afternoon outlining the changes," writes Passan. Moncada's sworn affidavit seems to be enough for the league to be comfortable with.
Moncada has already conducted a number of private workouts with interested teams this offseason, but he still has a number of workouts scheduled through the month of February and will meet again with the top suitors.
We'll be keeping an eye on Moncada in the coming weeks.
