The New York Yankees were said to be one of the favorites to land Cuban prospect Yoan Moncada. Well, they were, but so were their rivals, the Boston Red Sox, who ultimately reeled in the 19-year-old with a $31.5 million deal.
Along with the Yankees and Red Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers were also in the mix as one of the top suitors for Moncada. In fact, one executive said recently that the Dodgers were willing to go as high as $40 million for the prospect, but that ended up not holding its validity. Yankees' general manager Brian Cashman disclosed how the team felt about Moncada as well as the offer they presented him with on Sunday.
"We scouted him extensively and obviously engaged with his agents," Cashman said via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. "We made our final and best [offer] yesterday and we were told that it wasn't going to be good enough. Obviously we were waiting to hear where he was going to be going. It sounds like he's going to Boston."
That offer from New York was said to be $25 million. The problem was that the Yankees - along with most of the other teams in the mix for Moncada - were subject to a 100% tax on the contract because they would have exceeded their bonus pools for the 2014-2015 signing period by 15%. This means the Yankees' offer to Moncada would have actually cost them $50 million. The Red Sox ended up paying a total of $63 million.
"I don't think anybody disagrees with the ability," Cashman added. "I would doubt there's any disagreement on the scouting assessment of the player. It just comes down to how much money you're willing to commit. As I said, we put our best foot forward yesterday. It was a significant offer, but it fell short of where he's rumored to have signed."
At one point it was believed the bidding for Moncada would reach $50 million, but one executive recently noted $30 million seemed to be the ceiling. After a relatively quiet offseason during which the Yankees only dished out two sizable contracts ($52 million for Chase Headley and $36 million for Andrew Miller), it's not too shocking they weren't willing to go above $50 million for a prospect who has little professional experience.
New York worked out Moncada three times during the offseason, but Cashman said he didn't feel confident when he submitted the team's offer to the prospect's representatives over the weekend.
Cashman added over $15 million worth of young international talent since the signing period began and made a number of trades to get the farm system more talented and younger this offseason, so he can't be too bummed about being unable to land Moncada.
