San Diego Padres Miss Out on Signing Yoan Moncada

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Cuban star Yoan Moncada has made his decision. After playing the waiting game, the highly-coveted free agent infielder has signed with the Boston Red Sox. Several other teams had been rumored to win the bid on him including this winter’s biggest surprise, the San Diego Padres.

The Padres were one of the more aggressive teams this offseason trading for an entirely new outfield and catcher. They also made their splash in the free agent market by signing pitcher James Shields. Along with the usual suspects in the bigger markets, the Padres were one of the finalists for Moncada. As it turns out, San Diego was out of bullets.

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The Red Sox signing Moncada is a bit interesting considering their current roster. An infielder, there is currently no open position for Moncada to play. With Mike Napoli at first base, Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts up the middle, and Pablo Sandoval manning third it appears the Red Sox aren’t quite ready to write Moncada’s name on the lineup card.

Meanwhile, the Padres have an infield severely lacking in talent. From the projected starters in 2015, only Yangervis Solarte had a batting average above .250 last season. The Padres did absolutely nothing to address the lack of offense they’re receiving from the infield either. Had they signed Moncada, it would have been a step in the right direction rather than waiting for Jedd Gyorko to finally start hitting.

Vastly improved, it’s still a question as to whether or not the moves the Padres have made are good ones. Adding another big piece like Moncada would have defeated a few of those question marks and made it known to the world that the Padres are dead-serious about competing. The division rival Los Angeles Dodgers seem to have an unlimited budget and the San Francisco Giants aren’t far behind in getting what they need. For the Padres, it was a necessary move to go and get a new infielder who could one day become a star. They lost out on Moncada and are left with the usual bunch.

Considering Moncada is just 19, it’s a safe assumption that he’s not quite ready to play at the level of fellow Cubans like Jose Abreu or Yoenis Cespedes who went directly to the big league club. We may forget that even Yasiel Puig got his feet wet in the minor leagues. He would have done this in the Padres’ system, but will instead do it somewhere out east as he treks toward Boston.

If there’s any positive to take away from the Padres missing out on Moncada it’s that at least they proved they aren’t running the team like it’s fantasy baseball. Perhaps the Padres just felt that Moncada was not the right fit for the situation the team is in right now. Whatever it was to hold them back, they better just be glad he’s in another league on the opposite side of the country.

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