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Schmeelk: Yankees Made Big Mistake By Not Signing Yoan Moncada

By John Schmeelk
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On Monday, the Yankees let a potential superstar slip through their fingers.

The Red Sox did not.

Switch-hitting Cuban sensation Yoan Moncada, just 19, will be playing his future home games at Fenway Park -- not Yankees Stadium -- for no other reason than the Yankees reportedly did not want to spend an extra $9 million.

In recent years, a new narrative has been forming around the Yankees and the evaporation of their financial advantage over the rest of baseball. Whether it was an unsuccessful attempt to get under the luxury tax or declining to re-sign Robinson Cano, the blank checkbook appeared to many to be a thing of the past.

But there was never anything wrong with financial prudence in many of those cases. Getting under the luxury tax would have had great benefits down the road, and it allowed more financial flexibility in future years.

Cano, under his new deal with Seattle, is going to be making $20 million a year when he is near 40. Is Max Scherzer still going to be a dominant pitcher in two years? Look at how quickly Justin Verlander and CC Sabathia got old and became financial albatrosses. There were good, baseball reasons not to spend money in those situations. I don't see one with Moncada.

Moncada is in the same category as Masahiro Tanaka: an exception that comes along very rarely that must be taken advantage of. Most talent evaluators believe that if Moncada was draft eligible, he would be in the conversation for the No. 1 pick in this year's draft. The Yankees will likely never have the opportunity to pick so high in the draft and get a player with the talent that Moncada has.

These are the players who have been taken first overall in the Major League Baseball amateur draft, starting in 2011 and working backwards to 1999: Gerrit Cole, Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, Tim Beckham, David Price, Luke Hochevar, Justin Upton, Matt Bush, Delmon Young, Bryan Bullington, Joe Mauer, Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Hamilton.

There are misses in there, but there are also a number of superstars and franchise players. Because the Yankees always compete for the playoffs, they are never in a position to acquire young talent of that caliber via the draft. Moncada was their chance to do so.

Smaller-market teams are now able to hold onto their franchise players a lot longer than they used to be able to, and the Yankees will never be able to flex their financial muscles to get guys like Mike Trout, Strasburg, Giancarlo Stanton or Andrew McCutchen. This was an opportunity to get a potential franchise player, and the Yankees passed because of $9 million.

Moncada's talent is unquestioned, and he would have immediately bolstered a mediocre Yankees farm system that desperately needs a jolt. That bonus money would not count against the Yankees' salary number, and would get them a high-end player that they would control for years to come at a reasonable yearly salary. The Yankees might not have access to that type of player ever again, especially if international players soon become part of the draft process.

There are certainly risks to giving a $27 million bonus -- which would have become $54 million due to rules regarding the international signings of young, inexperienced prospects -- to a player who hasn't accomplished anything on a professional stage. But getting Moncada was a unique opportunity that will not present itself again. Even if he has to be seasoned in the minors for a couple of years, this is an investment that very likely would have paid major dividends down the road. This was a financial decision and nothing else.

It is fair to ask if the Yankees would have outbid the Red Sox's $31.5 million offer for Moncada if they weren't stuck with the long-term contracts of Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. Committing to long-term contracts to players in their early thirties -- or even late twenties -- is inherently risky, and it just cost the Yankees one of the top young prospects in the world. If Moncada is an All-Star at age 22 in three years, the $60 million bonus will look like a bargain.

The Yankees signed Chase Headley to a $50 million contract this offseason that counts against their luxury-tax number. He has hit 15 home runs in a season once, has driven in 65 runs once and has had a slugging percentage higher than .400 only twice. If the Yankees have kept Martin Prado and signed Moncada, they would be in a much better place from an organizational standpoint than they are today. It is extremely hard to argue that Headley was a more prudent use of Hal Steinbrenner's money.

Brian Cashman made a mistake on Monday, one that he might regret in a big way in a few years. Or Moncada might not pan out, and Cashman will look smart.

But this was a risk worth taking.

You can follow me on Twitter @Schmeelk for everything Knicks, Giants and Yankees.  

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