{"id":23063,"date":"2025-02-02T04:37:06","date_gmt":"2025-02-02T04:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=23063"},"modified":"2025-02-02T04:37:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T04:37:06","slug":"breaking-yankees-linked-to-former-top-prospect-to-fill-major-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=23063","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Yankees Linked to Former Top Prospect to Fill Major Need"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"c-content entry-content\">\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-1653676228-e1738438581758.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-1653676228-e1738438581758.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-1653676228-e1738438581758.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-1653676228-e1738438581758.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"New York Yankees\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"556\" data-dom-ready-time=\"572\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Yankees linked to Yoan Moncada.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/new-york-yankees\/\">New York Yankees<\/a>\u00a0have been linked to several infielders to fill a need at second or third base, depending on what position Jazz Chisholm Jr. plays.<\/p>\n<p>New York was linked to the likes of Ha-Seong Kim and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/new-york-yankees\/yankees-checked-in-jorge-polanco\/\">Jorge Polanco<\/a>\u00a0among others but both have signed elsewhere. Now, New York Post MLB reporter Mark W. Sanchez links the Yankees to Yoan Moncada to fill its need in the infield.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEarly in the offseason, the Yankees asked for and received medical information on Moncada, who played just 12 games with the White Sox last season because of an adductor strain,\u201d Sanchez\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/01\/31\/sports\/breaking-down-the-dwindling-infield-options-for-the-yankees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">wrote<\/a>. \u201cMoncada is expected to be ready for the start of spring training. A source said the Yankees have not re-engaged on Moncada, which could change when the domino that is Bregman and other infielders are taken off the board. The 29-year-old began brilliantly with Chicago but has struggled to stay on the field recently (averaging about 70 games per season in his past three) and struggled when on the field (.678 OPS in the span).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moncada battled injuries in 2024, as he played in just 12 games. But, if he is healthy, he could be an option to start at third base for the Yankees and compete with DJ LeMahieu for the job.<\/p>\n<p>Moncada\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/yoan-moncada-tops-2017-midseason-prospect-list-c244152682\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">was the top prospect in MLB in 2017<\/a>. However, he has failed to live up to that hype as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/player\/yoan-moncada-660162\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">he\u2019s hit just .254 while his career-high is 25 home runs and 79 RBIs<\/a> which he accomplished in 2019.<\/p>\n<h2>Yankees Linked to Former World Series Infielder<\/h2>\n<p>Along with Moncada, Sanchez links New York to Kike Hernandez.<\/p>\n<p>Hernandez won the World Series with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/los-angeles-dodgers\/\">Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> in 2020 and 2024. But, he\u2019s yet to re-sign and whether or not he will is to be seen. With that, Sanchez reports that the Yankees have checked in on Hernandez.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA source said the Yankees have inquired on Hernandez, whom they also asked about last winter,\u201d Sanchez wrote. \u201cThe 33-year-old utilityman is an October legend who stepped up his game again in helping the Dodgers win the World Series. But, (he) has been ordinary recently in the regular season, owning a .643 OPS from 2022-24. The most likely destination for Hernandez, though, is probably back in Los Angeles, and the Dodgers will have open roster spots when they are able to slide injured players to the 60-day injured list.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hernandez\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/player\/enrique-hernandez-571771\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">hit .229 with 12 home runs and 42 RBIs<\/a>\u00a0last season with the Dodgers.<\/p>\n<h2>Hal Steinbrenner Believes Team is Better<\/h2>\n<p>Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner thinks this Yankees roster is better than last year\u2019s that lost in the World Series.<\/p>\n<p>Despite New York losing Juan Soto, the Yankees made some pivotal moves which Steinbrenner is happy about.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re excited about (the offseason moves),\u201d Steinbrenner told\u00a0<a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/YESNetwork\/status\/1884400772323979547\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener external\" data-ylk=\"slk:YES Network\u2019s Meredith Marakovits;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"13\" data-v9y=\"1\">YES Network<\/a>. \u201cA lot of hard work in December into January. Some people may disagree with me. But some people will agree with me. I think we have a better team than we did a year ago today.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"AdThrive_Content_5_desktop\" class=\"adthrive-ad adthrive-content adthrive-content-5 adthrive-ad-cls\" data-google-query-id=\"\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/18190176,25816858\/AdThrive_Content_5\/5ad7479721520f50ab7da88e_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"google-ad-manager-fallback-container\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Yankees added Max Fried, Devin Williams, Cody Bellinger, and Paul Goldschmidt. Those moves have made the team better, Steinbrenner says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur starting rotation\u2019s better. Our defense is better. Bellinger and Goldschmidt, I think they\u2019ll make up for a good deal of Juan\u2019s offense.,\u201d Steinbrenner concluded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>getty Yankees linked to Yoan Moncada. The\u00a0New York Yankees\u00a0have been linked to several infielders to fill a need at second or third base, depending on what position&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Yankees Linked to Former Top Prospect to Fill Major Need - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=23063\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Yankees Linked to Former Top Prospect to Fill Major Need - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"getty Yankees linked to Yoan Moncada. 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