I wouldn’t have written this article except for this report that was posted Sunday:

I don’t know how reliable Francys Romero is as a reporter, but since this is now out there, let’s examine whether Yoán Moncada would be a fit for the Cubs.

Let me get this out of the way right now. I wouldn’t do this. Moncada has had two really good MLB seasons for the White Sox. First, in 2019 he batted .315/.367/.548 with 25 home runs and got some downballot MVP votes while posting 5.2 bWAR. Then, in 2021 he posted a 4.0 bWAR season even while his numbers declined to .263/.375/.412 with 14 home runs.

Since 2021 he’s been mostly… injured. He played in just 104 games in 2022, 92 in 2023 and 12 in 2024. Yes, that’s right — 12 games. Moncada was injured running out this ground ball Apr. 9 vs. the Guardians [VIDEO].

It turned out to be a left adductor strain and he missed basically the rest of the season, coming back in a long extra-inning game Sept. 18 vs. the Angels, entering as a pinch-runner, then remaining in the game and striking out with the bases loaded in the 13th inning, after which the Sox lost 4-3. After that he was shut down.

Then he played six winter ball games in Puerto Rico, going 5-for-20, and then got hurt again:

As you see, that was dated almost three weeks ago and no, Moncada did not sign a deal with a MLB team “in the coming days.”

The injury history would make me stay far away from anything more than a “prove it” one-year deal with a huge number of incentives. Sure, if Moncada is the 2019 version — or even the 2021 version — that’s a pretty good player. Odds are that he’s not. So I’d say no. Perhaps you disagree. He does grade as around an average defender.

The funniest part about Moncada’s 2024 season is that he batted .275/.356/.400 (11-for-40) with three doubles and a triple in the 12 games he played in. That was worth 0.3 bWAR. That was the second-best bWAR figure for any White Sox player for the entire 2024 season. Only Luis Robert Jr. (1.4) did better.

White Sox jokes aside, would you do this? I wouldn’t. And one thing’s for sure: If the Cubs did wind up signing him… he’d have to change that number.