Angels may already regret trusting Yoan Moncada (again)

The Los Angeles Angels decided to bring back Yoan Moncada on a one-year deal after he had a decent 2025 campaign with the club, but they might already regret trusting the veteran, given the way he looks so far in spring training.

It has been a struggle so far for Moncada as he has yet to record a hit in Cactus League play and has struck out in four of his first seven plate appearances. It is still incredibly early, so there is no need to pull the alarm just yet, but no matter how he does in Arizona, there are still some serious questions about him heading into the 2026 regular season.

Angels may already have some buyers' remorse with Yoan Moncada

Last season, Moncada's first with the Halos after many years with the Chicago White Sox, was not great, but not dreadful either. He slashed .234/.336/.448 with 12 home runs and 35 runs batted in across 84 games. He dealt with some injuries, so those numbers are respectable and were enough to convince the Angels to bring him back on a fairly affordable deal to be their third baseman.

The Angels may have to start looking ahead to the future, though, especially with the state of the team as it is. The Angels are probably not going to be real contenders anytime soon, so they may be better served looking at some younger options who could potentially have a chance to blossom into solid full-time players if given the opportunity.

Moncada is now 30, and at this point, he is not going to improve appreciably. He had a couple of really strong seasons in Chicago, but he was inconsistent, going from being worth 5 and 4 WAR in 2019 and 2021, respectively, to worth 0.9 WAR in 2022.

He's not going to be part of whatever the next core of winning Angels baseball looks like, so even if he has another slightly above-average season, the Angels are just kicking the can down the road rather than finding out if they have a solid young player on their hands.

The Angels may be realizing this, which is why it is not too shocking that Christian Moore is getting some reps at third base. Moore should get some playing time either at second base or third base this season, so if Moncada is not cutting it then do not be surprised if Moore or other younger options get some opportunities at the hot corner.