Say hey, baseball: Yoan Moncada has signed with the Red Sox

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[Update 9:30 am] The Red Sox are the winners of the Yoan Moncada sweepstakes after signing him to a deal in the $30 million range.

The Yoan Moncada free agent situation appears to be on schedule, as his private workouts have ended, spring training is just getting going, and the plan is to have him sign as soon as possible. That might even mean Monday, according to his agent, and while we don’t know who is inevitably going to agree to terms with the 19-year-old Cuban infielder, we do know who the favorites are: the Yankees, Red Sox, and the Padres. That’s right: the Dodgers don’t seem to be one of the top destinations at the moment, in spite of their overflowing wallets.

If you’ve been following the Moncada process, you might remember that the Dodgers were torn between blowing everyone out of the water for Moncada, or avoiding him so they could still have access to the international talent of the next two years. Moncada is part of the international free agent class, subject to its bonus rules, so anyone who signs him is going to have to pay a 100 percent tax on his salary and eschew bonuses of over $300,000 to any international free agents for the next two signing periods, which are about 11 months long each. The Yankees, Red Sox, and others have already gone past these limits, so adding Moncada to their rule-bending makes all kinds of sense. The Dodgers have not, though, so they are debating whether Moncada is preferable to what amounts to free reign over the international market for one of the next two years.

The Red Sox are serious enough in their negotiations that they sent Cuban great Luis Tiant to be their Moncada emissary, while the Yankees pulled Orlando Hernandez from their own Cuban history. All this seriousness might not translate into the $40-50 million salary Moncada was expecting, though: Jon Heyman is reporting that something north of $20 million might be more likely, as Moncada is, after all, still just a 19-year-old prospect.