Yoan Moncada, White Sox Reportedly Agree to 5-Year, $70M Contract Extension

The Chicago White Sox have locked up another member of their young core, agreeing on a five-year, $70 million contract extension with Yoan Moncada on Thursday, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. 

The deal reportedly includes a club option for a sixth year and buys out two years of potential free agency for the third baseman and could stop him from hitting the open market until his age-31 season. 

The 24-year-old was acquired in the December 2016 Chris Sale trade with Boston. He slashed .315/.367/.548 with 25 home runs in 2019—a year after he led the league in strikeouts with 217. He joins Lucas Giolito, Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Tim Anderson and Yasmani Grandal among those under club control through at least the 2023 season in Chicago. 

Moncada's deal could increase to $90 million over six years if the club exercises its option. 

The pact helps solidify what the White Sox will look like for the better part of the coming decade. Robert and Jimenez are under club control through 2026. Dylan Cease and Anderson are under club control through 2025, and Michael Kopech's pact will last through 2024. Grandal, Dallas Keuchel, Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez will remain on the South Side through 2023. 

Among them, only Grandal (31), Keuchel (32) and Anderson (26) are older than 25. Prospects Andrew Vaughn and Nick Madrigal figure to join that core within the next few seasons. 

News of Moncada's extension comes as the Red Sox weigh Tommy John surgery for Sale, who was traded to Boston for Moncada, Kopech and Luis Alexander Basabe—each of whom are expected to figure prominently in Chicago's immediate future. 

Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA rankings—which err on the cautious side—project the White Sox will finish 2020 with 82.7 wins and finish third in the American League Central a year after they won 72 games. Still, general manager Rick Hahn clearly feels this team has all the tools it needs to compete for the pennant long term, especially as the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers continue to rebuild.

Only the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians stand in the way of a Sox team looking to end an 11-year playoff drought, and Cleveland has been trending downward since it fell to the Chicago Cubs in the 2016 World Series.