Yoán Moncada has been ruled out for three to six months with a left adductor strain, meaning his career with the Chicago White Sox could be over.
Moncada is the third White Sox hitter to be injured while running toward first base in the first 11 games of a terrible season and the second to strain his left adductor thigh muscle. The three injured players were expected to be middle-of-the-order hitters for a World Series contender.
Few things went as planned.
It all started this year when Eloy Jiménez was left lame after hitting a ground ball against the Detroit Tigers on March 31. On April 5, Luis Robert limped after finishing first on a double.
The Sox waited five days but ultimately placed Jiménez on the 10-day injured list with a left adductor strain. There is no timetable for the oft-injured Jiménez’s return, but it could be fairly soon.
As for Robert, the team’s best player, he was placed on a 10-day IL due to a Grade 2 right hip flexor strain and is expected to miss six to eight weeks. A White Sox source said Athleticism they would wait to see how he responds to treatment before deciding whether Robert should take the 60 day IL. The White Sox recalled outfielder Oscar Colás to replace Moncada and infielder Lenyn Sosa to replace Robert on the active roster.
It wasn’t long ago that the trio was touted as the future of the White Sox as the organization embarked on a bold rebuild aimed at emulating the crosstown Cubs’ run to the 2016 World Series. didn’t work out, resulting in only quick playoff exits in 2020 and 2021 and then a fall to the bottom of the AL. Moncada, Jiménez and Robert played together in less than 30 percent of the team’s games due to various injuries. The team’s fortunes suffered with them.
According to According to a study conducted on February 19, the trio of Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert Jr. and Yoan Moncada had played together in 158 of 546 games since Robert Jr.’s 2020 debut and the start of the 2024 season. played together in the first 3 in 2024.
-Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) April 10, 2024
Last season, the two executives in charge of baseball operations, Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn, were fired and replaced by farm manager and former Sox infielder Chris Getz, who is now the general manager of another reconstruction.
The Sox were expected to be bad this season, but they only won two of their first 11 games and were shut out four times. Before a 7-5 win at Cleveland on Tuesday, they had scored just 16 points in 10 games.
Tuesday’s game could have been the end of Moncada’s Sox career. A former top prospect in baseball, the Cuban native left the Boston Red Sox as part of the Chris Sale trade during the 2016 Winter Meetings.
After a strong 2019 season, Moncada signed a five-year, $70 million extension a week before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world. He hasn’t produced much since and only played in 104 games in 2022 and 92 last season. He has a $25 million club option (with a $5 million buyout) next year.
As for the White Sox, they could possibly set the franchise record for losses in a season, which currently belongs to the 1970 team that went 56-106. Last year, the team lost 101 games, which was the third-worst mark in the team’s long history.
(Moncada Photo: Jason Miller/Getty Images)