REPORT: Angels Bring Back Yoán Moncada on a 1-Year Deal
January 22, 2026 - Written by Alex Sukyas
Yoán Moncada’s sweet left-handed swing will return in 2026 💥
— SleeperAngels (@SleeperAngels) January 22, 2026
pic.twitter.com/XSmMrtXcuB
Entering his age-31 season, third baseman Yoán Moncada is set to return to the Angels on a one-year, $4 million deal. Last season, Moncada was rather disappointing after signing a 1 Year, $5 million contract with the Angels late in the offseason last year. When I say “disappointing”, I don’t mean performance-wise. He was disappointing in the context that he had an injury-riddled season in 2025, only playing 84 games, or just over half the season. In those 84 games, Moncada batted .234 with 12 HRs and 35 RBIs. Defensively, he was underwhelming. According to Baseball Savant, Moncada had a run value of -9 when fielding, which is his second-worst year defensively in the majors, only following a -13 run value season in 2018 with the White Sox.
What does this mean for the rest of the offseason?
Moncada re-signing could mean one of two things when it comes to the rest of the offseason. First thing is this completes the infield for the 2026 season. In this scenario, Moncada would start at 3B with guys like Vaughn Grissom and Oswald Peraza backing him up. The rest of the infield is looking to be Nolan Schanuel at 1st Base, Christian Moore at 2nd Base, and Zach Neto at Shortstop with their respective backups. Now, if the Angels were to pursue any other names in free agency or the trade market, the best guess would be that they would pursue a Starting Pitcher, or maybe another relief pitcher to round off the bullpen.
The second thing that this could mean is that Moncada is intended to be a set up move for a different big-name free agent, such as 3B Eugenio Suarez, who had 49 HRs total with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners. In this case, Moncada would backup whoever the Angels may sign or have the two rotate between games. While this is always possible, it is safer to assume the Angels will end up going with scenario one and focus on pitching for the remainder of the offseason, in which pitching was a huge struggle for the team in 2025.
Overall, the Moncada contract is a solid one, it doesn’t seem too much of an overpay or an underpay. The biggest takeaway from this signing is what the Angels will do next, if they do anything at all.
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