Yankees lose Yoan Moncada sweepstakes, angering parts of fanbase

The New York Yankees are ALWAYS expected to outbid their opponents for the best of the best players. Well, George Steinbrenner has been dead for several years now and it’s time some Yankees fans understand those days are long gone.

Moncada, a 19-year-old Cuban prospect, is loved by every scouting analyst there is. He projects to be a second or third baseman, but could land in the outfield as well. He’s built like a rock and just cost the Boston Red Sox $63 million ($31.5 million bonus and $31.5 million in international spending penalties). The deal was first reported by Jesse Sanchez via Twitter.

Source: Red Sox land Cuban prospect Yoan Moncada with record-setting bonus. http://t.co/nQ57ssXN4r
— Jesse Sanchez (@JesseSanchezMLB) February 23, 2015

Five seconds after the news broke, Yankees fans took to Twitter and lambasted general manager Brian Cashman and ownership for failing to secure Moncada, who the club tried out three separate times.

Before passing judgment on Yankees' brass, there are some items to reflect on here.

• Moncada might have liked what he saw with the Red Sox more than the Yankees despite the money.
• Maybe the Yankees just couldn’t wrap their heads around $63 million for a player who has never seen an MLB pitch.
• The Yanks are content with Rob Refsnyder as the heir apparent at second base, and have Chase Headley manning third for the next four seasons (at a cost of $52 million).
• The Yankees feel they've got some thump in their system already in guys like Aaron Judge.
• The Yankees simply had a ceiling. They offered $25 million and would have gone as far as $27 million according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post via Twitter.

#Yankees offered $25M with willingness to go to $27M which is same offered Jorge Soler who went to #Cubs for $30M
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) February 23, 2015

Jon Harper of the New York Daily News has a quote from Cashman which sums up the Yankees’ stance nicely.

Cashman: "You only have so much money to spend. We have massive financial commitments and when you make those you have to live with them.''
— John Harper (@NYDNHarper) February 23, 2015

It’s been an offseason where the Yankees made a conscious effort to turn the corner where it relates to spending their money. The club made many smaller investments this past July in international players, 10 of which fall into the top-30 of the class according to Baseball America. The team declined bidding on high profile free agents like Max Scherzer and Jon Lester and hope to make the most of first round and supplement round draft picks this June because of it.

The Yankees will spend money of course, but not in such a way that they feel deters them from the overall strategy. Like or not, this is the new Yankees' methodology.

Christopher Carelli is a freelance baseball writer and sports media strategist. Besides his work here, Christopher is a correspondent for FantasyPros, where he writes a weekly Closer Report column. His baseball commentary has also been published on Yahoo Sports, the FanSided network, Sportsideo and linked multiple times on MLB Trade Rumors’ Baseball Blogs Weigh In. He is a member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, the Baseball Bloggers Alliance and the BYB Hub.