I dunno. It just doesn't seem likely, considering that it took them a bit of arm-waving just to go a little bit over-budget to sign Erv last year . . . and that was with a likely compensation pick to be had.
I'm interested to read all of these scenarios and outside-the-box musings, but ultimately I think we're talking about feasibility versus likelihood. Could we sign Moncada? Sure. Maffei could find the MLB tax money in his unicorn-skin couch cushions. Are we gonna? I seriously doubt it. Will we be a legit player on the int'l market going forward? Signs point to yes.
Since you brought up Heyward/Upton . . . assume for a sec that the team had the cash to go 20% over the stated budget in 2015, but lacked the inclination. If they weren't willing to do it for a known commodity, how likely is it that they'd do it for a teenager who hasn't yet stepped between the lines, and comes with a $40M invoice from MLB? How much does Liberty trust the FO? How likely is it that the investment is going to earn out? It just doesn't seem to track with what we know about this franchise.
I certainly won't disagree that it would signal a significant change in organizational strategy, but isn't that what we've all been watching unfold daily since the day Heyward was dealt? I'm not about to cite any sources or act as if I have information that others aren't privy to - the whole basis for my argument is as much to play devil's advocate as anything else. The point is that it's pretty ridiculous to simply dismiss the possibility out of hand because Moncada ISN'T Jason or Justin. As ramadon pointed out, the money isn't the issue, period. If you think your accountant and/or financial advisor has found you has found you some pretty nice returns over the years, they haven't begun to find the places Liberty's beancounters have already used and moved on from.
DirecTV ended 2013 with +/- 20,250,000 subscribers. Assuming all 170,000 new subscribers (20,080,000 at the end of 2012) ONLY signed up for the minimum package ($19.99/month) and the standard 2 year contract, Liberty's MINIMUM 2013 subscription revenues and contracts increased $3,398,300/month which equals $81,559,200 over the 2 year period. If ONLY 170,000 people in Cuba signed up for basic DirecTV so they could access MLB.TV to see the new players coming over in the next two years, you could argue that Moncada's reported price pays for itself. You definitely can't make that claim in any debate about the merits of extending Heyward or Upton.
MLB Advanced Media saw around $250 million in 2012 content subscriptions and was growing at roughly 25%-27% per year. Using the low end of that growth rate, those revenues should be ~$390,625,000 for 2014. All 30 teams receive an EQUAL CUT of that - the Braves cut of that would be $13,020,833 last season alone (effectively clearing Uggla's money from this year's payroll).
Just as the more statistically inclined crowd continues to come up with metrics that can apparently explain everything that happens on a baseball field. it's pretty easy for me to sit here and point out that an $80 million investment in Moncada provides substantially less risk than tossing $200 million at Jason or Justin - Justin might be the safest bet of the three to be that second franchise player to pair with Freddie, but when you look at the potential return without even attaching merchandise revenues the MINIMUM investment in that gamble is substantially higher than the total investment in Moncada (who provides you more chances to minimize that risk considering the opportunity to tap into a largely new market entirely).
