ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels finalized a $4 million, one-year contract on Monday to keep third baseman Yoán Moncada.
Moncada, who will be 31 in May, batted .234 with 12 homers, 35 RBIs and a .783 OPS over 84 games for Los Angeles last season. He was particularly effective at the plate with runners on base and at Angel Stadium.
Moncada fills a need at third base for the Angels, who don't expect to have Anthony Rendon in uniform for the final season of his disastrous $245 million, seven-year contract. Rendon has been injured for the majority of the past five seasons, and he didn't play at all in 2025 after hip surgery.
Moncada and Luis Rengifo split the job at third base last season for the Angels, with Moncada getting the majority of playing time when he was healthy. Moncada missed nearly half of last season with injuries to his right knee and right thumb.
Rengifo is an unsigned free agent after spending the past eight seasons with the Angels.
Moncada spent eight seasons with the Chicago White Sox before joining the Angels last year for a $5 million, one-year contract.
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FILE - Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Yoán Moncada runs to first base after hitting a double during the seventh inning of a baseball game agains the Kansas City Royals, Sept. 24, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration plans to deploy nearly $12 billion to create a strategic reserve of rare earth elements, a stockpile that could counter China's ability to use its dominance of these hard to process metals as leverage in trade talks.
The White House confirmed on Monday the start of “Project Vault,” which would initially be funded by a $10 billion loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank and nearly $1.67 billion in private capital. The minerals kept in the reserve would help to shield the manufacturers of autos, electronics and other goods from any supply chain disruptions.
During trade talks last year spurred by President Donald Trump's tariffs, the Chinese government restricted the exporting of rare earths that are needed for jet engines, radar systems, electric vehicles, laptops and phones.
China represents about 70% of the world’s rare earths mining and 90% of global rare earths processing. That gave it a chokehold on the sector that has caused the U.S. to nurture alternative sources of the elements, creating a stockpile similar to the national reserve for petroleum.
The strategic reserve is expected to be the highlight of a ministerial meeting on critical minerals that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will host at the State Department on Wednesday.
Vice President JD Vance plans to deliver a keynote address at the meeting, which officials from several dozen European, African and Asian nations plan to attend. The meeting is also expected to include the signing of several bilateral agreements to improve and coordinate supply chain logistics.
The State Department said in its statement announcing the meeting that the gathering “will create momentum for collaboration” among the participants to secure access to rare earths.
The government-backed loan funding the reserve would be for a period of 15 years. The U.S. government has previously taken stakes in the rare earths miner MP Materials, as well as providing financial backing to the companies Vulcan Elements and USA Rare Earth.
Bloomberg News was the first to report the creation of the rare earths strategic reserve.
Trump is scheduled on Monday to meet with General Motors CEO Mary Barra and mining industry billionaire Robert Friedland.
President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn upon his arrival to the White House, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
