As things stand, it’s getting ever-more difficult for the Red Sox to make a legitimate push to the MLB playoffs this season, with two losses to the Astros to open the current homestand pushing them 2.5 games out of the wild-card chase. Still, this is a team that has a good core of position players going forward, though it stands to reason that one player does not quite fit.
That’s the one guy the Red Sox have spent significant money to bring in—Japanese slugger Masataka Yoshida, who has not quite been the slugger he was advertised to be. He has picked up his production lately though, and is up to seven homers with a .279 average and a .349 on-base percentage.
Since June 30, he is batting .323 with a .888 OPS.
But the fact that Yoshida does not really have a place in the Boston outfield, which is the only position he’s qualified to play, makes him fairly useless to the Red Sox going forward. Masataka played in the outfield last year, and the Red Sox were not impressed. He has been a DH in every game he has played in 2024, with the exception of one inning in left field.
At Bleacher Report, they’re tabbing Yoshida as the guy the Red Sox will most likely seek to trade this year.
Masataka Yoshida Was on the Block Last Winter
Yoshida is one of two disappointments the Red Sox have brought on in recent years, disappointments they’d like to be rid of. Trevor Story, who has played just 145 games in three seasons with the Red Sox, because of injuries, is the other. The Red Sox would not mind moving Story, but Yoshida is the more realistic option, even if he, too, is almost impossible to trade.
In an article titled, “1 MLB Player From Each Team Most Likely to Be Traded in 2024-25 Offseason,” B/R’s Zachary Rymer tabbed Yoshida as the prime candidate.
“It was tempting to ponder a trade of Trevor Story, but the notion of another team taking on the back half of his six-year, $140 million contract is too preposterous to present as a serious idea,” Rymer wrote.
“With Yoshida, at least we know Boston was willing to trade him last winter. And while his own contract isn’t cheap, he’s owed $55.8 million after 2024 compared to $80 million for Story.”
Red Sox Signing Was Bizarre From the Start
The challenge, though, would be to find a taker for Yoshida, who has been a head-scratcher since he was first brought to Boston. In the wake of the Red Sox’s signing of Yoshida in 2022, ESPN reporter Kiley McDaniel reported that around MLB responses from front-office types went like this:
“Nothing,” replied one international scouting director.
“Overpay for me … too rich imo,” from another scouting director.
A third exec: “I have no idea.”
A fourth: “Nothing … I wish they and him luck.”
A fifth: “We thought he was worth less than half of what they paid.”
And a sixth added, “I have no words.”
It was with that in mind that former MLB GM Jim Bowden wrote ahead of the trade deadline that there was no way Boston would be able to move Yoshida.
Wrote Bowden: “The Red Sox have committed $90 million to Yoshida through 2027 and with that contract, he’s not tradable, even if they pay a significant amount of the remaining balance. He’s a below-average defender with not much power or speed. His best qualities are that he makes contact, gets on base and rarely strikes out.
“But he does very little offensive damage, certainly not enough for teams to want him as their full-time designated hitter. In short, I don’t see him going anywhere.”
