Masataka Yoshida is in the fourth year of the five-year, $90 million contract with the Red Sox. Perhaps he and the money he’s owed will get moved as part of a larger transaction in the next few weeks, but either way, it feels like we’re approaching a point where a decision has to be made about his future with the club. Here’s a handful of other items to consider:
1) Yoshida has stunk at the plate since Roman Anthony’s injury opened up about as much consistent playing time as he could possibly get
on this roster given the huge outfield and DH logjam. Since Anthony went on the IL a little over a month ago at the end of the Detroit series, Yoshida is batting .181 with a .528 OPS.
2) It’s been noted before, but Yoshida also can’t field, can’t throw, isn’t a fast baserunner, and will turn 33 next month, so if he’s also not going to hit, what exactly is there for him to do on this roster?
3) Yoshida’s OPS has gotten worse every single season:
- .783 in 2023
- .764 in 2024
- .696 in 2025
- .652 in 2026
4) Early this week, the Red Sox called up Nate Eaton, who splits the majority of his playing time between the outfield and DH. This means we have yet another guy who plugs into the OF/DH logjam; and on top of that, Eaton is right handed, so replacing Yoshida with his bat would give some desperately needed balance to the lineup.
5) A week ago, Buster Olney reported that the Red Sox were willing to take on a bad contract to get get a right handed bat. So what if they didn’t like any of their options and decided the best version of that for the time being was to just eat the rest of Yoshida’s bad contract and put Nate Eaton in there?
The bottom line is this: Yoshida is an aging player who,while excellent in Japan, isn’t coming down from a very high place here even when he was half decent in 2023 and 2024. This means he doesn’t fit on this roster whether you believe the Red Sox should still be pushing for the third Wild Card in 2026, or if you believe they should sell everything not nailed down to the floor. He’s unproductive right now, and there’s no long-term upside in the future.
This one hurts, because by all accounts Yoshida seems like a lovely human being off the field, and is one of the few guys on this team who has the composure to handle a high leverage at bat on it. But this season is supposed to hurt. You don’t get twelve games under .500 without consequences reaching all corners of the clubhouse, and for Yoshida, the clock appears to be ticking.
