What is Going on with the Boston Red Sox and Masataka Yoshida?
Masataka Yoshida is sitting again for the Boston Red Sox on Thursday afternoon against the Cleveland Guardians, marking the third straight game that he's sat. For a player who is making $18 million a season, what exactly is going on?
When the Boston Red Sox play the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday, Masataka Yoshida won't be in the lineup once again. This will mark the third straight game that Yoshida hasn't started and he has started only two games since April 17th.
On Wednesday, manager Alex Cora got testy with the media about Yoshida's role and insisted that he would be playing on Thursday, but he's not. Rafael Devers is once again serving as the designated hitter.
From Ian Browne of MLB.com on Wednesday:
...Alex Cora said the following:
“He’s an everyday DH, man. I don’t know what the big deal is. O'Neill had to DH yesterday. Raffy had to DH today. He’ll DH tomorrow. I don’t get it. It just happens that TO came out of the IL and Raffy can’t play third today. So he’s not DH-ing. Our outfield is O’Neill, Abreu and Duran. Yesterday and today, he was ready to play but we can’t play him. How do you see it?”
“Honestly, that one bothers me because it's very simple. If you look at the lineup and where we’re at roster-wise, I cannot have two DH’s. I wish. I wish I had three. Sorry about that. That one, I don’t know the angle or what we’re trying to accomplish here. But for me, I'm very fair with you guys as far as like being honest, and letting you guys know what's happened in the clubhouse and that one, it’s throwing me off, to be honest with you.”
Well, let's examine all of the issues here:
1) There clearly is an issue with Yoshida's defensive ability. That's painfully obvious. He's played one inning of defense this year and even with all the roster shuffling because of injuries, they'd rather put him on the bench than play him in left field. They are playing Jarren Duran in CF, Wilyer Abreu in RF and Rob Refsnyder in LF. Refsnyder is typically a guy who plays against left-handed pitchers, but is starting against a righty on Thursday.
2) Yoshida is making $18 million a year. He had $72 million left on his contract heading into this season. On one hand, you applaud a team not being beholden to a guys money, but on the other hand, we are four weeks into the season. Yoshida is also hitting .250 with two homers and 10 RBI. He isn't hitting .050. Could he be better right now? Sure. But he's a useful player who hit .289 last season in his first season in the big leagues. Can't a team that's missing Triston Casas and Trevor Story find a way to get his bat in the lineup at that price?
3) This all points to a poorly constructed roster in the offseason. This team has a glut of outfield types. Yoshida, Refsnyder, Duran, Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, Tyler O'Neill. Do they really need six outfielders on this roster? Should they have traded Yoshida this offseason? Refsnyder? Duran?
4) This team has completely cratered any trade value that Yoshida has. If you truly want to open up the DH spot and make the roster more flexible, the quickest path is to move him. But how can you move a guy with $72 million remaining who you won't play? If the Sox were to move Yoshida, they'd have to eat significant money to do it, and for a front office that seems to value every dollar these days, I can't be paying $50-ish million (probably) for a guy not on my roster.
5) Hopefully when everyone is fully healthy, Yoshida can stick as the full-time DH with Devers at third, Rafaela at SS and Vaughn Grissom at second base, but we aren't there yet.
The Red Sox play the Guardians on Thursday at 1:10 p.m. ET.
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