Yankees Could Answer Left Field Questions With This Japanese Star
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The Yankees don't have too many options internally when it comes to a starting left fielder for the 2023 season.
Aaron Hicks is under contract, set to make more than $10 million in 2023. With Hicks' recent production and injury history in mind, the 33-year-old starting in left on Opening Day feels like a worst-case scenario.
Phenom Oswaldo Cabrera is another possibility, a switch-hitting prospect that showed he's capable of performing in the outfield during his first taste of big-league action this summer. Then again, Cabrera rose through the farm system as an infielder. Do the Yankees want to move him to the outfield on a full-time basis going forward?
In other words, New York's best chance to start the season with a top-tier asset in left field is to attack free agency. They can always bring Andrew Benintendi back, but the rental from this summer's trade deadline might land elsewhere on the open market.
Perhaps the solution to these questions for New York is to expand their search, considering an option that's poised to make the transition from Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball this winter.
Japanese outfielder Masataka Yoshida is likely to be posted by the Orix Buffaloes over the next two weeks, per MLB insider Jon Morosi.
Morosi also reported this week that the Yankees are a potential suitor for Yoshida, a left-handed hitter that turns 30 next July.
Over seven seasons with Orix, Yoshida slashed .326/.419/.538. In 2022, the lefty hit .335/.447/.561 with 21 homers, 80 walks and 41 strikeouts. His 1.007 OPS in 2022 is a career-high and those 41 strikeouts came in 515 plate appearances.
Regardless of what happens with Aaron Judge in free agency this winter, New York would benefit from another left-handed hitter, a player that can provide balance to this club's high-octane lineup. Yoshida makes contact and has some pop—he hit 29 home runs during his age-25 season in 2019—a lefty that would undoubtedly benefit from Yankee Stadium's short porch to his pull side.
According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, who spoke to executives, agents and two former major leaguers who crossed paths with the star in Japan, Yoshida isn't viewed as an elite defender. Beyond his incredible bat-to-ball skills and high ceiling on offense, the outfielder "is not much of a baserunner or corner-outfield defender," Sherman wrote.
That's something for the Yankees to consider, especially when left field is a challenging position to play in the Bronx. New York took a huge step forward on that side of the ball in 2022. They won't want to regress next season.
Still, Yoshida profiles as a solid and intriguing fit, the type of hitter that could either provide a spark at the top of the lineup or make the bottom half even tougher to navigate for opposing pitchers.
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- What Luis Severino's Return Next Season Means For Yankees' Rotation
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