Red Sox roster: What is Masataka Yoshida’s future with club?

There are a lot of good reasons why Masataka Yoshida will probably return to the Red Sox in 2025. There are also plenty of compelling reasons why the Red Sox would be justified in moving on.

Figuring out how, or if, he fits into the puzzle will be among the biggest orders of business for chief baseball officer Craig Breslow this offseason.

When the Red Sox signed Yoshida to a five-year, $90 million deal prior to the 2023 season, the club envisioned the Japanese standout as an impact bat who could provide a rare combination of power and plate discipline at the top of the order for years to come. What they’ve gotten so far is a solid big league contributor who has batted .285 with a .775 OPS through two seasons, but whose overall abilities have proven limited.

It wouldn’t be fair to call Yoshida a bust, but the Red Sox haven’t really gotten their money’s worth either.

Yoshida has proven to be a good contact hitter, especially against right-handed pitchers. This past summer he batted .299 from July 2 onwards despite grinding through a shoulder injury that necessitated offseason surgery, and on July 5 he came through with one of the most memorable hits of the season, a two-run, game-tying home run off Clay Holmes at Yankee Stadium with the Red Sox down to their last strike.

“I think we saw at his best a guy who can really hit, who can control an at-bat, a guy who is capable of getting on base in a number of different ways, doesn’t chase, doesn’t swing and miss, and there was a stretch where he was arguably the best hitter on the team,” Breslow told the Herald in a recent interview. “I think there’s a number of ways we can be creative in moving pieces around and positional versatility elsewhere helps that, but he’s certainly a guy we’re going to count on to be a big part of the offense.”

Yoshida’s overall production was hampered by the thumb strain that landed him on the IL for six weeks and the shoulder injury that plagued him all year long, but even factoring in those setbacks, there have still been reason for concern.

For one, he’s batted just .239 in his career against lefties (vs. .300 against righties), which has contributed to the club’s heavily left-handed leaning lineup’s struggles against lefty pitchers. He was also rated as one of the worst defensive outfielders his first season in the majors, prompting the club to shift him into a full-time designated hitter role this past season.

With too many other superior defensive outfielders on the roster to justify playing him in the field, Yoshida has become something akin to a square peg in a round hole on this Red Sox roster. Whenever manager Alex Cora needed to use the DH spot for someone else, Yoshida found himself relegated to the bench, and late in the season when a lefty was on the mound, Yoshida was often out of the lineup in a pinch-hitter role.

Essentially, one of Boston’s highest-paid players has become a platoon DH with limited power.

For the Red Sox to achieve their stated goal of balancing the lineup, the most straightforward solution would be to move on from Yoshida and replace him with right-handed power bat. The problem is Yoshida might be the most difficult player on the roster to move. He still has three years and approximately $54 million remaining on his contract, and earlier this month he underwent a right shoulder labral repair that will require most, if not all, of the offseason to rehab.

That’s not a combination other clubs are likely to find appealing, but that doesn’t mean a trade couldn’t happen.

There are two examples in recent Red Sox history where the club effectively offloaded an undesirable contract as part of a larger deal. The most famous case came in 2012 when the Red Sox traded Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto to the Dodgers in exchange for a handful of prospects and massive salary relief.

The Crawford signing had been a disaster and Beckett was in the twilight of his career, but Gonzalez remained an impactful offensive presence. The Dodgers effectively took on the other two players’ salaries to get him without having to give up anything else of significance, while the Red Sox got a franchise reset that helped set the table for the 2013 World Series title.

The other example also involved the Dodgers. Everyone knows about the Mookie Betts trade and the players Boston got in return, but a less discussed aspect of the trade is the Red Sox also sent David Price to Los Angeles in that deal. The Dodgers agreed to pay half of what Price was owed over the life of his contract, which was approximately $93 million over three years.

If the Red Sox decide they need to move on from Yoshida, this would be the best way to do so.

There is already good reason to believe the Red Sox will be active players on the trade market. Given that the club has entrenched starters or internal options at every position on the field, the widespread expectation is Breslow will execute a significant trade to shake things up, potentially involving one of Jarren Duran, Triston Casas or Wilyer Abreu. Depending on what kind of deal eventually materializes, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine Yoshida being included as well to help facilitate a larger reset of the club’s lineup.

But if that doesn’t happen and Yoshida returns in 2025, fans can at least take solace in knowing the Red Sox will be getting a healthy and highly motivated player who no doubt wants to prove he can still become a big league star.