The Red Sox announced today that they have reinstated outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida from the 60-day injured list. To open an active roster spot, infielder/outfielder Nate Eaton has been optioned to Triple-A Worcester. Right-hander Nick Burdi was transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot.
Yoshida will be making his season debut in today’s game, serving as the designated hitter and batting sixth. He underwent shoulder surgery in October of last year and has been on the injured list until today. He was healthy enough to hit a long time ago but struggled to get his shoulder to a place where he could throw at full strength. That made him unable to play the field and essentially unrosterable. The Sox signed Alex Bregman in the winter and put him at third base, bumping Rafael Devers into the designated hitter spot on an everyday basis.
Much has changed since then. The DH move upset Devers and he was further rankled when Triston Casas got injured and the Sox asked him to learn first base. The relationship soured enough that the Sox flipped him to the Giants in a stunning deal.
That opened the DH spot, and Yoshida is now capable of playing the field, but the Sox still have quite a glut in the outfield. Today, Yoshida is in the DH spot with Roman Anthony in left, Jarren Duran in center and Wilyer Abreu in right. That leaves Ceddanne Rafaela on the bench, in addition to Rob Refsnyder. Yoshida has done some first base drills but isn’t considered much more than an emergency option there.
For now, manager Álex Cora will seemingly take turns benching guys from that mix, with Rafaela getting the first taste of that. Perhaps that can work for the short term but it’s an inelegant mix for the long term. Due to this cluster, there have been plenty of trade rumors surrounding players like Yoshida, Duran and Abreu, as observers speculate about the possibility of the Sox flipping one of them for some pitching.
Duran and Abreu are both strong players in their 20s, with Duran having three years of club control after this one and Abreu four. Yoshida, almost 32 years old, is seemingly less a key piece of the club’s future but his trade value wouldn’t be terribly high at the moment. He is making $18MM annually through the 2027 season. In his major league career, he’s been a poor fielder while his offense has been decent but not astounding. He currently sports a .285/.343/.433 batting line and 113 wRC+. As mentioned, he’s been on the IL all year until today.
Put it all together and it’s a tricky calculus for the Sox. Moving Yoshida is likely preferable for the long term but he would bring back less in a trade than some of their other players. With just a few weeks until the trade deadline, perhaps they will field some interesting calls from other clubs.
As for Burdi, he landed on the 15-day IL in early June due to a right foot contusion. He started a minor league rehab assignment a few weeks ago but only made two appearances. That was due to a hip issue, according to Gabrielle Starr of the Boston Herald. Injuries have been a persistent problem for Burdi. He has appeared in six different major league seasons, debuting back in 2018, but he has just 30 1/3 big league innings under his belt.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images
Nick Burdi needs to hang it up. He had potential, but I haven’t seen a player get hurt as often as him. Not even Buxton.
He’s cashing a major league check while injured. Pretty good work. I’d be in no rush to give that up if someone’s still giving it to me.
I would walk away from my dreams too! Not.
Aside from a Borat scene, I don’t think I’ve heard a “Not” joke in 25 years. I admire your persistence.
dan – Does “Sorry, not sorry” count? That seems to be a popular phrase these days.
Borat’s not even that funny…sike!
You should hang it up.
Senzatela on the mound for COL… Yoshi at DH, Duran, Rafaela and who in right? Anthony you would think, but Abreu has been out the past two games.
Ugh, now Cora has more responsibilities. Not good.
swan – We will find out soon enough how Cora plays it. All 5 have hit RHP well, all 5 are hot, and Tampa has RHP for all four games.
Cora said Anthony will play every day, so I’m betting Duran/Abreu/Yoshida/Rafaela will each sit for one game this series. It won’t be Rafaela until Sunday probably because he sat already tonight.
With only one backup infielder right now, looks like Rafaela is the second backup.
More DH-only type of players. Might as well just get rid of fielders and have a HR derby every night. Those geeks and casual fans will be happy. They can go home after an hour and half, giving them enough time to post on their social media accounts the rest of the night.
You can thank Bloom in his infinite wisdom for this particular one. We’re stuck with him for a couple more years, so it’s the hand we’ve gotta play.
I like Yoshida, but he’s way overpaid. I don’t understand why they don’t just eat some of his salary and move him. All sorts of teams would want Yoshida if he were making short money, but not at 18M per.
Yoshida would be great in the Mariners lineup. Not sure of the trade package though, given all the money he has due on his contract.
Yoshida and Casas for Luis Castillo would be my preference.
Agree I think Yoshida’s a great fit for Seattle. They’ve allegedly had interest in Casas in the past and get a young, big bat who I am starting to believe could use a change of scenery. They also shorten the money on their books from 3/$75M (assuming Castillo’s option vests) to 2/$36 million. Boston gets a bona fide #2 and RHP to slot between Crochet and Bello and really solidify the rotation.
Ghost – There’s at least 5 reasons why.
1) No team will acquire him until he proves he’s healthy
2) Showcasing him in the outfield will increase the trade return and decrease the amount of money to eat
3) Other than one year of Sale, the Red Sox don’t have a history of eating contracts over $5M.
4) Dead money counts toward the CBT payroll, it would be foolish to pay a very good hitter like Yoshida to play for another team while taking a ~$15M CBT hit each of the next two years.
5) Yoshida doesn’t impact the outfield because all 4 outfielders have to play at least 75% of the time. Even if Yoshida is traded today, do you really think they’d DH Rafaela/Duran/Anthony/Abreu against RHP?
Dirty – Have you followed Castillo’s splits at all? They are even WORSE than before.
This year:
H 2.29 ERA
R 4.67 ERA
2024
H 3.15
R 4.25
2023
H 3.09
R 3.62
There is no way I want a pitcher with a near 5 road ERA.
The Red Sox ate Pablo Sandoval’s contract and Rusney Castillo’s contract, both well over $5M per year. I would have to check, but they probably ate more than $5M on Hanley Ramirez’s contract when they released him.
Admittedly I was not, but I took a look at his game logs and I don’t think the reality is as concerning as that picture looks. He has 2 road starts in particular where he got roughed up – April 15th in Cincy and June 24th in Minnesota.
If you take those two starts out, in his other 6 road starts he’s got 4 quality starts, a 3.09 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, and 27/7 K/BB in 35 innings. In other words, not far off from how his usual top line numbers look.
He’s definitely been a little better at home, but don’t get it twisted he’s been mostly fine on the road too. Just has a couple clunkers in there mucking up the overall road numbers. It’s not like he’s just getting shelled every time he leaves Safeco. Think it’s safe to say until proven otherwise those two starts are the anomaly and not the pattern.
“3) Other than one year of Sale, the Red Sox don’t have a history of eating contracts over $5M.”
Well if you ignore Pablo Sandoval. They released him half way through his 5 year/$90+M contract and ate the remainder.
All In:
Spot on. Red Sox have had no need to eat contracts lately. So saying they have some history regarding it makes no sense. Even if they did it ridiculous to say that they would need to eat 15M of Yoshida’s 18M AAV just to trade him as written earlier in the thread. Just more nonsense from the Nonsense King.
Ken – LOL… that was 2017, back when winning mattered, 3rd-highest payroll in MLB, not the Red Sox we know today my friend.
That was a truly horrible analytics-driven signing I was strongly against, I try not to think about it. Lol!
They can easily trade him if they pay down some of the deal.
Not sure why they’re so against that. They have a ton of LHB, a ton of better OF, so there’s no room for him. He’s just going to eat up a roster spot and take away ABs from better players.
Like tonight, with Rafaela sitting.
It very well could be the next three weeks are a showcase for Yoshida, Abreu and Duran. One is likely to be moved barring an injury. Many were complaining about the Rafaela contract. It’s looking better and better. Him being right handed is not going anywhere but if someone makes a good offer on one of the lefties, a deal seems likely (again barring an injury).
Dewey…. You nailed it
dewey – It’s not gonna be Yoshida, for the reasons I mentioned above.
They need to unclog the outfield, that means Duran or Abreu.
Actually right now would be a great time for a trade, while their numbers are fattened up from the crappy pitching they’ve faced the last 10 days.
If by “pay down some of his deal” you mean the Sox pay 2/3 of it to get some other team to bite on the remaining 1/3 then sure, maybe they could get a couple lottery ticket prospects for him in that scenario. Not sure what the upside is for the Sox in that however.
For the Sox, there is no direct upside in moving Yoshi and they would be mistaken to look at it that way. The issue is he has little/no untapped upside as a player and is overpaid as is, while adding no positional versatility in the field. He is a nice bat to have in a lineup and his skillset is sorely needed on this team, but due to the roster construction surrounding him being a patchwork at best, giving him playing time comes at the cost of blocking younger, more exciting players with a lot more untapped potential and economic value. The upside of trading Yoshida isn’t what you get back for him, it’s allowing Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Wilyer Abreu, and Ceddane Rafaela to play every day and continue their development, instead of having the lineup being a daily game of musical chairs where at least one of them has to sit.
Ken – I totally agree, it makes no sense why some people here want to immediately eat tens of millions of dollars simply because a guy has been injured.
Last offseason and into June, people here wanted to immediately eat the contracts of Giolito and Story. Why? Why assume a player is done just because they’ve had a couple injuries?
What kills me is many of those same people were all for taking a $21M chance on a free agent pitcher coming off TJS who has been good only from 2018-2021.
BTW – Since people here don’t know the market value for a DH, here’s some of this year’s salaries for primary DH’s:
Ozuna $16M
Diaz $10M
Yelich $26M
Suzuki $19M
Devers $29.5M
Realistically, if Yoshida puts up at least an .850 OPS he’s worth at least $14M and that’s without him returning to the outfield.
Eating his contract now serves no purpose because Abreu, Duran, Anthony and Rafaela should be playing the field ….. not wasting their talents as a DH only.
Dirty – I GUARANTEE even without Yoshida on the team (trade or injury) the Red Sox longterm plan will not be to DH each of the 4 outfielders for 40 games a season. You’d be intentionally hurting your outfield defense for 75% of the season, as well as stunting the growth and development of Anthony.
And when you get a chance, watch some games from 2023 ….. Yoshida was hugely popular for the excitement he brought not only as a clutch hitter but also his Macho Man personna. Fans were so into it they brought inflatable dumbbells to the games!!
Oh I know, and don’t get me wrong I don’t dislike Yoshi. I probably sound like I have a grudge against him or something because I’ve been in the trade him camp, but the truth is I don’t. The problem isn’t Yoshi’s fault, the problem is Breslow inherited an extremely poorly constructed roster that up until the Devers trade he was only really taking baby steps at making more coherent. Trading Devers was a “rip off the band aid” type of move, and so too would be trading Yoshida. It would sting a little bit but it would be a needed step towards a much more sound roster construction.
As it is we have 4 very good outfielders, plus Toro and Romy raking, plus Yoshida, with only the 3 outfield spots, first base, and DH to play them at. 7 guys for 4 spots. Yoshida is the most logical guy to trade from that group because he is older, comes with less control, and less likely to ever be considered a “plus” anywhere with the glove than . I am with you that I don’t think the Sox should have to eat as much money as some people are talking about to find a taker for him. He is overpaid but not by a whole lot. It shouldn’t be an untradeable contract. Especially for teams that value contact hitting. He will not net as exciting of a return as an Abreu or Duran would, but would clear out the least flexible piece contributing to the logjam for at-bats.
7 guys for 5 spots***** I can, in fact, count, but didn’t notice typo until it was too late.
Dirty – In all fairness to Bloom, how could he predict the health issues Yoshida has had the past 2 1/2 years? He didn’t have a history of injury when he signed.
3 hits in his first game back in almost a year is pretty good, even against a crap team.
No, you’re right about the health issues, that’s a crapshoot in most cases so I assign no blame for that.
But the contract was panned by most industry folks before the ink was even dry, so they should have known that even if healthy they were giving pretty big money to a guy who doesn’t do much besides hit for contact. Fortunately he is a very, very good contact hitter, which is not nothing. Maybe there were differing opinions on if he would develop more power, but they cannot possibly have not known his defensive limitations. For a team that’s been putting so much emphasis on flexibility over everything in recent years, a non-slugging DH-only locked in to a 5 year $90 million deal is the complete antithesis of that.
Dirty – I agree with most of your post, but I believe the rationale was “hiding” Yoshida in LF which is a very common thing. LF is the 2nd-easiest position to play, and even moreso in Fenway where you don’t need a strong arm.
I mean look at the guys they’ve put out in LF …. O’Neill, Hanley, Manny, Gomes, Nava, Bay, Schwarber, JDM ….. not exactly Gold Glovers there!
Touche, you’ve got me there. I can understand thinking if you can pull off hiding ManRam out there that you could hide quite literally anyone there. Guess not, as it turns out.
FPG
Thoughts on Joe Ryan.. just turned 29.
arbitration eligible next couple years,, free agent in 2028… I view him as very capable # 2
Cost would be very high.
cdc – I’d be all for it. He’s an intriguing guy, bit of a late bloomer with a high K rate despite not having elite velocity. No red flags from what I can tell, has nearly identical H/R splits.
The two additional years of team control is a huge plus especially with the 2026 rotation being so unsettled.
The cost will skyrocket. Duran/Abreu and high-end prospects. Would you have given the Twins the same haul the White Sox received for Crochet?. I say probably. I don’t want them to deal Tolle,but he might be the guy the Twins covet. If the Twins make him available,the Yankees and every other team will come with massive offers.
cdc – See this is why I’d rather sign pitchers as free agents rather than trade a lot of good young talent for them. Ryan is not on the same level as Crochet, but he probably will cost a haul of prospects.
The thing is, the Red Sox need Ryan more for 2026/2027 than for this year. I’m quite confident in Fitts as the #4 and Dobbins or Houck as the #5.
Sure it would be nice to add Ryan to Crochet, Giolito and Bello …. but I think that would be a luxury, not a need.
FPG
I don’t think I agree with you on this. A staff of Crochet,Ryan, Giolito, Bello, with Fitts and Dobbins may give you the best starting staff in the AL. With only giving up Duran or Abreu off the ML roster. And I really like those 2 outfielders. It’s all about pitching. Not only about this season but the next several as well. The Phillies starting staff might be better. I would take my chances going into any series if the Sox could add a Ryan.
cdc – Let’s see how they do during the gauntlet before pushing in all the chips to win now. If they go 8-5 or better, then sure let’s go for it.
I don’t really get the “only” part”, I think you’re severely underestimating the value of both Duran and Abreu. It’s basically unheard of for a “contender” to trade a team leader who has put up 11 WAR since the start of last season, or a GG winner with an .834 OPS this season.
You are basically banking on Rafaela to continue his hot streak and do it against much better pitching, and you’re banking on Roman not having to deal with an adjustment period when teams get a book on him (as they did with Campbell).
If the winning doesn’t continue over the next 13 games, I’d rather wait until the price for Ryan comes down in the offseason.
To give you an idea how Red Sox fans are viewed nationally:
“Boston fans want to move Duran because he has been bad and fallen out of favor. That’s not the type of player Minnesota will have any interest in acquiring. Also, Ryan is currently impacting the big league roster. If you’re going to trade him, and do the deal with Boston, it starts with one of Roman Anthony or Marcelo Mayer”
There is no way I’d trade Roman for Ryan. Marcelo I’d consider only because of his health issues …. but even then, just imagine if Bregman leaves, Story opts out or gets hurt, Casas doesn’t return as his old self, and Campbell continues to struggle in the field. They could be looking for an entire infield!
Pretty much 100% agree with everything you said here, except I wouldn’t think about trading Mayer either.
And as a cherry on top, Duran hasn’t even been bad! He is still on track to be worth ~3-4 WAR this season which is a perfectly good player. People just have insane expectations and think everyone is going to put up Hall of Fame numbers all the time If only it were that simple.
Dirty – I totally agree and I’ve said that before! People are comparing him to last year, which is wrong ….. it’s like saying Ted Williams had a bad season in 1942 because he batted 50 points less than 1941!
I think fans have SNTS (Shiny New Toy Syndrome).. .. or as the national media refers to Red Sox Nation, “What Have You Done Lately Syndrome”.
Duran was the SNT last year, and now it’s Anthony so they’ve turned on Duran. Before Duran it was Casas, same deal …. fans turned on him.
And I still believe Duran will play much better once the weight of the trade rumors is lifted.
York this seems to bother you an unusual amount
York that’s not going to fly. Nobody would come watch that tomfoolery. Now do have an actual feasible plan you could present, or is it just mumbo-jumbo time??
Masataka Yoshida – otherwise known as Jesus Christ Himself – walked out of Polar Park and led the Red Sox into the postseason. At least that’s what the Red Sox want you to believe that’s what’ll happen.
Ummm… okbud
No one on the Red Sox is even slightly inferring that you oddball..
He’s playing because he can hit decently well, and he has an unmoveable contract,
With Bregman on the cusp of returning, the lineup is about to get interesting. I expect this will bump Hamilton off the roster (which i understand but I love his speed). I assume the starting lineup will then be:
C- Narvaez
1B- Toro/Gonzalez
2B- Mayer
SS- Story
3B- Bregman
LF- Yoshida
CF- Duran
RF- Abreu
DH – Anthony
Bench- Wong, Toro/Gonzalez, Rafaela (super utility starting a lot), and Refsnyder
But Yoshida’s bat has to be doing damage for this to work, because this is a step backwards defensively. If he can build up any value, the Sox should try to move him. But I can see Abreu being the odd man out eventually, and going with Duran in LF, Rafaela in CF, Anthony in RF, and Yoshida as the DH.
Could the Sox also decide to move Bregman and then have Mayer at 3B and Rafaela at 2B? Not sure that’s the right move either.
It’s a blessing having a glut of talent in the outfield, but you gotta make the right choice in who stays and who goes.
I would also add, I think moving Yoshida is the right move, even if it means getting less back. Especially if someone is willing to take a chunk of that contract. I think giving every day at bats to the young talent on this team, is the right move long term (and probably even presently).
I think it’s much more likely that Anthony is in LF (like he supposedly will be tonight) and Yoshida is the DH.
Yep.Also, Rafaela is playing every day, most likely in center where he has much more value defensively. One option no one is mentioning is Meyer at short and Story taking second. His defense is so underappreciated and now his bat is again coming to live. He in my view is their MVP with respect to position players. It depends in my view on which position Mayer is better at. Finally, does Hamilton have an option left? I only trade him if something special comes back. To me, he’s automatically the 26th player for the playoffs should the team get there.
Hamilton has 2 options left I believe. Honestly, I would much rather see what you’re saying, and I believe it’s the right move. I just don’t think they’ll move Story off of SS. I think your assessment of Mayer makes sense, but I think the Sox have Story just locked at SS, and there is more of a need at 2B then 3B with Bregman returning.
If Anthony proves he can play LF with the Green Monster, I totally support that.
Manny and Rice were able to play LF in Boston. Do you really think Anthony is less able?
Not at all. But Duran would be my first choice in left. If it shakes out where Duran moves to center and it makes sense to have Anthony in left, I support it , because I do think he’ll be able to play the monster.
Rafaela is your CF. Yoshida is a platoon DH
Performance wise, yes. But that’s a lot of money to pay a platoon DH.
You have Refsnyder too.Garcia is showing lots of promise too.
Duffy S. Cliff
and Rafaela at 2B?
==========================
Rafaela might be the best defensive CF in BB. He’s not moving.
Oh I would MUCH rather see him CF. Duran, Rafaela, and Abreu may be the best defensive outfield in baseball!
Why are they giving Rafaela the off day when he’s (probably) the hottest hitter on the team? Guy has 3 HR 6 2B and is hitting 0.417 over the past week.
Yoshida could use some more time rehabbing from that injury. He wasn’t exactly lighting the minors up during his few rehab games.
Yoshida is the tail wagging the dog. Earlier this year, it looked like $40+MM per year of dead weight between Story and Yoshi. Now that Story is living up to his contract (who knows how long that will last?), maybe eating the money from the lesser mistake is more palatable. I know the FO would love to show off a rehabbed Yoshi for some trade value, but that’s going to take the rest of the season to make anyone believe it, which will eat into the playing time of Cedanne, Duran, Abreu, Anthony to the detriment of the team. Are the Sox in or out in 2025? If they are in, DFA Yoshi.
They don’t need to DFA him. They just need to eat some of his salary. Teams want that bat, just not at 18M
Horace – Sorry but anybody who says “DFA” a very good hitter like Yoshida who is FINALLY healthy after 2 1/2 years ….. well, I’m guessing a month ago you were saying to DFA Story and Giolito too. Impatience is hardly a quality.
This is why baseball folks think so little of fans, in fact the NESN guys were mocking fans tonight for being so knee-jerk and “what have you done lately”..
Should have been Hamilton. Dude’s defense is suspect at best
You’re being polite about Hamilton. His defense is a joke at best. I like Hamilton, but the truth is unless MLB makes another weird rule change and designated base runners during the regular game become a thing, he doesn’t have much worth.
Sabe – That Designated Runner thing has already been proposed by MLB. It’s been a couple years though, so hopefully they’ve written it off.
With that said, I’d love to keep Hamilton if they had a bigger bench …. but they don’t, so he will likely go tomorrow or Friday when Bregman returns. I don’t see them moving Romy or Toro.
Mafia, with that speed, he’s your 26th man the way Dave Roberts was in 2004.
dewey – With all due respect, it’s not 2004 anymore ….. Roberts was the 25th man and they had only 11 pitchers on the roster at a time back then, not 13 like now.
I would love to have a 14-man bench now.
I’m sure Hamilton will head to AAA on Friday, or whenever Bregman returns. I really like the position player group now, and hope they don’t trade any of them. It’s a good problem to have when you can give players a day off each week during the dog days of summer.
There comes a time when all the cosmic tumblers have clicked into place – and the universe opens itself up for a few seconds to show you what’s possible.
There is the theory of the Moebius, a twist in the fabric of space where time becomes a loop.
Weird how Red Sox think rotating players is below some players yet Detroit rotates almost everyone and they have the best record in baseball! I think some players need to check their egos for the good of the team.
wiley – I don’t think it’s about egos, I think it’s about player development and keeping players sharp.
And where do you get that notion about the Tigers?
Sorry but I know the facts.
If the Red Sox were to rotate the 4 outfielders, that means they’d be playing in only 75% of the games.
Torkelson has played in 94% of Detroit’s games
Torres has played in 86%
McKinstry has played in 90%
Greene has played in 98%
Keith has played in 87%
And I haven’t even factored in injuries.
Like seeing Yoshida back. I do like him, though I wish we could trade him
Haha, I feel the exact same way.
I really like the idea of the Pirates trading for one of their outfielders. Regardless of their record, Sox need to move someone. So many ways you can go.
I think my preferences in order would be Abreu, Duran, Raffela or Anthony. Abreu and Raffela are most realistic. Duran maybe but I think there’s an issue with his perceived vs actual value. His season last year was so far beyond anything he’s ever done. Roman Anthony is just a total wild card. If they were to do something nuts like Bubba Chandler or a Skenes deal
Reynaldo – I think it’s more a case of Cora having his favorites, with Bregman being at the top of his list.
Joe Ryan of the Twins is a name I’m hearing. If the Twins make him available the Sox should be all in. Just turned 29 , arbitration eligible next season,free agent after 2028. I assume it would cost Duran/Abreu and some combination of Jh Password Garcia,Arias , Campbell, Tolle. I see Ryan as a very capable #2 SP now and in the future. Especially if we lose Giolito this coming off season.
I like password a lot but if the deal was Duran and Password for Ryan I would do that.
A10
I think it’s going to take more than that. I believe. A rotation of Crochet, Ryan, Giolito, Bello is as good as it gets in the American League. With Fitts and Dobbins #5 & 6. That is a good starting staff.
I’d consider adding a pitcher. like Dobbins if that helped get the deal across the finish line.
The Sox have an option on Giolito for next season.
only if he doesn’t hit 140 innings. otherwise it’s a mutual option
Why is Hamilton still on the team. There must be somewhere in the minors or majors who can play above the Mendoza line better than him.