SAN FRANCISCO — Since the start of the season, the Red Sox had insisted that they wanted Masataka Yoshida capable of playing the outfield before activating him.
The events of this week, however, have changed that.
After shipping Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants, the Red Sox now have a full-time vacancy at the DH spot. Yoshida largely filled that role in 2024. He underwent shoulder surgery last October.
Yoshida handled DH duties in spring training without incident, but the Sox wanted the additional flexibility of having Yoshida contributing in the outfield.
Yoshida has experienced roadblocks in his rehab from surgery, and has spent the first three months of the season split between Fort Myers and Boston, working to strengthen his shouder.
Lately, Alex Cora said, he’s made progress with his throwing, inching closer to a rehab assignment and a return to the active roster. But now, with DH at-bats suddenly available, the Sox might speed up the process.
“Obviously, things have changed in the last week,” said Cora. “We all know that when he’s healthy, he’s a good bat. He’s proved it the last two years.”
Yoshida is back in Boston, hitting and rehabbing.
“There’s a good chance he’ll go on a rehab assignment, soon,” said Cora of Yoshida. “The exact date, we don’t know yet. But he’s feeling great. Everybody feels like the throwing part of it, we’re over the hump now. It’s not like he throws for one day and he feels it for two and we have (go back) to step one. Now, it’s about adding to the program, so that’s good.”
Cora said given how Yoshida has advanced, he may not need the full 20 days when the rehab assignment begins.
“We’ll speed up the process if we have to,” he said, while cautioning that Yoshida will need some time to be game-ready, having not been in live competition since spring training.
“It’s a little bit different; pitchers are in their groove,” said Cora. “We’ll see. We’ll talk to him, see how he feels about it. But physically, he looks great. He’s moving well and throwing part is where he should be and hopefully, now we go.”
The Red Sox also have the ability to mix in one of their four outfielders and rotate them through the DH spot. The return of Abreu gives the Sox a Gold Glove-winning outfielder in right, but Cora emphasized that rookie Roman Anthony, who had been playing right in Abreu’s absence, won’t be limited to DH work.
In other injury news, Cora said third baseman Alex Bregman (quad) was making progress, too.
“He’s getting closer,” said Cora. “But nothing as far as ready to play. He’s got a running progression. There are two versions — you talk to him and he’s ready to go. (Meanwhile), the trainers say ‘We’re in a good spot right now and getting better.’ I’m with the trainers.”
Meanwhile, Tanner Houck, who had a rocky first rehab appearance for Worcester earlier in the week,
“He was OK, not efficient,” said Cora. “As far as the injury (flexor pronator strain), he’s fine. There will be (more appearances).”