Red Sox predicted to part ways with $90 million .282 AVG star outfielder through trade, make more room for Jarren Duran and Co. originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Boston Red Sox are coming into Spring Training without an outfielder in their young franchise star Roman Anthony, which temporarily solves their logjam in the outfield. However upon his return, so does the problem.
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Fansided’s Cody Williams predicts that the Sox will resolve this issue by the end of Spring Training, and it involves parting ways with their starting DH Masataka Yoshida. With Jarren Duran out of trade rumors, this is the only way they can fix their issue.
“Some Red Sox fans will be doing cartwheels in the street should this come to pass, and it seems like we’re certainly trending in that direction. For one, Masataka Yoshida’s opening time with the media at the start of spring training painted the picture of a player who hasn’t been particularly pleased about how his time in Boston has gone. But more than that, moving Yoshida would free up the DH spot, and make the outfield logjam less cumbersome for the Red Sox while opening up more overall roster flexibility. Because Yoshida has remained on the roster, though, the assumption has been that Craig Breslow and the Red Sox have had difficulty in trying to move the two years and $36 million remaining on his deal when he’s ostensibly a DH-only who doesn’t provide much power. However, a report from Red Sox insider Chris Cotillo of MassLive suggests that might not be the case, and makes a trade sound not only possible, but potentially likely,” Williams wrote.
In his career with the Sox, Yoshida has slashed .282/.337/.425/.762 with 29 home runs and 154 RBI in three seasons. While these are decent numbers for a DH, it’s not worth his five-year, $90 million contract, especially when he was supposed to be an outfielder.
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With Yoshida out of the picture, this allows Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela, the Red Sox’ Gold Glove outfielders, to be everyday starters. This leaves Anthony and Duran to split time in left field and at DH, which then fixes the logjam.
While it would hurt seeing Yoshida go, as he is a fan-favorite, it’s for the greater good of the team. Hopefully, the Sox realize this and get to work on finding a suitor.
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