Before joining the Red Sox ahead of the 2023 season, Masataka Yoshida had established himself as one of the best players in Japan. But since signing his five-year, $90 million deal Yoshida hasn\u2019t lived up to expectations, and lately he\u2019s found himself the subject of frequent trade rumors.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters in Fort Myers on Saturday, Yoshida acknowledged that his time in Boston hasn\u2019t gone according to plan so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I have three years under my belt, to be honest with you guys these three years weren\u2019t what I expected,\u201d Yoshida said via interpreter Yutaro Yamaguchi. \u201cSo I\u2019ll leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally viewed as a potential impact bat who possessed a unique combination of power and plate discipline, Yoshida has instead proven a competent contact hitter who has struggled to impact the game in other areas. Over his first three seasons in Boston he has batted .282 with a .762 OPS, but the past two years he\u2019s been limited by a shoulder injury that necessitated offseason surgery following the 2024 season.<\/p>\n
Last year Yoshida appeared in just 55 games and hit only four home runs, though he came on strong down the stretch, batting .383 with a .967 OPS in his last 12 games before going 4 for 7 (.571) in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Still, Yoshida has become an awkward roster fit. The Red Sox have five starting-caliber outfielders and only four spots to accommodate them, and with Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Jarren Duran all superior defensive options, Yoshida will likely be limited to part-time DH duty.<\/p>\n
Yoshida said he\u2019s heard the trade speculation, but declined to say if he\u2019d welcome a change of scenery.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not what I\u2019m thinking right now,\u201d Yoshida said. \u201cAll I\u2019m thinking about is right now is performing, playing well and playing hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did admit the trade talk has been a new experience for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something that I didn\u2019t really experience back in Japan, trades don\u2019t happen as often as here,\u201d Yoshida said. \u201cBut to trade somebody, both (clubs) have to agree, right? So it\u2019s going to be tough and it\u2019s part of the business, but it is new to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yoshida said the biggest thing for him right now is getting his shoulder back to 100% and finally getting a full healthy offseason. He\u2019s also looking forward to helping Team Japan defend its World Baseball Classic title, and he expects to join his fellow countrymen \u201cpretty soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s special, right?\u201d Yoshida said of playing for his country. \u201cI just want to deliver, bring out a good performance and please the Japanese fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for his future in Boston, Yoshida said he hasn\u2019t discussed his role with manager Alex Cora yet, but will be ready for whatever the team needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt kind of depends on what the situation is but I\u2019m open to anything,\u201d Yoshida said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before joining the Red Sox ahead of the 2023 season, Masataka Yoshida had established himself as one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2375],"tags":[5,141,48,2542,792,4,89,2543],"class_list":{"0":"post-573542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-red-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-red-sox","11":"tag-bostonredsox","12":"tag-masataka-yoshida","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-red-sox","15":"tag-redsox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116073329079142129","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}