According to Jen McCaffrey and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, who also supplied more information, “several teams” are interested in trading for Boston Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida.
“Several teams have inquired about Yoshida, and while the Red Sox do not appear to be actively shopping him, they are open to virtually any idea as they seek to build a better roster.”
Yoshida, who turns 31 in July, agreed to a $90 million, five-year contract with the Red Sox during the previous summer. Over 140 games, he had a.289 (.783 OPS) average, 15 home runs, and 72 RBI.
Between 2016 and 2022, he was a member of the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball, where he was named an All-Star four times.
Yoshida earned the Pacific League hitting title in 2020 and 2021 in addition to winning the Japan Series in 2022 with the Buffaloes.
The Red Sox are reportedly interested in free agent outfielder Teoscar Hernández, who hit 26 home runs, 93 RBI, and had an.741 OPS with the Seattle Mariners last season. This is the subject of The Athletic’s Yoshida notes.
The duo from The Athletic stated, “Hernández, who would address the Red Sox’s need for power, remains a point of focus.”
“But according to one person with knowledge of the talks, the Red Sox prefer to tackle other areas of the roster and reduce payroll before committing to the free agent.”
That brought up the comments regarding Yoshida, who had a successful season with the Sox the previous one. Yoshida was actually hitting.320 (.887 OPS) with 12 home runs and 43 RBI as of July 25. Although his final results for the year were the result of a late-season dip, he had a strong first four months and a solid year overall.
On paper, considering Yoshida’s body of work as a whole, trading him doesn’t really make sense. He seems to be part of the answer to pull Boston out of the AL East cellar, not the issue, so maybe another team approaches the Red Sox with an offer they can’t refuse.