The Boston Red Sox have adjusted their roster over the past month and a half, and more moves could be on the way. Through it all, Masataka Yoshida’s role with the club in 2026 hasn’t become any clearer.
Yoshida is a DH, but Boston has multiple players who will be in need of DH starts next season.
With the Red Sox in possession of four starting outfielders, it’s presumed that the DH spot, on many occasions, will be filled by one of those players.
Then there’s the new acquisition of Willson Contreras, who is expected to get some DH reps on days that he’s taking a break from first base, with Triston Casas possibly factoring into the equation as a backup first baseman. And speaking of Casas, he’s another guy who could demand DH starts once he’s healthy and looking like himself again.
Boston’s DH logjam would be a lot simpler of Yoshida wasn’t a productive player. There’d be nothing to miss by keeping him out of the lineup most of the time.
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But Yoshida’s final month of the 2025 season saw him perform like one of Boston’s best offensive players, indicating that he’s still very much a productive bat when healthy.
It’s always good to have depth, especially because it helps you guard against inevitable injuries. On the other hand, there’s a fine line between depth and too much of it. People who claim that there’s “no such thing as too much depth” aren’t really factoring in the experience of the players who are getting stale on a bench all season long (while chomping at the bit about how they could and would be playing everyday on another MLB team).
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This often does something negative to the psyche of a player, and even to a greater clubhouse depending on how that player deals with the situation.
Yoshida has been nothing but a consummate professional by all accounts. This doesn’t seem to be an issue with him, in the sense that Boston’s clubhouse would be affected.
Still, it’s hard to see how the Red Sox will find enough reps for all of their capable bats in 2026. It’ll be up to Alex Cora to work his magic.
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Yoshida’s MLB career, starting in 2023, includes a .282 average, 29 home runs, and 154 RBIs over 303 games. Prior to Boston, Yoshida excelled in Japan’s NPB for seven seasons with the Orix Buffaloes, hitting .327 with 133 home runs. He signed a five-year, $90 million deal with the Red Sox in December 2022, running through 2027, with a 2025 salary of $18.6 million.
Featured image via Paul Rutherford/Imagn Images
