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Even as Red Sox search for lineup upgrades, Alex Cora still believes in Masataka Yoshida
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- Even as Red Sox search for lineup upgrades, Alex Cora still believes in Masataka Yoshida
ORLANDO — For much of the offseason, the Red Sox have been focused on trying to improve their offense. The Red Sox could use offensive upgrades at both first base and DH .
But for now, Masataka Yoshida is the team’s primary DH, and on the second day of the Winter Meetings, manager Alex Cora praised Yoshida’s ability,
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“As of now, he’s healthy,” said Cora in a meeting with reporters. “He’s doing his work in the outfield. He’s finally healthy, which is huge for us. I’ve been saying this for a while -- if you go back to his first season (in 2023), that first part of the season, he was one of the best hitters in the big leagues. Towards the end, he was our best hitter -- last year. So, having a full offseason of not rehabbing, just getting stronger, is going to help us.
“We know he can hit. So we’ll figure out (how he fits), but no doubt about it that he’s a big part of what we’re trying to accomplish.”
In 2025, Yoshida was largely a singles hitter, finishing the year with a .388 slugging percentage and just four homers in 55 games. But Cora believes there’s more pop in Yoshida’s game.
“It will come, it will come,” he said. “No doubt about it. The way he was hitting the ball towards the end, it was a good sign. He grinded through it last year.
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“He was in a good spot in Spring Training. Then he had a setback with the throwing part of it. And that pushed him back. And when he came back, he was grinding through it. He got to the point in August that you could see the work he was putting in, that he was feeling good about it, and the results were there towards the end.”
Indeed, in September, Yoshida began to mash more, posting a .486 slugging percentage for the final month of the season.
The Red Sox owe Yoshida $36 million over the final two years of his deal. His trade value isn’t great, which suggests that the Red Sox will either have to take back a good chunk of his remaining salary in order to move him elsewhere, or, alternately, include a prospect in any deal to help offset the remaining money.
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