The world according to Matt Strahm
One step forward, one step back.
That's how many Red Sox followers probably felt when soaking in the team's announcement Thursday afternoon, announcing the signing of outfielder Masataka Yoshida to a five-year contract.
To make room for Yoshida on the 40-man roster, the Red Sox decided to designate infielder Jeter Downs for assignment. Downs, of course, was one of the three players who came to the Sox in exchange for Mookie Betts and David Price.
The 24-year-old Downs made his major league debut with the Red Sox in 2022, claiming six hits in 41 plate appearances over 14 games. With Triple-A Worcester last season he hit .197 with a .728 OPS and 16 homers in 81 games.
The other pieces of the Betts' deal - Alex Verdugo and Connor Wong - would seem to be slotted in for roles in 2023 with the big league club. The 26-year-old Verdugo hit .280 with a .732 OPS and 11 homers in 152 games in 2022, with Wong hitting .188 with a .585 OPS in 27 big league games.
The player the Red Sox originally had coming back in the trade with the Dodgers Brusdar Graterol (instead of Downs and Wong) pitched in 49 2/3 innings for Los Angeles in 2022, totaling an opponents' .215 batting and .584 OPS in 49 2/3 innings.
The Red Sox chose to veer off from the acquisition of Graterol due to concerns that his shoulder wouldn't allow to the righty to ultimately become a starter. (A development that Graterol told WEEI.com surprised him.)
Yoshida was being introduced to the Boston media Thursday afternoon. The following is what the Red Sox released regarding the 29-year-old:
Yoshida played in 762 games over seven seasons (2016-22) with the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, batting .327 (884-for-2,703) with a .421 on-base percentage, .539 slugging percentage, 161 doubles, 133 home runs, and 467 RBI. A four-time NPB All-Star (2018-19, ’21-22) and two-time Pacific League batting champion (2020-21), he led the league in OPS in both 2021 (.992) and 2022 (1.008). Yoshida earned a Gold Medal with Japan at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and helped lead Orix to the 2022 Japan Series title.
A left-handed hitter, Yoshida recorded more walks than strikeouts in each of the last four seasons, drawing 289 walks against only 160 strikeouts during that time. In each of the last five seasons, he hit at least .300 with an on-base percentage above .400 and a slugging percentage above .500. In 119 games last season, he batted .335 (138-for-412) with 21 home runs and 88 RBI. In the 2022 Japan Series, Yoshida hit a walk-off home run in Game 5, helping lead Orix to its first championship in 26 years.
A native of Fukui, Japan, Yoshida would become the 10th individual born in Japan to play for the Red Sox, joining outfielder Dave Roberts (2004) and pitchers Tomo Ohka (1999-2001), Hideo Nomo (2001), Daisuke Matsuzaka (2007-12), Hideki Okajima (2007-11), Takashi Saito (2009), Junichi Tazawa (2009, ’11-16), Koji Uehara (2013-16), and Hirokazu Sawamura (2021-22).
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