Will Red Sox Cut Bait on $90M Yoshida Deal As Rehab Stalls Again?

Masataka Yoshida’s return to the Red Sox isn’t just delayed — it might be completely derailed.

The 31-year-old outfielder is still experiencing shoulder soreness and could soon leave Fort Myers to be checked out in Boston, manager Alex Cora told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s game in Toronto. The team is increasingly uneasy about Yoshida’s recovery from offseason labral repair surgery on his right shoulder.

“The throwing part of it didn’t go too well this week,” Cora said at Rogers Centre, per MassLive’s Christopher Smith. “So when we get back, he might be there [in Boston].”

Yoshida has been rehabbing at the JetBlue Park complex but isn’t close to a rehab assignment. Cora noted that head athletic trainer Brandon Henry wants to evaluate him in person. “This week it hasn’t been great,” he added.

It’s another bump in the road for a player whose Red Sox tenure has never quite found solid ground. Yoshida, who hit .286 with a homer during a brief 11-game showing during spring training, was a full-time designated hitter last season. That role’s no longer available to him — Rafael Devers is locked in as the club’s everyday DH now, which means Yoshida’s only path back to regular at-bats is through the outfield. And with an increasingly troublesome shoulder, that’s looking less likely by the day.

A Pricey Puzzle for a Player Without a Position

Even if Yoshida were fully healthy, Boston still might not have a spot for him. As Boston Globe columnist Peter Abraham wrote early this month, “A backup left-handed-hitting DH is not what the Sox need. Or another left-handed hitter, period.” Red Sox social media posted a shot of Yoshida with fellow outfielders Rob Refsnyder and Jarren Duran this spring.

The Red Sox owe Yoshida and infielder Trevor Story a combined $124 million through the 2027 season. And while Marcelo Mayer’s strong start at Triple-A continues to turn up the pressure on Story — who’s responded well out of the gate—it’s Yoshida whose future looks the most uncertain.

“At some point the Sox may have to admit defeat and pick up a big chunk of his remaining salary to trade Yoshida,” Abraham wrote. “That also could happen with Story eventually, as Marcelo Mayer bangs on the door in Triple A.”

Yoshida’s five-year, $90 million deal was one of Chaim Bloom’s splashiest and most widely questioned moves — even at the time. MLB executives trashed the contract anonymously in conversations with ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, with one famously responding, “I have no words.”

Since then, those words have aged like milk. Yoshida was already floated in offseason trade talks, with Boston trying to pair him with first baseman Triston Casas in a package to Seattle. The Mariners said no.

Now he’s not just an awkward fit — he’s a limping investment. If his shoulder doesn’t improve and his path back to the outfield remains blocked, the Red Sox won’t just be stuck with a bad contract. They increasingly look stuck with a player they can’t find a job for, even when he does recover.

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