The Yoshida File
Team: Boston Red Sox
Height: 5-8
Weight: 176
Age: 29
Birthday: 7/15/1993
Exit Velo: N/A
College: Aoyama Gakuin University
Draft: N/A
Contract: Signed a 5-year, $90 million contract after the 2022 season
WAG: N/A
Children: N/A
Records/Accomplishments:
- Two Pacific League batting titles, 2020, 2021
- One Japan Series championship, 2022
- Four NPB All-Star selections, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022
- One Interleague play MVP award, 2018
- Won the NPB Home Run Derby, 2021
Masataka Yoshida's Free Agent Frenzy
Masataka Yoshida was perhaps the most prized position player on the international market during the 2022-’23 MLB offseason. With word of a flurry of interested teams, Yoshida had a ballpark number heading into negotiations, which many expected to take weeks, if not more.
On the day of his first Major League visit, Yoshida was presented with a 5-year, $90 million dollar contract. The Boston Red Sox hit Yoshida’s presumed number out of the park. What was supposed to be a tour of interested parties, Yoshida accepted the offer before the day’s end.
Frankly, there’s only one really good reason for that happening. No one else was going to come close.
We can share pleasantries about Beantown all we want. To conclude the city as a love-at-first-sight destination is…a stretch.
The baseball world feels Yoshida is overpaid. It sets up an interesting set of expectations for his MLB career. Will he be held to the standards of his contract, or more reasonable projections?
One thing’s for sure. It’s not my money, and it’s not yours either. Good for Yoshida for collecting his bag, regardless of how surprising it may have been. Let’s hope he shuts those doubters up.