One of the things that attracted the Red Sox to Japanese outfielder Maasataka Yoshiida was his almost unmatched ability to get on base.
A year ago, playing in Japan, Yoshida posted a .421 on-base percentage, with nearly twice as many walks as strikeouts. If he can have that same skill-set playing in Major League Baseball, he can go a long way to improving the top of the Red Sox lineup, and perhaps, the leadoff spot itself.
Last year, players in the leadoff spot for the Sox combined for an on-base percentage of ..295; only two teams (Detroit and Oakland) were worse.
"I think t's definitely possible to score a lot of runs without production up there but you certainly make life a lot harder for yourself if you're not getting offense there,'' said chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom. "It's the spot that comes up the mot in the game. Number one, you want to get on base. You also want to impact the baseball and take advantage of the opportunities that are there for you in that spot. Ultimately, that spot is often coming up, if you flip the lineup over the last time late in the game, that spot if often coming up and you want to have a really good hitter in that spot.''
The Sox thought they had the leadoff spot solved when Kiké Hernandez took the opportunity and ran with it in the second half of 2021. But he failed to maintain that level last season, and the Sox offense sputtered at the top.
Interestingly, Yoshida said he didn't have much experience hitting first in Japan and didn't have a lot of confidence in the role, but would be happy to try it iof the Sox wanted to have him hit leadoff.
Bloom later stressed that Yoshida could help out in a few different spots in the order.
"No doubt, getting contact skills like Masa possesses, an eye for the strike zone like he has, goes a long way (to improving the offense),'' said Bloom. "But we just have to have as many different ways as we can to make life difficult for the opposition. (Hitting him leadoff is) not something we discussed in advance. These skills are going to play wherever. Let's see the roster that we wend up as we get closer and closer to OF and Alex and the crew will figure out the best way to line them up to win a ballgame.
".The one thing I think we expect (from Yoshida) is a really tough at-bat every time up, but I think there's a lot of different ways he can help us win. The things that stand out are putting the bat on the ball, the way he manages an at-bat, the way he goes to power when it's appropriate, the way he can use the whole field...These are things that should play in a lot of different situations.''
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There's been no shortage of second-guessing about the contract the Red Sox gave to Yoshida (five years, $90 million), with some rival executives -- anonymously, of course -- questioning why the Sox would be so aggressive for a player who hadn't yet demonstrated he can play and succeed in Major League Baseball. Some noted that that the fact that Yoshida (and agent Scott Boras) accepted the Sox' proposal on the very first day of the posting process was conclusive evidence of that fact.
But Bloom said the Sox are confident in their evaluation and decision-making.
"Any of us who do this job should be very hesitant to take anybody's else inventory,'' said Bloom, "because we all have successes on our resume and we all have some where we'd like do-overs. We just have to be confident to go on our own evaluation. I remember when he took Nick Yorke in 2020, there were some similar comments and then a lot of people who made those comments a year later wanted to take them back
At the end of the day, we can't worry about that. We have to be confident in our evaluations. We did a lot of work on this guy. We felt really comfortable that we had done enough work to feel confidence where we were. And if the only reason not to do something is you're worried about taking criticism, that's just not a good enough reason. I know that I've heard directly from a number of clubs that we are not alone in our evaluation of Masa and the belief that his bat can be special. That's part of why the process went the way it did.
"It would not have gone the way it did that day had there not been kind of a stampede to his door the second it was legal. You don't see the process accelerate like that without a lot of motivated suitors.''
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To make room for Yoshida on the 40-man roster, the Sox designated infielder Jeter Downs for assignment.
Downs, of course, was a big part of the return the Red Sox got in the trade that sent Mookie Betts and David Price to the Dodgers in February of 2020. But in each of the last two seasons at Triple A Worcester, Downs hit under .200 (.190 in 2021; .197 in 2022) and during a brief callup to the big league club this past season, struck out in more than half of his at-bats (21 strikeouts in 39 at-bats).
"It speaks to some of the struggles we've had in getting him on track,'' said Bloom. "I think there's a lot of physical ability there but we haven't been able to unlock it consistently. He's still young and there's no reason to write him off, but he's obviously had his struggles. I'm glad he was able to get to the big leagues with us and glad he was able to have a moment with us here at Fenway and help us win a big game. That was a lot of fun for a lot of people. But obviously, we haven't been able to get him to that success consistently.''
Bloom said the failure to develop Downs into something more doesn't alter his thinking that trading Betts was something the Sox had to do.
"I don't think it changes what the decision was,'' Bloom said. "No doubt, he' a big part of a really significant trade and the fact that we haven't gotten him to the level that we expected hurts. But at the end of the day, we want to do right by all of the players and he was the right decision in this case.''
The trade leaves the Red Sox with just outfielder Alex Verdugo and catcher Connor Wong to show for their return for Betts and Price.