The Los Angeles Dodgers are built on star power, and in the last year, that power has drastically grown in the international market.
Signing Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto has made the Dodgers the undisputed most popular Major League Baseball team in Japan. That will only help with their pursuit of other Japanese stars, like Roki Sasaki, for the foreseeable future.
What if there’s another Japanese star already in MLB who could ostensibly be a fit for the Dodgers via trade this winter?
The Boston Red Sox may be looking to move on from Masataka Yoshida just two years into the five-year, $90 million deal they signed him to before the 2023 season. Boston’s lineup is chock-full of left-handers, and Yoshida may be the odd man out.
On Monday, FanSided’s Mark Ruelle name named the Dodgers as a top potential landing spot for Yoshida if the Red Sox do opt to trade him this winter.
“On the surface, the Dodgers might not have any interest since signing Michael Conforto recently and still in the hunt for Teoscar Hernández,” Ruelle said. “However, they have proven to be a solid location for Japanese players and Yoshida does have a relationship with Shohei Ohtani.”
“The Dodgers also have the capital to take on more of his contract than most teams. The Red Sox would gladly take some marginal prospects to move on from Yoshida’s contract.”
Yoshida, 31, hasn’t quite lived up to the promise that he showed as a pro in Japan or at the World Baseball Classic. But he’s still been a solid major league hitter, slashing .285/.343/.433 in his career to this point.
The major concern for LA would be whether Yoshida can hold up defensively in left field after being relegated to DH-only duties by the Red Sox. Since Ohtani hogs all the DH at-bats for the Dodgers, any other position player they sign has to hold his own in the field.
Having another contact bat would be a nice plus for the middle third of the Dodgers’ order, and it’s a plus that Yoshida has rapport with Ohtani and Yamamoto. But for the contract he’s on, it wouldn’t be worthwhile unless Boston ate some money.
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