The Boston Red Sox have put themselves in a position to make the postseason, despite shockingly trading away Rafael Devers earlier in the year.
One reason the Red Sox have fared well without Devers is Alex Bregman. The team signed him to a three-year, $120 million deal last offseason, but he can opt out after the year ends.
Bregman is likely to opt out following an All-Star season. He should be able to find a better deal on the open market, and MLB insider Jon Heyman believes he could get a $200 million deal.
The Red Sox can still extend Bregman, but either way, they will need to give him a raise to keep him around. After trading Devers and his contract, the Red Sox have money to spend, but FanSided’s Eric Cole thinks the team will be forced to trade Masataka Yoshida to afford Bregman.
“This is not a knock on Yoshida as he has been better than many fans (and probably the Red Sox) give him credit for,” wrote Cole. “However, Boston has a roster crunch even if they let Bregman walk, the team clearly does not want Yoshida in the field. Trading Yoshida away to a team that would actually appreciate and use his talents would free up $18.6 million a year through 2027 and could be the difference between being able to sign Bregman and not.”
Yoshida’s power has not translated to MLB from Japan. He was consistently hitting at least 20 home runs a season in Nippon Professional Baseball, but has just 27 home runs in over 250 games in MLB.
Not only would trading him free up money, but it would open up the designated hitter spot for the team. That could help fix some of the logjams the team has.
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