Baseball fans experienced déjà vu in the afternoon of March 3 when Jeff Passan reported that Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar will be suspended for performance enhancing drug use. Profar was suspended last year for the same offense — this time, his suspension has more than doubled from 80 games to a full 162-game season.
The MLB Players' Association plans to challenge Profar's suspension, according to insider Ken Rosenthal. In the meantime, the Braves will need another outfielder to fill the hole in their lineup. Lucky for them, the Boston Red Sox have some to go around.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said he never planned to trade from the outfield group this offseason, which shocked some Red Sox fans, considering they have three available spots and four everyday players. They also have another player capable of filling the designated hitter spot every day — Masataka Yoshida.
Boston has tried to deal Yoshida as part of a salary dump before, but it hasn't been able to get any teams to bite. Atlanta, newly desperate, could be open to a trade for Yoshida, despite the cost.
A Red Sox-Braves Masataka Yoshida trade could address Atlanta's outfield vacancy after Jurickson Profar's PED suspension
The 32-year-old hasn't been a bad player for Boston by any means, but it'd be hard to argue that he's lived up to his five-year, $90 million contract price. Part of his struggles have been frequent injuries, and he's only played a maximum of 140 games in a single season.
Yoshida has batted .282/.337/.425 over 303 games across parts of three seasons for the Red Sox. He has a keen eye for the strike zone, with a 13.0 strikeout percentage in MLB. Alex Cora has prized him as "one of the best hitters on the team" when he's on and healthy, and other teams could also see that level of talent.
The Red Sox would probably still have to eat some of Yoshida's contract money in the event of a trade, since he's owed over $36 million for the final two years of his deal. They may also have to attach a prospect to him to account for his contract price and status as rather injury-prone, but it could be worth it to clear the logjam in the Sox's roster and give Yoshida the consistent playing time he deserves.
Yoshida is the type of consistent-hitting player the Red Sox need after their strikeout woes from last season, but they also like to keep their DH spot flexible. If they plan to use Duran, Roman Anthony and Willson Contreras there throughout the season, there will be little playing time for Yoshida to thrive. The Braves could present a chance for Yoshida to get a change of scenery for for Boston to help him out.