Red Sox Mailbag: What should Sox do with Masataka Yoshida?

The season is underway and two weeks in the Red Sox have been something of a mixed bag At times the club has looked dominant and at others it s felt like the club can t get out of its own way How do fans feel about the club so far We answer your questions in in current times s Red Sox mailbag What s the deal with Yoshida Timeline Imminent exchange prospects Conor M Masataka Yoshida underwent a right shoulder labral repair last October and while he s been cleared to hit and spent nearly a month participating in spring training games as a designated hitter he still hasn t been cleared to throw or play in the field Given that Rafael Devers is serving as the company s full-time DH the only way the Red Sox can use Yoshida now is in the outfield so until he s ready he will remain on the injured list In the short term Yoshida is expected to advance to Fort Myers next week to continue his rehab and play in extended spring training games He ll be able to do that until the Florida Complex League begins on May after which point he would either have to begin a rehab assignment to keep playing in games or limit his work to the fields or the batting cages My guess is he will start an assignment sometime around then giving the Red Sox another days before they have to make various kind of decision As for Yoshida s agreement prospects he won t really have any value until he s healthy and shows he can contribute at the plate A crew in need of outfield depth or a left-handed hitter might be willing to take a flier if the Red Sox eat a sizable portion of his remaining contract but don t expect to cross that bridge until summer at the earliest With Devers at DH Duran the leadoff man Abreu improving Anthony knocking on the door and Breslow believing in Rafaela enough to extend him it s getting harder and harder to see even a short-term fit for Yoshida How will the organization handle him given his immovable contract TB goatfan This right here is the elephant in the room when it comes to Yoshida Yoshida no longer fits the Red Sox roster so the club has an incentive to drag out activating him for as long as achievable to delay having to make any kind of decision The Red Sox could use his bat in the lineup especially given the way the club has been striking out in recent times but playing Yoshida would bulk likely mean bumping Ceddanne Rafaela to the bench swapping an elite defensive contestant out for a below average one Having Yoshida would be a big help if someone were to get hurt but otherwise the club doesn t have multiple good options Once healthy I think the bulk likely outcome is Yoshida takes over as the starting left fielder against right-handers with Rafaela slotting into a similar role as David Hamilton has now That wouldn t necessarily be a terrible tradeoff Yoshida is a much more consistent hitter than Rafaela and you could argue the Red Sox could get away with hiding him in left field but Alex Cora has also stated he wants to keep Jarren Duran in left as much as practicable This option is also only viable for as long as the Sox can justify keeping Roman Anthony at Triple-A If there comes a point where the Red Sox decide he s ready then they aren t going to let Yoshida be an impediment whether he s healthy or not My guess is the group will try to kick the can down the road as far as doable with Yoshida and see how the chips fall But eventually something is going to have to give and whether it s next month at the transaction deadline or next offseason it feels like eventually the Red Sox and Yoshida are going to have to part methods Red Sox second baseman Kristian Campbell has gotten off to a strong start to his rookie season Ron Jenkins Getty Images What do you think of how Kristian Campbell has looked so far Nate H There have been a few growing pains but all things considered I think Campbell has been as good as anyone could have reasonably expected Entering the weekend Campbell was for with two home runs four doubles runs scored and nearly as a large number of walks as strikeouts He has been one of the largest part productive offensive performers on the organization and he has established himself among the early contenders for American League Rookie of the Year alongside guys like Toronto s Easton Lucas Texas Jack Leiter and Jacob Wilson from the Athletics among others Defensively Campbell still requirements several seasoning but there have been plenty of indicators that with enough experience he could develop into an excellent defender For starters he s helped turn a lot of double plays something the Red Sox constantly struggled with throughout last season He s also shown particular impressive range particularly in the outfield where he nearly made the catch of the year during his first career left field start back on Opening Weekend in Texas Has Campbell made a sparse boneheaded plays Yes Has he delivered every time he s come to bat in a key spot No But what he has done is shown he can perform at the major league level which isn t inevitably a given no matter how talented a player might be Rafael Devers has gotten off to a roller coaster start for the Red Sox AP Photo Mark Stockwell Good or bad what has surprised you with the Red Sox so far this season Ed H The offense s lack of consistency has been an unwelcome surprise This group is much more talented than what Boston had at its disposal at any point last year but the results have been largely similar A lot of strikeouts Long stretches where the whole lineup goes ice cold An inability to bring home runners in scoring position Those things have been hallmarks of the Red Sox offense in new years but the overall totals still wind up looking good because when things do click the lineup scores in bunches That s been the occurrence so far this year too I still wouldn t say the offense is cause for concern Last year the Red Sox had games where either Rob Refsnyder or David Hamilton were batting second and games where Connor Wong was batting fifth Those things supposedly won t happen too often this year because if everything goes according to plan it ll be Rafael Devers and Trevor Story batting in those spots pretty much every challenge My guess is before long the lineup will start clicking and we ll stop seeing such dramatic swings back and forth but given who the Red Sox have available it really shouldn t be happening at all Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman celebrates the final out of his organization s home opening win Stuart Cahill Boston Herald Would you say if the Red Sox continue to play like we expect their biggest need from outside the organization will be more bullpen help Davis S Preponderance likely Getting Liam Hendriks back should help a lot but even at full strength the Red Sox are likely still one high-leverage arm short of being a true contender The arms Boston has aren t really the complication Aroldis Chapman has done well as the closer Justin Slaten and Garrett Whitlock are both reliable high-leverage options and Hendriks has a strong track record despite his contemporary run of injuries The difficulty is what happens on a night where two or three of those guys are down Whitlock in particular will usually need two nights off after each of his outings Are Boston s depth guys enough With a well-stocked position athlete core and a surplus of starting pitcher options I imagine that if the Red Sox are in the thick of the playoff hunt come late July they ll be in the territory for a top reliever The only caveat however is what the catching situation looks like a couple of months from now Connor Wong should be back from the IL by sometime in June but if he struggles upon his return or Carlos Narvaez isn t productive catcher could move to the top of the to-do list Favorite moment from the Netflix Red Sox docuseries MrMoses Jarren Duran revealing his suicide attempt was certainly the series the majority compelling and pivotal moment and it has deservedly gotten a lot of attention One other moment from the series that stood out though was the conversation between Alex Cora and Brayan Bello that the Netflix cameras captured from across the outfield By that point we d learned that Bello s family was having visa issues so the right-hander hadn t gotten to see his baby in months Seeing Cora gently confront Bello and correctly surmise that he missed his family and then watching Bello slowly walk away to the far side of the frame as he gathered himself that was just an amazing shot Seeing guys getting called up or reacting to a good or bad performance in the clubhouse is one thing but this was truly a one-of-a-kind moment and it s amazing to me that Netflix was able to capture it And yes I ll admit it was cool seeing myself and my colleagues on the Red Sox beat popping up throughout There were perhaps a handful of times during the first viewing where I was like the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the screen meme when Gabrielle or I turned up