Red Sox Ripped Over Masataka Yoshida Contract

It's been a rough week for the Boston Red Sox. Not only did they lose longtime shortstop Xander Bogaerts to the San Diego Padres, but they've also come under fire for their biggest signing of the offseason so far.

According to industry experts, the team may have drastically overpaid for its new outfielder.

Masataka Yoshida Red Sox

The Red Sox signed Japanese outfielder Masataka Yoshida to a five-year, $90 million contract on Wednesday. With the $15.4 million posting fee included, the final price tag was over $105 million. That's the second-largest contract handed out by Boston since Chaim Bloom was appointed Chief Baseball Officer in 2019, trailing only last winter's Trevor Story deal.

Unfortunately for the Red Sox, many MLB insiders don't think Yoshida is worth it. According to ESPN's Kiley McDaniel, one of his sources thought the 29-year-old was "worth less than half of what they paid."

This is terrible news for Boston, who could have used that money to re-sign Bogaerts instead. Their final offer of $162 million was $113 million less than what the Padres gave Bogaerts, so Yoshida's contract was essentially the difference.

It's bad enough that the Red Sox may have grossly overpaid for an international free agent with no MLB experience, but it's even worse that doing so may have cost them their franchise shortstop as well.

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