(Boston) The Red Sox have signed five-year, $90 million outfielder Masataka Yoshida, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics and twice outscored Pacific League batters.
The 29-year-old Yoshida led the Orix Buffaloes to a playoff victory in Japan in October, hitting two long balls in Game 5 — including the game-winner to put his team from behind to win in the ninth round.
“He’s a player that we love, that we’ve watched a lot,” Red Sox chief of baseball operations Chaim Bloom admitted at Major League Baseball’s winter conference in San Diego.
Yoshida batted .326 with a .419 on-path coefficient in seven seasons in Japan, all with the Orix Buffaloes.
Rumors of Yoshida’s arrival began circulating just as shortstop and free agent Xander Bogaerts signed with the San Diego Padres. Bogaerts has been the cornerstone of the Red Sox plan so far this winter.
Yoshida is the main Japanese-born impact player to join the Red Sox since the 2007 acquisition of gunner Daisuke Matsuzaka, who was overbid. The Red Sox paid 51 million to obtain exclusive rights to negotiate with him, then they agreed to a pact of approximately 52 million.