Even with Triston Casas done for the season, we still haven’t seen the best version of the Red Sox lineup yet.
Almost exactly one year ago in early May of 2024, I asked the following question: How Much Longer Will Rafael Devers and Masataka Yoshida Coexist On The Red Sox?
The bubbling issue at hand was simple. The Red Sox were about to have two designated hitters, and the front office had to do something about it. From the linked article:
The Red Sox invested $313 million in Devers over the next ten seasons (by far the largest contract on the books), and it’s becoming increasingly obvious that at some point he needs to transition over to the DH role. Ideally, that will come long before 2028 when Yoshida is no longer projected to be on the roster.
But as simple as the sticky situation should have been to understand, the solution was uncomfortable and complex, and apparently (insert 85-year-old man voice) we don’t do uncomfortable and complex in the modern age. So instead, we got a half-measure on the roster construction side of things, an unhappy Devers to start the spring, and a bunch of missing pieces in the story because that would have been uncomfortable and complex to uncover.
To the front office’s credit, when it comes to the roster construction mess, they did address the most important half in their half-measure. Not only is Alex Bregman a perfect fit in Boston, but they absolutely had to get Devers’ defense off third base, and this was the perfect way to do it. The problem of course is once they rightfully bumped Devers off a position where his glove was hurting the team, they just never addressed the Yoshida side of things. Instead, he was exiled to the wastelands of Worcester, and as we know, even that hasn’t worked out as planned.
So now we’ve been living in this weird world where Devers is slowly settling into his role as DH, and Yoshida can’t play because even though he can hit, his bum shoulder won’t allow him to throw in the field and he’s blocked by Devers at DH.
But let’s ride this ridiculous roster riddle one step further. Even if he could throw, where exactly is Yoshida supposed to slot in this outfield? Between the spark of Jarren Duran, the productivity of Wilyer Abreu, the elite defense of Ceddanne Rafaela, and the impending rise of the Roman Empire, there’s no room for him out there either.
Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
This is why it’s just mind boggling to me this was not addressed in the offseason. I would LOVE to know the list of deals they came closest to making but didn’t actually pull the trigger on over the last six months. Somebody big had to be really close to going out the door right? Whether it was Yoshida himself, one of the outfielders, or another roster piece that would domino effect everybody else into place, something had to be in the works that just never materialized. Right?
I bring this up because if you believe some of the tea leaves out there, one of the pieces that may have been close to moving was Triston Casas, and while that didn’t happen, the implications on the Yoshida / Devers situation would have been enormous. Specifically, it would’ve opened up a landing spot for Devers to stay in the field when they moved him off third, and as Dan Secatore noted yesterday, first base is the one place on the diamond Devers could probably play and not cost the team a bunch of runs defensively.
So now that Tristan Casas suffered a season ending and potentially career threatening left patella tendon injury on Friday night, everything’s changed. The reason Devers had to go to DH to start the season is because at that time he was blocked by a better option everywhere else. That’s no longer the case.
Now, that the equation is completely different, and the discussion shifts to some serious short vs. long-term outlooks. Personally, I still believe Devers should be the DH long-term, and I feel that way for all the reasons outlined a year ago.
But if he can play first, it’s really hard to argue that the 2025 Red Sox are not a better team with him there going forward. It not only allows Yoshida to come back into the lineup as a DH while his throwing shoulder heals, but it also creates a little more wiggle room with the outfield overflow (and the infield overflow for that matter if Marcelo Mayer, Trevor Story, Kristian Campbell and Alex Bregman are all there at once). This would allow you to roll out versions of the lineup with Devers, Yoshida, Bregman Mayer, Campbell, Duran, Abreu, Anthony all in there at the same time. Doesn’t that sound nice?
And don’t forget that this team lacks situational hitting, and Yoshida is one of the best situational bats you will find out there. Remember what he did at Yankee Stadium last July, or in the World Baseball Classic against Mexico? Both of those were late inning, long at bats with men on base amidst an amped up atmosphere that resulted in a game-tying tater. This roster is specifically missing that moxie, and suddenly, for the first time since it became obvious that Devers needed to move off third base, Yoshida’s situational awareness doesn’t need to be collateral damage.
One thing is certain: This lineup is going to look at lot different by the summer than it has so far. The Triston Casas injury changed everything, both in the short-term, but also in the long-term with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. off the board next winter after getting a half a billion dollars from the Blue Jays. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, that’s a topic for another day. For now, it appears Devers and Yoshida can coexist on the best version of the Red Sox roster going forward this season, and that’s something to be excited about.