Ah the saga of the $100M man. It’s funny to look back at the comments on the Yoshida thread when they signed him that I was NOT to thrilled at, which most on here were. Bloom had so much of a vision he closed the bidding down in record time with that contract offer. Like I said earlier a parting gift by Bloom, and now there’s not much FUN watching him.
All due respect to moonslav--and he has earned a lot--Yoshida was not the biggest problem in last night's loss. For one thing, he made no errors whereas Valdez put that lead guy on with an error, then Booser made the error on a sac bunt that brought two Cincinnati runners home for two unearned runs. Then Devers made an error, which did not result in another unearned run.
I would definitely have started Ref, a righty bat, at DH--over Yoshida--but the righty bats weren't all that great against lefty Abbott. O'Neill, Dalbec, and Rafaela were all hitless. So was Devers, a lefty bat, but one with an OPS of .897. So was Yoshida, of course. One Sox dinger was by righty Wong and the other by lefty Duran.
With Abreu back--I think today, but maybe tomorrow--the Sox three best outfielders are Duran in LB, Rafaela in CF, and Abreu in RF. They are all good at the plate and in the outfield.
So that leaves three DH's, all with negative DWAR's and very different OPS's:
O'Neill (.886)
Refsnyder (.883)
Yoshida (.639).
So why play/keep Yoshida? Five reasons. 1. He's the only lefty bat among the three. 2. His contract is a significant sunk cost: $90M for 5 years plus $3M bonus. 3. We know he could hit in Japan, and it's possible he needs more time to adjust to America and MLB pitching. 4. Maybe that wrist is still affecting his swing. If it is, the Sox could put him back on the IL. 5. With Abreu back on the active roster, Dalbec returns to Worcester, and the Sox still have redundancy in all positions.
There is an issue with the 3 OFers you listed.
Abreu should never start vs LHPs and maybe Rafaela might be needed or used at SS some days.
O’Neill needs to play FT when healthy, and Ref v all lefties at minimum.
With so much overloading, maybe we trade an OFer for a P or 2Bman
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?