Hugh2

Yoshida is about a .8 .9 WAR guy when playing full time, but I suspect that if he didn't have the knock on him from playing defense he could be a 1-1.5 guy. Lets split the difference for simplicity, add in inflation and he's worth about 10 million a year. Hypothetically the Sox could get a team to easily take him if they ate half his contract. I believe they would do that if someone out there liked him enough. If Yoshida was a position player, and a cheap team was in desperate need of a stop gap 3B/1B/CF/RF etc etc etc. I think he moves for half his contract. Maybe he's not moving because the Sox view him as their starting 2026 DH.

Exactly I agree.

And yet there are SS/C/CF who DH and rotate in. Not terribly common. But I literally just looked at the positional split playing time for every team in baseball. There are legit those guys rotating in

Is $18 million a year for two years really that crazy? I get and agree it was a bad contract, but if he’s a good DH and teams value that, the Sox would have traded him by now.. he doesn’t have to do much to be worth $18 million for just two years. if DHs were valued how you guys are arguing they would have moved him by now

And catcher, excuse me for obvious reasons catcher should be in there too. But let’s make no mistake. If catching didn’t wear down the body teams would roll catchers out there for 150+ games plus

Add. I never said Yoshida isn’t a good DH, and if I did I didn’t mean to. what I am saying, is it’s obvious the team doesn’t value him highly there AT ALL. most other DHs do play some games in the field. Yoshida doesn’t add any positional versatility, no value on the bases, his only skill is a good hit tool with no power. And that’s great, but there’s a reason the Sox can’t find a trading partner. Don’t tell me he’s overpaid. He’s owed $18 million for two years. Effectively not a single team in baseball thinks he’s worth 4-5 WAR over the next two years. That’s not exactly a glowing report on having a full time DH.

I think the Ohtani point went over your head. He literally is a 6-8 war player before he even picks up a bat. That should end that argument BUT he’s only DHing because he pitches. If Ohtani only hit, he’d be playing in the field

Oh so we are taking the word of the Sox brass in the offseason as gospel? Also didn’t they sign him to play LF? They literally don’t want him on the roster so I’m not sure what point this is making. so teams want full time DH’s because the DH they reportedly planned on being a DH whom they didn’t sign to DH is a guy they don’t even want on the roster? That’s not exactly a solid argument for teams value and go out and look to have one solid guy at DH

Yeah, a third baseman who they moved because he could hit. oh wait, he’s a 1b now too actually. If you have a Rafael Devers who you can plug in at DH you do that. Most teams don’t have that and aren’t looking to do that until it happens. no one ever signs a DH and says “yeah he can DH for a while but he might have to slide over to 3B for the last couple years of that contract”

“Bregman only playing 75% of their games games” how many teams had one player DH only 75% of the time?

You can look at the positions splits. Guys get hurt but there’s a whole lot of 75% plus across every position. with the Lone Caveat being DH

Don’t confuse this argument with being against getting a big bat to DH when the lineup desperately needs offense. there’s a reason many of us wanted someone line Schwarber signed or even Alonso

Not really at all. Because the aggregate is the only thing that matters, because exceptions will always exist. with the caveat of having an elite bat, teams prefer to not have a full time DH. the fact that someone on a lot of teams grows into that slot during the season is a logic result and not a planned move.

All we heard about for months was how Yoshida could swing the bat (and was) but was still on the IL because he couldn’t play the field. no way the Sox “planned” on Yoshida being their DH. Devers was the DH no one has ever “planned” for Yoshida to be their DH

Fangraphs has playing time broken down by 2025 rosters. however it's actually a depth chart using 2026 projections I think. But it explicity says' its for 2025. That's a mix up on someones part over at that site. Still, the fact that they are projecting him for more playing time in the field is a statement. They had him at DH, but he's viewed more as a fielder. He wasn't signed and sought after to be a full time DH. So my point still holds true.

I went into this seeing how actually was or was not a full time DH per playing time. It makes sense that there's some clarification in all this. Notin was kind enough to provide those details to us. But as I said, at least in a few of those situations a player was playing the field, got hurt, and came back to DH. That kind of strengthens my argument that those teams (at least inititally) wanted to rotate the DH spot.

I also find it interesting that many of the full time DH's are not guys that teams went out into free agency and bought them thinking oh yeah!!!! lets go sign that guy and put him at DH full time!!!!. Obviously that's going to happen with an elite bat like Schwarber. But when teams do employ a DH 50% of the time or above the higher end of those guys that are inarguably full time DH's are your Giancarlo Stantons. Nobody wanted him to be a DH, he fell into that role. Lets use the Red Sox as a better example. We want Duran to be a good outfielder somewhere, we WANT Roman Anthony to be a stud outfielder, we want those players to be all stars at their position. We wanted Casas to be a first baseman, if he becomes are DH it will be because he hit his way back to being a MLB player NOT because we wanted him to be a DH. Does anybody really truly desire Yoshida to be our full time DH? But yet he'd be ok there, and we would be fine with it if an outfielder is traded and/or Casas never comes back. Teams are not LOOKING for DH's the way that they look for a second baseman.

ehhhh **** it I'll keep going Pirates - rotation Rangers - full time DH (theres 5!!!!) Rays - full time DH 6!!! uh you guys are catching up. Red Sox - rotation Reds - rotation Rockies - rotation Royals - rotation Tigers - rotation Twins - rotation White Sox - rotation Yankees - Full Time DH Dodgers - Full time DH (it's only fair). so 8 full time DH's My point was, is, and will continually to be MLB teams do not look to employ full time DH's. It's something that happens when either A.) you have a Kyle Schwarber on your roster or B.) enough guys get hurt that one guy is essentially playing all the games there but as my friend Notin pointed out......a lot of teams often do NOT start off the season that way.

Really???? because it almost NEVER happens that way. actually if anything, it appears injury forces a guy into a more prominent starting role at DH.

Suzuki started 14% of their games at DH. You don't strike me as a liar who makes things up so you're obviously looking at something wrong.

I'll simplify it Guardians - ROtation Mariners - Rotation Marlins - Rotation Mets - Rotation Nationals - Rotation Orioles - Rotation Padres - Rotation Philles - Rotation.....just kidding. Schwarber is full time DH. I'm just going to stop there, I'll look at more later. The majority of teams do not have a full time DH, and when they do apparently the started the season with a rotatation and a guy got hurt. So it really really really really really does not look like teams are looking to employ a full time DH but rather it something that happens when injuries pile up OR you have a guy like Schwarber. I mean, just to continually reiterate my point lets look at our team. The guy who is poised to get the most DH at bats is a person almost every fan would rather not have on this team as it handcuffs us in so many ways.

I'm not giving you Ohtani, he literally pitches full time too when healthy and it's been said over and over again he is an execellent athlete who would play the field if he wasn't pitching. But I won't teke him either so lets move onto the Giants. Eldridge 55% playing time they did DH Devers a little bit but literally moved him to 1B for 75% of their games. They also gave time at DH to Heliot Ramos who was their full time LF. Another rotation 7 out of 10.

Literally all your examples are "well this guy moved to DH when he got hurt" But how many of these teams started the year with a full time DH? which would seem to be a pre-requisite to claim a team doesn't want to rotate the DH and prefers to have a full time player there.

I notice a trend here. Every one of your full time DH examples is dependent on injury or something happening literally works against the argument that teams look to employ a full time DH. Seemingly it only happens when a guy gets hurt but can still hit. So is that argument? teams are looking for guys who can get injured and then DH? (obviously being sarcastic here). Because in the absence of having a GOAT at DH like Schwarber it appears that the majority of teams rotate their DH, and give more consistent time at the position when forced to do so when injury occurs.

Diamondbacks split the DH position between 7 guys, with no one getting above 38% of the DH at bats and other guys who started the field such as Loures Gurriel Jr and Ketel Marte taking 28% of the DH at bats to rest them from the field with a few other guys. THat's a rotation. 6 out of 9