One offseason story that carried on to the new season for the Boston Red Sox is their outfield logjam. In 2026, Red Sox manager Alex Cora has to manage too many bats and not enough outfield spots. With Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Jarren Duran already in the Opening Day lineup, a Japanese left-fielder is the odd man out in the Red Sox roster.

Japanese star Masataka Yoshida is under a five-year, $90 million contract with the Red Sox. For now, Yoshida remains in the active roster as a fifth OF and DH, with Cora hoping to rotate between his designated hitters. But MLB insider Ken Rosenthal does not think that it is a viable solution for the Red Sox. Rosenthal thinks that the franchise would ultimately DFA him if they don’t find a trade partner.

“There is no place for Masataka Yoshida on the Red Sox,” remarked Rosenthal on Foul Territory. “I don’t know where this is going. He (Yoshida) seems like a DFA waiting to happen, and honestly, for his own benefit, he needs to get out of there.”

Following his standout 2023 WBC performance, where he set a tournament record with 13 RBI and helped Japan clinch the title, Yoshida made his MLB debut with the Red Sox. His rookie MLB year looked promising as he batted .289 with 15 homers and 72 RBI in 140 games. But his stats show a steady decline as the number of games also lessened. He played 108 games in 2024 and only 55 games in 2025 owing to a shoulder injury that forced him to miss significant playing time.

In 2024, Yoshida slashed .280/.349/.415 while hitting 10 homers and 56 RBIs with a .764 OPS. Dealing with an injury, Yoshida’s numbers further dropped in 2025 to a .266/.307/.388 line with .695 OPS alongside four home runs and 26 RBI.

This season, though, Yoshida is healthy, and so is Roman Anthony, whose Rookie season ended early due to a left oblique strain. Cora will now have to come up with a solution for the logjam that he avoided last season with Yoshida’s injury.

The 2023 WBC performance for Japan brought Yoshida to the spotlight. But his resurgence in the 2026 Classic has not been able to get him a fixed spot in Boston. Yoshida slashed .375/.444/.813 with two homers and six RBIs in five games for Japan.

For their Opening Night, Anthony played left, Rafaela played center, and Abreu played right with Duran coming in as a designated hitter. If Cora wants to include Masataka, one of them has to miss playing time.

“I don’t want Roman to become a DH. I don’t want JD to become a DH. Like I said before, when Ceddanne doesn’t play center field, JD will play center field. When Wilyer doesn’t play right field, JD will play left field. Roman will play right. And then we have to mix in Masa,” Cora told MLB.com.

According to Cora, Anthony and Duran have locked spots on the lineup, but how he will bring Masataka with Rafaela and Abreu in the picture is unclear. As Rosenthal highlighted, even if the Red Sox do keep him, he won’t get much playing time in this scenario.

Furthermore, once Triston Casas returns, Yoshida’s spot will be even more at risk. Casas, a first-round pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, has been injury-prone in his short career. Last season, he suffered from a ruptured patellar tendon in his left knee. He is scheduled to make his return this year, with the Red Sox putting him on the 10-day injured list before Opening Day.

In the current scenario, a trade seems to be the best fit for Yoshida and the Red Sox. But with the Red Sox owing him $37.2 million for the next two seasons, he makes for a difficult trade piece. As Yoshida remains on their roster, it can be assumed the franchise has not found any suitable trade deals for him.

As Rosenthal highlighted, if Boston does not manage to make a suitable trade deal for Yoshida, the chances of designating him for assignment (DFA) grow higher. It’s unlikely Boston will deal with an outfield logjam for an entire season.

Meanwhile, Yoshida might’ve gotten a timeline for his first regular-season appearance.

When can Yoshida make his first start of the season

Manager Alex Cora of the Boston Red Sox has offered an expected start date for Masataka Yoshida. MassLive’s Christopher Smith reported that Yoshida is expected to make his 2026 regular-season start on Sunday.

Smith wrote on X, “Alex Cora said Masataka Yoshida likely make his first start Sunday.”

Yoshida will likely start against the Cincinnati Reds’ scheduled right-hander, Rhett Lowder. Yoshida struggled against the lefties last season, which might influence Cora’s decision to put him against the right-handers. According to Statmuse, he went 7-for-31 with 3 RBIs and 4 strikeouts against the southpaws in 2025.

Duran, too, struggled against left-handed pitching, but Cora has put him over Yoshida in that aspect. In 2025, when facing the lefties, Duran batted with an average of .211 with 3 homers and 25 RBIs, as per Statmuse.

But the question that arises with Yoshida starting for the Red Sox is: Who will he replace?

One of the players between Duran, Anthony, Rafaela, and Abreu would see bench time. Cora will probably have Yoshida start as the designated hitter. That means, it comes down to Anthony, Duran, and Rafaela to sit. If Cora sits Rafaela, Duran would play center, and if Anthony sits, Duran would play left field.