BOSTON — The Red Sox have signed outfielder Masataka Yoshida, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics and twice topped Pacific League batters, to a five-year, $90 million contract.
The 29-year-old Yoshida led the Orix Buffaloes to a playoff conquest of Japan in October, hitting two long balls in Game 5 _ including the game-winner to allow
his team to come from behind to win in the ninth inning.
« 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 for exclusive trading rights with him, then agreed to a deal worth about $52 million.
