How Will the Return of Bregman and Yoshida Affect the Red Sox?

Today the Red Sox announced that Masataka Yoshida would join the club on the next homestand which starts on Monday. Alex Bregman may also return before the All Star break. How does this affect the lineup? We've seen the bats start to wake up. Will this help or hinder that trend?

Outfield

With Yoshida back there will be 6 players for 4 spots in the lineup (3 OF plus DH). Conventional thinking is that Yoshida and Refsnyder will platoon at the DH spot. That's not a terrible plan. If you combine Yoshida's 2024 numbers against RHP and Refsnyder's 2025 numbers against LHP you get a slash of .305/.377/.474/.851. That's pretty good. One problem with this is that Refsnyder has already been platooning with Abreu in RF, so that would be over. At this point, I think Abreu should be playing every day, so I'm OK with that. That still leaves one too many outfielders. So, what are the options?

One option is to move Rafaela to the infield. I really hate that idea. Rafaela has played all but one inning this year in CF and he's been terrific. He's also improved significantly at the plate, and I don't think that's a coincidence. They need to keep him in CF. I also think he should be moved up to at least 6th in the lineup to get him more ABs but that's another conversation. Roman Anthony also needs to play every day. He is starting to hit and show us what he can do. He's going to be a star in this league. That leaves Duran.

If I had to move one of these 6 players it would be Yoshida but because of his albatross contract, he's probably not going anywhere. Duran is under team control thru 2028. While he's not the MVP caliber player he was last year, his skills plus the team control gives him pretty good value. The Red Sox could use him to acquire controllable starting pitching. I would not want to see him moved for a rental.

Infield

6 outfielders plus 2 catchers means 5 infielders on a 13-man position player roster. At first base, I think you have to use a Toro/Romy platoon. Again, the numbers there are pretty good. Their platoon slash for 2025 is .314/.371/.544/.915. That would put them in the top 10 hitters in MLB. Assuming Story, Mayer, and Bregman as the other every day IF that would mean no backup middle infielder. There would be no room for Hamilton (which is fine) but you do need a backup.

Again, trading away an OF for pitching would allow you to have a second backup infielder which I think is crucial for any team. What else could you do? Well, on the Bastards podcast, Terry Cushman floated the idea of trading Trevor Story to a playoff team that needs a 2B. Given his recent hot streak, is that enough for some team to take on his remaining 50 or so million dollars? Would the Red Sox eat some of that? Maybe. We know that Kristian Campbell is coming back to the big club at some point this year. They should give him every chance to be the starting 2B or maybe 1B.

We could talk about trading Bregman but I'm not going there. I'd like to see him in Boston for all three years of his contract.

Conclusion

If the Red Sox are going to "go for it" this season, they need more pitching. One starter and maybe one reliever as well. Trading Duran and his 3 years of team control should bring back a good starting pitcher with team control. They could use minor league assets to acquire a reliever. This assumes Breslow and the front office could pull something like this off. That remains to be seen. Given his history of deadline deals, a deal of this magnitude may be above his pay grade. However, his ace-in-the-hole might be Theo Epstein. His former minion Ben Cherington is in Pittsburgh, and they have a pretty good starting pitcher named Mitch Keller who is under contract through 2028. The Red Sox bats are heating up. They now have 3 viable starters in Crochet, Bello, and Giolito. A fourth could vault them into the playoff hunt. Regardless of whether they choose to be buyers or sellers, it is crucial that they make smart trades for controllable players.