The vast majority of the buzz around Major League Baseball in the offseason is about which players can go to new homes.

For the Boston Red Sox, there have already been a handful of players linked to the organization, including Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs. But that's not all. Teams don't just make additions throughout the offseason, but also subtractions. On Tuesday, while breaking down Boston's crowded outfield, MassLive.com's Chris Cotillo dropped an intriguing point and said that Masataka Yoshida "looks like a goner" this offseason.

"Yoshida, due $18 million next season, looks like a goner after another subpar year," Cotillo wrote. "He is not without value but simply doesn’t fit on this Red Sox roster, so the club might try to trade him again (something they haven’t had luck with before) or simply cut bait."

It's important to note that Cotillo didn't guarantee that Yoshida wouldn't return and this point was in the context of an entire story about the outfield. There is so much talent in Boston's outfield and multiple moving parts. What if injuries pop up, like throughout the 2026 season? What if the Red Sox were to shop Yoshida and no one wants to make a deal? What if the Red Sox try to shop other outfielders, but no one obliges? There are a lot of variables at play here.

What To Do With Masataka Yoshida?

But, let's think about what moving on from Yoshida could look like. Boston signed Yoshida to a five-year, $90 million deal ahead of the 2023 season. He was great in 2023, but has dealt with injuries and inconsistent playing time since. Yoshida played in 140 games as a rookie and slashed .289/.338/.445 with 15 home runs and 72 RBIs in 2023. He played in 108 games in 2024, 55 games in 2025 and just 87 games in 2026.

Yoshida is on the books to make $18.6 million in 2027. When he's healthy, he can hit. He would give a team a solid contact option that they could put toward the top of a lineup. But Yoshida doesn't bring much defensive upside. He can play the corner outfield spots, which there are plenty of teams that aren't as loaded as Boston out there. But he has mainly gotten his playing time as a designated hitter in Boston over the last three years. $18.6 million is a lot of money. For a player who hasn't topped 100 games in a season since 2024, there's no shot someone is going to take on that money, even with his offensive upside.

The only way Boston could offload him in a trade is if the club either kicked in cash to lower his annual hit, or a blue-chip prospect. That's how Boston got out of the Jordan Hicks deal last offseason. The Red Sox traded Hicks, David Sandlin and some cash to the Chicago White Sox. For right-hander Gage Ziehl. If the Red Sox are going to find a taker for Yoshida, that's the type of move they'd have to make.

He was talked about as a trade candidate last offseason, but with two years left on his deal, it wasn't realistic. Now, with one year left, there is more reason to believe Boston could find a new home for him, if it kicks in some cash and likely a prospect. The only positive in this situation is that Yoshida is on the books for just one more season, then Boston is out of the deal in general.

If the Red Sox cannot find a taker in the trade market, the idea of cutting bait with him would be interesting. If the Red Sox were to designate him for assignment and went unclaimed, Boston would still on the hook for the deal.

Right now, Yoshida doesn't have much of a path to playing time. It likely would be for the best for both sides to move on this winter.