REUTERS
December 8, 2022 at 13:35 JST
Masataka Yoshida hits a game-winning home run during the bottom of the ninth inning of the fifth game of the Japan Series on Oct. 27, 2022, in Osaka. (The Asahi Shimbun/ Jin Nishioka)
The Boston Red Sox have agreed to a five-year, $90 million deal with outfielder Masataka Yoshida, ESPN reported Wednesday night.
Yoshida, 29, spent last season with the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. He led Orix to a Japan Series championship this past season, hitting .335 with 21 home runs and 88 RBIs. Yoshida struck out 41 times in 508 plate appearances.
Boston will also pay the Buffaloes a $15.4 million posting fee in addition to the $90 million owed to Yoshida. The posting system allows players that are signed with foreign teams to sign with Major League Baseball clubs, but said clubs have to pay a fee to the foreign team based on a percentage of a player’s guaranteed salary.
Wednesday marked the first day that Yoshida was eligible to sign with a major league team after being posted.
Over the course of his seven-year career, Yoshida hit .326 with 135 home runs and 474 RBIs while also recording a .419 on-base percentage and .538 slugging percentage.
Yoshida joins an outfield that features Alex Verdugo, Enrique Hernandez, Christian Arroyo and Rob Refsnyder. J.D. Martinez, who spent the last five seasons with the Red Sox, is a free agent.
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