Masataka Yoshida has struggled a lot at the plate since returning to the Boston Red Sox from the Injured List. In the Designated Hitter position, he is not contributing in the way the Red Sox need him to be. On today's show, Gabby tells you why it's time to start hitting the panic button on Masa. She also discusses whether Boston should be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline, and breaks down Monday's many roster moves, including placing Connor Wong on the Paternity List and recalling pitcher Josh Winckowski from the AAA Worcester Red Sox.
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It's the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. It's time to start panicking about Masataka Yoshida, because so far as a DH, she has absolutely not been panning out this year for the Boston Red Sox. You are locked on Red Sox, your daily Boston Red Sox podcast, part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. Hello and welcome to locked on Red Sox, your daily Boston Red Sox podcast, part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. I'm your host Gabby Herlba, former ESPN social media associate and current host of the Boston Balling podcast as well, and I am here to bring you the latest in all things Boston Red Sox Monday through Friday, straight to your favorite podcast feed, and want to know the best part, it's all free. So if it's free, you might as well check it out because why wouldn't you? I mean, take advantage of it, right? Locked on is your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Price Picks, the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Go to prize picks dot com slash locked on MLB and use code locked on MLB all lower case for a first deposit match up to $100. Welcome to today's episode of the show and I'm locked on Red Sox. I like to let you know that we are dependent on how the Red Sox play for how the mood of the show gets determined. I mean, it's only natural for a Red Sox fan to be disappointed if the Red Sox lose or for a Red Sox fan to be happy if the Red Sox win, and they have been playing good baseball lately overall, and they've given themselves a very good chance to make a playoff run this year, which is very exciting and something I don't think a lot of people would have felt like they could say in April or even May. So I'm going to be going over a little bit later on today's show whether the Red Sox should be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline and a potential move. We could see if they decide to take the buying route and I'm also going to be discussing concerns for Massa Takayoshita because he has been absolutely abysmal for the Red Sox and is coming back from the injured list and the Red Sox also had a busy day Monday in terms of making some roster moves. So I'm going to be going over those as well. First, when it comes to Massa, he has been so frustrating to watch at the plate and it was definitely unfortunate when he got injured because he went on the injured list right as he was starting to heat up for this Red Sox team. He was 14 for 44, which is a 318 batting average with a 375 on base percentage, 477 slugging and 852 OPS in 13 games before landing on the IL. It was kind of one of those situations where he started off slow, then got very hot and then got injured. So he was in a spot where we could see him maybe start to pick things up at the plate and now he's returned from the injured list and the level of productivity is back to being little to nothing. It's been pretty bad since coming back from the IL, he's 4 for 34 with a batting average of 118 with a 189 on base percentage, 147 slugging percentage, 336 OPS, one double, one RBI, two runs scored, two walks and five strikeouts over nine games since returning. It's been bad. He spent from May 1st to June 11th on the IL with the left thumb strain, but he did discuss his swing and said he doesn't think he has any problem with his swings as of now. I mean, there are a lot of concerns here. All of his starts this season have come at DH. He's played just one inning in left field and this is all after he started 84 games in left field in 49 games at DH last year. Alex Quora basically said on June 11th that the Red Sox have given no thought as of now to playing Yoshida in the outfield. He really needs to nail his swing. And I thought that by him playing DH primarily this year and not having to worry as much about his defense, that his productivity at the plate would be very high because he wouldn't have to focus on perfecting his defense, which was a significantly weaker part of his game. And he just only had to focus on making sure that he was approaching his plate appearances in the best way that he could. But he did come out and say that he misses playing in the outfield and wants to get some more reps there. But that doesn't really make sense for what the Red Sox are doing right now. Their outfield is packed right now. I mean, maybe there's an opportunity next year because Tyler O'Neill will be a free agent and Rob Refsnider has a player option for next year that he can choose to exercise or not. So if those two guys are no longer on the roster next year, then maybe Yoshida gets some work back in the outfield. But it doesn't seem like it's part of the Red Sox plan as it shouldn't be because if he were to get back in the outfield, that would be a downgrade in terms of defensive productivity out there. He is not a good defender. He made tons of errors out there last year. So I hope the Red Sox continue to just have him play DH right now because he really needs to be focusing on perfecting his swing. And that's the area at which he could best be utilized for Boston is in the designated hitter role. So we need him to continue to improve at the plate. And that is the biggest thing. He went from 713 and a third innings in the outfield last year to not playing in the outfield at all this year. And I get that that can be difficult, but the priorities of the Red Sox right now involve him playing DH cleanly and playing it well. The Red Sox ranked 22nd in the majors in DH and slugging percentage. And that is not very good. They need that position to be able to step up. And it's just tough that he's batting just 228 with a 302 on base percentage, 316 slugging percentage, 617 OPS, two homers, four doubles, 12 RBIs, 14 runs, eight walks and 16 strikeouts over 33 games this year. And he signed for five years, $90 million. So the Red Sox are kind of stuck with this right now because he is not productive enough to be able to be traded. I don't think they'd find a trade partner for him, but also how could they trade him? They kind of do need him to be the DH right now. So they're kind of in a tough spot with him right now. But the biggest thing that stands out to me about the reasoning for Yoshida struggles is his timing has been way off. He's been controlling the strike zone and he hasn't been swinging at all these crazy pitches that he shouldn't be swinging at. But the problem to me is that he's just way ahead of it or way behind it. So it's causing him to swing and miss at a lot of things or he's hitting a weak ground ball. He is an absolute ground ball merchant. Alex Cora did say it's a matter of time before he starts driving the ball because he does hit some balls hard and they seem to be comfortable with him, but I don't quite get how you could be comfortable with him with these kinds of performances. And to me, it's tough because they took a chance on him when they signed him. You don't know how an international player like that is going to pan out when they come over to this country to play baseball, just a different game and the skills might not always translate. And so it was hard to know what kind of player he was going to be when the Red Sox signed him, but they chose to take the gamble. There were a lot of things about his scouting report that they liked. And now as a result, they seem to be paying the consequences of signing a guy a little bit prematurely maybe. And he is in a serious struggle right now. And my concern is that there won't be any upward productivity for him because Peter Fatsay, the hitting coach, I don't think is the guy for the job to improve some of these hitters. I don't think he's the guy who can help elevate their game. Too many swings and misses overall as an offensive unit here. And that starts with Fatsay. And there needs to be accountability for people who are on this Red Sox staff, whether that's from a coaching standpoint or a player standpoint, of who is not performing their job to the level that they need to be performing it at. And yes, I give Fatsay credit for guys like David Hamilton, state on Rafaela and Connor Wong who have shown a lot of improvement this year, but then he also needs to be held accountable for the guys like Yoshida who are struggling this year and obviously the injury is part of that. But this is a time where we really need him to step up because that contract is going to look very bad for the Boston Red Sox if he hits like this for the next four years after this. And it's sad that to me, it feels like he's an automatic out every time he's at the plate. And that is truly unfortunate, but he is not getting that good sense of hitting the ball hard and utilizing the field and being able to find open spots. He's just not doing that and it's really a matter of him trying to continue to improve in the area of hitting the ball hard and just trying to make good contact and the timing of it because he is just letting these fastballs blow right past him. So hopefully he can continue to improve, but right now I am not high on him at all. I think we need to do some serious reevaluation of what we're going to do with him moving forward because this is a little bit scary that the Red Sox are paying him this kind of money and he has not been able to hit and perform to the expectation that the Red Sox have wanted him to. So hopefully he can turn that around and be able to be somebody we can rely on, but until that happens, I am not confident. Coming up though, I'm going to be talking about whether the Red Sox should be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline. I feel like this has been a question since the season really started and it was going to depend on where the Red Sox are at, but they're in an interesting place right now. So going to be discussing that next. After I'm locked on Red Sox, we pride ourselves on getting you the latest news for your team. Whether it's the off season, the draft, spring training or the playoffs, it's year round. You know what else is year round, collection season. Just because tax season is over doesn't mean the IRS will stop coming after you for unfiled taxes. The IRS can garnish your wages, levy your bank accounts, and even seize your property. Don't let the IRS target you, let the licensed professionals and tax experts at Tax Network USA go to bat for you. I love Tax Network USA because it's helped me out a lot as an independent contractor here with lockdown and that can be a confusing situation to file taxes. So Tax Network USA has been an absolute lifesaver for me. With over 14 years of experience and an A plus rating by the Better Business Bureau, Tax Network USA has saved their clients over $1 billion in tax debt. Whether you owe taxes, have complicated matters that require tax planning, or finally hit that parlay this season and need help correctly filing, call 1-800-549-100 or visit tnusa.com/lacton. See the link in this episode description below. Tax Network USA will seriously save your life, especially if you need help filing taxes so check it out immediately. Get supplies from the site that's made for the skilled trades, supplyhouse.com. Supplyhouse.com is the reliable way to order plumbing, HVAC, and electrical products online. They're easy to use website is packed with helpful resources and the latest products info to help you get the job done right. Stop a complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from over 400 top grams and get your order delivered right to your door with fast shipping from coast to coast. Need help with an order? Get expert support and industry leading service from the friendliest folks in the business and talk to a real person every time. Pros and the skilled trades can get a competitive edge by joining supplyhouse.com's free Trade Master program. Every Trade Master gets access to a dedicated phone line, free shipping, and discounts on every order. Join the thousands of trade pros already benefiting from their free membership at supplyhouse.com/t-m and order plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies from anywhere with just a few clicks at supplyhouse.com. It's a really convenient and easy way to get your electrical supplies and that's always beneficial so check it out today. You also should check out Lockdown Sports today, the first ever National Sports 24/7 streaming channel. It's available on YouTube and Amazon Fire TV in the free Fire TV channels app and it'll keep you caught up in all things going on in sports no matter where you are. So check that out today as well. Are the Boston Red Sox buyers or sellers at the trade deadline? That is a big question that we as fans will be asking over the next few weeks as the Red Sox continue to play baseball games and they do face some tough opponents in July. They see the Yankees again who they did take two of three from last time. They have a series with the Dodgers in July, another very solid team, but they've proven that they can be competitive teams like taking a series from both the Yankees and the Phillies recently. So that's very promising. But the question becomes do Craig Breslow and ownership see this Red Sox team as a teamwork investing in. We could argue that last year at the trade deadline, the Red Sox were very underwhelming. They added Urias who really didn't pan out for this Red Sox team and added a couple minor pitching additions, but overall they didn't really do a whole lot to show that they believe in the squad that they have and there were players who were pretty vocal about it and expressed disappointment in the lack of moves made at the trade deadline. And if I were a player, I'd be disappointed in that too, because you want to feel like your ownership group believes in you and the minute that ownership gives off a vibe that they don't believe in this team, then why should the players try anymore at that point to continue to focus on being competitive and wanting to win. So I think last year it was definitely a tough pill to swallow because the Red Sox and their fans wanted to see them out at the trade deadline because they were only a couple games out of a wild card spot, but ownership and high in bloom saw things differently, didn't feel like the team was ready to be really competitive, so they wanted to maintain their strong prospect pool and continue focusing on the future. Now this year with the Red Sox being in the spot that they are and being in that wild card spot right now, they are very much on the cusp bouncing in and out of a wild card spot, lingering within one to two games of that spot, switching places with the royals. They are right in that mix and they are at the point now where they're not just at 500. They're playing over 500 baseball and to me they are a competitive team that is showing signs that they can contend and I feel like the speed on this roster alone has given them that opportunity to compete in a lot of games. The fact that the pitching rotation has been pitching well overall which has been a very pleasant surprise for this Boston Red Sox team and they've been able to seemingly start to put things together with guys developing and panning out to be the player that the Red Sox want them to be is all very good signs for Boston. So the question becomes say the Red Sox are in this same spot when the trade deadline is approaching. If they are maybe one game out of a wild card spot where they are in that third wild card spot and they are ready to keep approaching the situation as if they want to win games and make the playoffs and they keep eyeing that postseason party, what does Breslow do to take action? Does he decide to sell off players? In which case if he takes that route I could see Tyler O'Neill being on the move because he is going to be a free agent anyway so I could see it being a situation where the Red Sox trade him to a team that is okay with having a rental because he's going to help them win the World Series this year because maybe a team needs a highly competitive defensive outfielder. So that could be an option. I could also see them packaging in Chris Martin or Kenley Jansen in a trade or possibly both. I mean the Red Sox do need a closer and Kenley has been pitching very well this year in that role so if the Red Sox do decide that they are going to sell, Kenley Jansen would probably get a very good return for a team that just wants a lockdown guy to close out games into the playoffs and help them win the World Series and for the Red Sox they can move some guys around and use the rest of the season as a way to experiment with other players pitching in that closing spot. If they do decide to trade Kenley and then figure out who makes the most sense to be the closer moving forward or they can move Chris Martin who struggled a bit to start the season and then took a bit of a break wanted to take a step back due to some problems he was having with anxiety and now he's come back and he's been pitching very well since he's gotten back from the I.L. So it's nice to see him back looking confident out there and looking to win games. So Chris Martin is another possibility of somebody who the Red Sox might decide to move if they are feeling like you know we're not going to contend this year so we might as well trade aging veterans who could help another team now but probably doesn't make sense for the future so that's another name that's popping into my head as well as possibly Nick Pavetta who this year as a starter has overall been decent but still has a problem with giving up home runs and if there is a team out there looking for a middle of the road starter Pavetta could be a good addition for a team like that as they look to shape out their postseason roster so I could see Pavetta possibly being moved especially with the way that Cooper Criswell has pitched out of the Red Sox rotation this year if Garrett Whitlock comes back healthy next year they keep him in the rotation and they could have Criswell as that fifth starter and then they move Pavetta at the trade deadline this year so that's another possibility if the Red Sox do decide to sell they would be in a good position to get good return on some of these players because these guys are playing well and that is the thing is they want to get as good of a return as they can on prospects if they are going to move some of these guys in which case I do feel like they could be successful with that but if the Red Sox are in contention and they are sitting in a wild cards bar or maybe one or two games out of one I would like to see them add and really invest in a team that could compete this year and it doesn't have to be some big blockbuster move but adding maybe a pitching arm or something like that could be very valuable for this Red Sox team one possibility for the Red Sox at the trade deadline if they do decide to buy into this team could be left handed pitcher Tyler Anderson a 34 year old from the angels he currently sports a 248 ERA through 15 starts with a six and seven record overall the angels are 30 and 46 and hold the third worst record in the American League so they are likely to for sure be sellers at the deadline he signed for 13 million dollars this season and next but given the need for rotation help around the league the angels are likely to have suitors if they opt to move him he's been very good as of late pitching to a 2.00 ERA and 45 innings over his past seven starts so he could be a viable option if the Red Sox do want to add an armor to to their staff at the trade deadline gets closer but he does have advanced metrics that suggest that he might not be able to sustain his current ERA standards especially at Fenway Park so that's one thing to be concerned about and look out for with him another part of this is that the Red Sox might not be buyers at the deadline or they might do this half buying half selling thing one foot in one foot out which I absolutely hate that they've done before like they did in 2022 when they bought and sold at the deadline I would like them to just commit to one or the other that's another thing to keep in mind here too is are the Red Sox willing to invest in this team if they are that could be a viable option as somebody who is not crazy expensive because he's not the ace of the pitching staff or anything like that for the angels but he's somebody who could provide depth to a Red Sox pitching staff that could always use it as they get into the late months of the season but it's going to depend on how July goes for this Red Sox team they did not have the best April and and even worse May they had and then June has been a very fun month for this Red Sox team they've been playing good baseball and it's nice to see that but can they keep that up if they can keep that up in July then it will be a lot easier to buy into this team and its potential later on to be able to be a contending team that has a solid chance to make a deep playoff run so that's all what it's going to come down to I feel like Breslow is the type of guy who would not be afraid to pull the trigger on adding pieces at the deadline if he has permission to do that but I think that everything he does and the moves he makes are dependent on ownership and him following their lead is ownership willing to invest in this team are they willing to add some pieces that might be more expensive for the Red Sox to be able to contend if they are okay with it I feel like Breslow would make some moves to add pitching at the trade deadline and try to have somebody be brought in who won't be super expensive and they won't have to give up a lot of their young talent and core for the future for either but my concern is John Henry and ownership will they allow that to happen do they feel like this Red Sox team is worth investing in these players want to win it's so obvious and it would just be very shameful if Red Sox ownership said never mind we don't believe in this team so I'm really hoping that they do because this team is fun to watch and I feel like there's a ton of potential there coming up I'm going to be talking about a plethora of roster moves that were made for the Boston Red Sox on Monday they were pretty busy so that's coming up if you're looking for a fun way to play daily fantasy sports you should check out prize picks today prize picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over five million active members prize picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports unlike other apps on prize picks is just you against the numbers all you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in get in on the daily action with your friends and become part of the prize picks community today you can now win up to 100 times your money on prize picks with as little as four correct picks you can turn ten dollars into one thousand dollars if you're looking for promotions prize picks has got you covered every week from lowering select players stats productions on Tuesdays to help your lineup hit 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real protein punch wonderful pistachios this is Ryan ficklestein the host of locked on mats and i love the no shells wonderful pistachios so i can eat them straight out of the bag whenever i need a boost and my favorite flavor is their sea salt and vinegar but if you're a pistachio purist who loves cracking open every nut they also have great flavors like sweet chili and salt and pepper grab wonderful pistachios and elevate your snacking game today visit wonderful pistachios.com to learn more the Boston Red Sox were very busy on monday when it came to roster moves quite a bit of shifting around so first they placed catcher connor wong in the paternity leave list how exciting that is he is having a baby so that's awesome so he'll probably be missing a couple games for the baby to be coming he's been on an absolute role lately hopefully rees Maguire can pick up the productivity at the catcher position in his absence but i'm very excited for connor it's so much fun for him that he's bringing the baby into his family so hope everything goes smoothly with that the red Sox also recalled catcher Tyler heinemann from triple a Worcester as a result so he will serve as the backup catcher with Reese being the number one in connor wong's absence Tyler heinemann has not had really any time at all up in the majors so it'll be tough to really tell what kind of performances he's going to come and show up with but he likely won't even be in the lineup because they'll probably opt to use Reese primarily in connor wong's absence so then the red Sox also recalled pitchers Isaiah Campbell and Josh Winkowski from Worcester and as a result they optioned left-handed pitcher Cam Booser and right-handed pitcher Brad Keller to Worcester so lots of moves to be had the first one for Isaiah Campbell who struggled this year early on in the season he sported a 12.79 ERA before going on the injured list his last game up in the majors was april 11th versus the Orioles when he gave up five earned runs over just one inning pitch his outing before that was the day before on april 10th against the Orioles he gave up three earned runs in that game over one inning pitched so he has been a struggle and i am hoping that changes i'm hoping that some time spent down at triple a can help him to come up and be productive on the mound for the red Sox this time around because he seriously struggled and was not the pitcher that i wanted to see from him so maybe things have changed and we'll see a more dominant version of Campbell Josh Winkowski is a good pitcher and he was somebody who had some good stats before getting sent back down to triple a also 333 ERA his last outing was May 8th at the Braves he pitched one inning that day and gave up no earned runs he's only given up a handful of earned runs in the majors this season nine total his most being three in an outing versus the Orioles on april 9th when he pitched 2.2 innings he gave up nine hits and three earned runs in that game and then he also gave up two earned runs versus the guardians on april 16th when he pitched one inning but overall Josh Winkowski has been good so i'm excited to see him back up because he definitely deserves the opportunity to pitch up in the majors because he's somebody that i've always liked and he has a ton of upside had a great season last year out of the red Sox pen so we'll see how he does now that he's back up on the major lake roster so then it was the moves that the red Sox made to move people off the roster cam boozer was sent back down to triple a he has a 321 ERA this year with a one and two record over 26 games pitched he also has recorded a save to overall i like boozer he definitely has gotten himself into some trouble with base traffic in some of his outings but overall he has been able to clean up those messes generally hasn't had a whole lot of stinkers up in the majors but maybe some work in triple a and getting those reps in could be beneficial for him it never hurts for a player to get those reps down in triple a so i do expect him to have the chance to come back up eventually but this could be a good move for right now and it definitely makes sense to have Brad Keller sent down to Worcester he has been struggling out of the red Sox bullpen this year and has not had it and it's been pretty scary watching him try to pitch and watching him try to record outs because it has not been going well for him at all and i hoped for the best when the red Sox brought him in here i wanted to see him pitch well but that just has not happened so he was sent back down to Worcester because he has more than five years of service time he actually had to consent to being option to triple a before the red Sox made that move so they had to talk to him about it he had to clear it and say okay yeah that sounds fine with me so then they sent him down to triple a and maybe for him that would be beneficial as well i don't know that he'll get another opportunity up here at the majors i actually expect that there's a chance that he just stays down in triple a or maybe the red Sox eventually DFA him i would not be upset to see him not get any more time up here at the major league level if you tuned into yesterday's show i talked all about Brad Keller and how he has to go so i'm not at all surprised by this move of the red Sox sending him down to triple a the only benefit to him was that he was a veteran and it's always good to have some veteran presence in the clubhouse to help out the younger guys but his lack of being able to pitch cleanly and efficiently on the mound completely outweighed that all together and it was just a necessary move to be made so the red Sox do definitely see Josh Winkowski as an upgrade from him Isaiah Campbell absolutely still a question mark if he starts to struggle again i'm sure that they'll switch him back with Cam Bouser and then all of these roster moves do make you wonder what's going on with Cooper Chriswell because the red Sox could have started him in Sunday's game but instead they did a bullpen game and the red Sox have been winning bullpen games and they got a win in that game too and that's okay but i really like what Chriswell has been doing in this rotation and i liked the fact that his confidence was continuing to build up because of the fact that he was getting all these reps and pitching every fifth day so now you wonder when's he gonna make an appearance back up in this rotation i feel like he will i don't think he's gonna stay down in triple a i think maybe he'll be part of the next round of roster moves the red Sox make but i do think that he deserves a chance to be in this rotation and be contributing in the way that he has for a good portion of the season and Garrett Whitlock's absence so it'll be interesting to see the next time that he's supposed to be pitching if the red Sox do a bullpen game or if they actually have him come back up and pitch in that spot for the longest time the red Sox weren't announcing a starter for this past Sunday and i wondered if it was because they wanted to maybe see if it made sense to start help then or if it made more sense to start a bullpen game but Chriswell because he was sent back down he has to stay in triple a for 15 days that is the rule unless somebody gets injured and they have to call him up but to me it was more the issue of why did they even send him down to triple a at all in the first place he was a pretty good regular fifth starter and so i would have liked to see him continue in that role but hopefully the red Sox give him another chance in this starting rotation because he certainly has earned it and he has overall been pitching well for the red Sox so lots of activity for this team on Monday but the red Sox just have to keep focusing on winning series and getting to the point where they are deeply in that wild card conversation and convincing ownership that they are worth investing in because this is going to be a big decision for John Henry and company when the trade deadline starts to approach is what action do we take with this team do we sell do we buy do we do a mix of both please don't please commit to either one or the other and hopefully if the red Sox are in the spot they're in now they decide to buy because this fan base and this team deserves some exciting players coming in here and helping to put this team in a position to succeed and make a run so we'll see what happens over the next month or so with some big match ups coming up for Boston but just got to keep winning games and as always keep the faith go red Sox and have a catch you on the flip side a prime member you can listen to this lock-down podcast add free on Amazon music download the Amazon Music app today. 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