A Ferris Wheel Convinced The Red Sox To Sign Masataka Yoshida
The Red Sox were determined to sign Masataka Yoshida. Once restrictions were lifted from the pandemic, the Red Sox sent scouts to Japan to get a closer look at Yoshida while he was playing for the Orix Buffaloes. It just so happens that they had some odd seating arrangements to get an up-and-personal view.
All the Red Sox scouts wanted to do is tune into some Nippon Professional Baseball league action. It turns out, their seats at Rakuten Mobile Park weren’t exactly ideal. For whatever reason, they couldn’t see left field well where Yoshida was positioned. Soooo the scouts take the road less traveled and watched from a Ferris wheel…
“Kento Matsumoto, our boots on the ground, is always creative in how to get the best possible angles for us,” Red Sox director of pro scouting Gus Quattlebaum said, according to Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. “We were joking, ‘Hey maybe you should use that Ferris wheel in left field,’ and he actually did it.”
“He actually caught some footage of Yoshida pursuing a ball, a tough chance down the left field line,” Quattlebaum said. “So that was an amusing moment on our trip.”
There is enormous pressure on Chaim Bloom and this front office to get this decision correct. After losing Xander Bogaerts, Yoshida is expected to step in and somehow replace that production. It feels like an impossible ask. Others in the media have blasted the decision to give Yoshida $90 million.
If the Red Sox screw it up, will we ever let them forget about the part where they scouted this guy from a Ferris wheel?
