Sox need more pop from Yoshida

It’s far too early to proclaim Masataka Yoshida’s five-year, $90 million contract a disaster. But he batted seventh as the designated hitter behind Romy Gonzalez and Pablo Reyes on Wednesday.

Yoshida was hitting .222 with two extra-base hits and a .567 OPS through 13 games. He went into the weekend not having homered at Fenway Park since last July 25.

It’s still early, but the Sox expected

Yoshida would give them a lot more after a well-coordinated offseason plan to improve his strength and conditioning.

Yoshida didn’t play defense this season until Thursday and that took a short bench and the Sox giving up the DH in the 10th inning to happen. They’ve apparently decided Yoshida is a full-time DH given his poor glove.

Other teams were stunned when the Red Sox offered so much for Yoshida when he was posted in December 2022. Turns out they were probably right.

Yoshida will probably be a helpful player over the course of the season. He’s a good contact hitter with a refined approach who could give the Sox 35 doubles, 15-20 home runs, and 75 or so RBIs. That would be fine at a smaller salary. Meanwhile, contending teams have dangerous hitters such as Yordan Alvarez, Shohei Ohtani, Marcell Ozuna, Kyle Schwarber, Giancarlo Stanton, and Justin Turner as their DH.

The Sox could have used a hitter such as Teoscar Hernandez to add power.

A few other observations on the Red Sox:

■ By signing Ceddanne Rafaela to an eight-year contract, the Sox are betting on the player he will be over time and there’s a good chance he will be a very impactful one. But it seems remarkable to guarantee $50 million to a player with a .267 on-base percentage through 41 career games.

On the day the contract was finalized, Rafaela hit ninth and was hit for in the ninth inning of a close game. Then he wasn’t in the lineup the next day.

This may be a deal that takes a year or two to make sense.

■ Good note from NESN’s Tom Caron: Matt Holliday was 1 for 7 with four strikeouts against Kenley Jansen from 2011-16. Now his son Jackson is0for1 with a strikeout.

Matt is 44 and Jackson is 20.

“It means I’m old,” laughed Jansen, who is 36.

■ The Sox will wear special uniforms Monday. The white jerseys will say “Boston” across the front to commemorate the 2013 Boston Marathon. The uniforms will have No. 42 as part of MLB’s annual celebration of Jackie Robinson’s debut with the Dodgers in 1947.

■ Now that the Sox have knocked off a 10-game West Coast trip, there’s only one more game this season that is scheduled to start later than 8:40 p.m. That’s the July 19 game at Dodger Stadium coming out of the All-Star break scheduled for a 10:10 p.m. start.

■ Clubhouse politics: Tyler O’Neill

took over the locker at Fenway Park that once belonged to Adam Duvall

near the door leading to the field. Liam Hendriks, a veteran pitcher, has the corner spot vacated by James Paxton ,a veteran pitcher.

Enmanuel Valdez has Alex Verdugo’s old locker, which is closest to the manager’s office. Jarren Duran has Chris Sale’s former spot in a corner.