Red Sox designate Pablo Sandoval for assignment
Only two years after signing him to a $95 million deal, the Red Sox have decided to move on from the disappointing third baseman.
The Boston Red Sox have finally decided to turn the page on Pablo Sandoval era, designating the third baseman for assignment on Friday morning. With the move, the team will still be on the hook to pay the balance of the five-year, $95 million deal he signed prior to the 2015 season. This equals out to about $41 million through 2020, after the $5 million buyout option for the sixth year is paid.
Sandoval’s tenure in Boston ends as one of the great free agent disasters of all-time. In 161 games, he hit for a .234 average as a Red Sox, with only 14 home runs over parts of three years and a .286 on-base percentage. These numbers are drastically down from the level of production he established in San Francisco, where he was a .294 career hitter, as well as a two-time All-Star and 2012 World Series MVP.
Due to the constant struggles with his weight, the idea of giving Sandoval a high dollar, long-term deal was something that many teams shied away from when he hit the open market after the Giants’ 2014 World Series run. Yet Sandoval was still able to find a big-ticket deal in Boston, who brought him aboard the same day the club signed Hanley Ramirez to a four-year, $90 million deal.
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Sandoval played in only 126 games in 2015, hitting .245 with 10 home runs and 47 RBI, all career-low marks. After showing up to spring training in 2016 continuing to struggle with his weight, Sandoval was replaced by Travis Shaw as the team’s starting third baseman. In his final two seasons in Boston, he played in a total of 35 games, hitting .200 over 115 plate appearances.
However, Sandoval far from made a just cause to give him another shot during his time at Pawtucket, hitting .221 over 80 plate appearances with at the AAA level. The prospects of a continued swoon from Sandoval, combined with the Red Sox being in the heart of a tight pennant chase atop the AL East made the decision easy to cut bait on the expensive slugger, regardless of what was left due on the books.
His release comes at a time when he was taking his most recent rehab stint at Triple A Pawtucket, where he was due to be reactivated by July 17th.
The move is made at a time when the club is actively looking to upgrade its third base situation, which has been a contentious one at best on the year. With Sandoval’s most recent downturn and injuries keeping Brock Holt out of action, the club has most recently deployed Devin Marrero on the hot corner, who has only hit .225 on the year himself. Earlier in the week, the team also designated veteran third baseman Jhonny Peralta for assignment, who was picked up off waiver after being released by the St. Louis Cardinals earlier in the year.
While the future of the club at third base stands to be secure once the top prospect Rafael Devers is ready for the Majors, in the wake of the Sandoval failure (as well as the Chris Sale trade, which cost the team highly touted infield prospect Yoan Moncada) the Red Sox are rumored to be a team all-in on going out to acquire an upgrade for position as the trade deadline draws near.