The Red Sox have placed third baseman Pablo Sandoval on the disabled list with a shoulder strain an recalled infielder Josh Rutledge from Triple-A Pawtucket to take his place on the roster, as WEEI’s Rob Bradford tweets. In order to clear a spot for Rutledge on the 40-man roster, the Sox transferred Brandon Workman to the 60-day disabled list. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe tweets that the Sox have outlined a conditioning program for Sandoval while he is on the disabled list.
Manager John Farrell acknowledged to the Boston media that a “breather” from the heavy scrutiny he’s received could do Sandoval some good, adding that the DL stint could indeed give him some time to work on conditioning. Speier tweets a few fully transcribed quotes from Farrell, who says he “firmly believes” that Sandoval will contribute to the club. The manager couldn’t trace the ailment, which Sandoval reported to the team today, to a specific moment, tweets the Providence Journal’s Brian MacPherson. “To give you an exact moment when it took place, I don’t have that, to be honest,” said Farrell. “He’s been hitting a lot extra.” Sandoval himself told reporters, including the Herald’s Evan Drellich (Twitter link), that he woke up this morning unable to move his arm. He had a similar problem in 2011 with the Giants and will meet with a doctor about the injury tonight.
Sandoval, who signed a five-year, $95MM contract with the Red Sox in the 2014-15 offseason, lost the starting third base job to sophomore Travis Shaw this spring and has received a total of just seven plate appearances this season. The 29-year-old opened his first season in Boston with such great struggles versus left-handed pitching that he abandoned switch-hitting and hit exclusively left-handed for the bulk of the season. That change, however, did little to spark Sandoval’s disappointing bat, and after a dismal .210/.267/.335 batting line in the season’s second half, his overall 2015 line sat at .245/.292/.366.
While Sandoval once rated as a solid defender in the eyes of metrics like Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved, his glove graded out terribly in 2015. Earlier today, ESPN’s Buster Olney released a video blog shooting down any speculation surrounding a Pablo Sandoval/James Shields swap — a trade proposal that is frequently suggested but indeed makes virtually no sense for the Padres (as we’ve written here multiple times) — and within the video he noted that evaluators to whom he’s spoken have deemed Sandoval “unplayable” at the hot corner.
Sandoval is earning $17MM this season and will have the same salary in 2017 before earning $18MM in 2018 and again in 2019. His contract contains a $17MM club option that comes with a $5MM buyout, meaning he’s owed a bit less than $75MM through the end of the 2019 season.
Shoulder strain, eh?
Didn’t know you could be put on DL for being fat.
Well, it’s either a reason, an excuse, or an opportunity.
He strained his shoulder picking up a donut. He loves him some Dunkin’!
It was about time for the Sox to come up with a phantom injury to use his roster spot. He has no place on the team.
Cherington made some horrible decisions as GM. Granted won 13 WS but that season seems more and more like a fluke.
That team was a team of destiny if there ever was one.
Cherington was a disaster.
Twinkie eating competitions can very be strenuous…
worse signing ever by the sox
We will give you the sorry Cuban left fielder for Pablo and y’all throw in 30 million. That seems ideal to me
Any updates on the belt he blew out? How long will it be on the DL?
*upvote*
“Shoulder strain”
The “Ferrari” broke down already. This contract keeps getting better and better
May 6 is starts mini-camp for the Cleveland Browns. Hope Panda is ready for them.
Rather been someone of more use than Rutledge, tho Rutledge can play 2b/ss/3b while Holt plays LF..
Gone lost to probably most Sox fans is how dominant Hembree been at pawtucket to start the season.. K’ing 5 in 2IP today.. Mid 90’s again and his slider looked tremendous. NY’s AAA Rail rider’s were over matched the 8-9th inning. Nothing but strikes and nasty ones. Way Boston’s pen has been depleted early on? At the least send down Noe Ramirez when he gets a day or 2 rest.
Jorge Marban has been throwing mid 90’s with control of his splitter early on also (2 games). Keep him in mind also for better option over 98-100mph wild thrower Pat Light.
Ramirez sucks. Marban, Hembree, or one of the young guys in a long relief role would be good.
Couldn’t agree more. Hembree could help the Sox immediately.
the sandoval signing makes the mo vaughn signing look like gold.
True dat.
Sandoval for Shields was never actually a thing. It was all fueled by wishful thinking from Red Sox fans.
I’ve been wishing really hard for that…
Farrell said Sandoval had “a limited range of motion.” He was referring to his shoulder of course, but it’s an absolutely hilarious fat joke if you interpret it out of context…
I don’t know. His hands to mouth motion seems to be working just fine.
Trying to get those pants to zipper up must put a ton of strain on your body.
Maybe they get lucky and he retires due to injury.
As a Rays fan this might be my favorite contract in the whole sport.
Why? The Red Sox aren’t the Rays and will actually spend money. Even with the contracts for Sandoval, Castillo, and Ramirez(all who under performed last year) they still went out and signed Price to a 200 contract. The Red Sox are the 3rd richest team in MLB worth over 2 billion, and Henry has shown he’s willing to spend and put that money back into the Red Sox. This contract does not hamper the team. In reality the James Loney contract was more detrimental to the Rays then Sandoval’s contract is to the Sox.