TODAY: Sandoval underwent the repair of a labrum tear as well as a general clean-up of his rotator cuff, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). He will miss the entire rest of the season.
YESTERDAY: Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval will undergo surgery on his left shoulder, the club announced. He’s unlikely to return to action in 2016 after undergoing a “significant,” “reconstructive” procedure, according to reports from Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe (via Twitter) and ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (Twitter link).
Boston says it will provide more information on the precise nature of the surgery once it is completed by Dr. James Andrews in the coming days. Sandoval has been on the DL since April 13th with somewhat vague shoulder issues; in the announcement, the team labels the injury a “strain.”
The hope will be that the procedure, and the time away that it will afford the 29-year-old, can help spark a turnaround. Quite apart from his shoulder difficulties, Sandoval has long been dogged by struggles to keep his weight in check, and that has increasingly seemed to be a major problem since he signed with Boston.
Sandoval lost his starting third base job to Travis Shaw out of camp, just one season after joining the Red Sox on a five-year, $95MM free agent contract. He was hitless in seven plate appearances in a reserve capacity in the early going in 2016.
In 505 plate appearances last year, Sandoval slashed just .245/.292/.366 and didn’t appear to be headed for much improvement this spring. He also received terrible ratings from both UZR and DRS for his glovework at third in 2015 after previously rating as an average or better defender. Before that, Sandoval was long a quality performer for the Giants; he compiled a .294/.346/.465 batting line in just over 3,500 plate appearances over seven seasons with San Francisco.
Boston, of course, remains on the hook for Sandoval’s contract, which includes $17MM this year and $58MM more thereafter, including a buyout on the club’s 2020 option. (The team does not have an insurance policy on the deal, as Rob Bradford of WEEI.com has indicated and as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets.) That looks like wasted payroll space as things stand, but Sandoval is young enough and has a long enough track record of success to believe that some value can still be reaped if he can get his mind and body back into playing shape.
I’m just happy to read an article without a link to some Boston journalist saying how Sandoval would be a great fit in San Diego.
Exactly… Sandoval for Shields, because that makes so much sense for the Padres…. There isn’t a place in baseball for Sandoval right now even if his shoulder was good
For real. Why does it always have to be San Diego? Can’t they try pawning Sandoval off on some other team for once?
Only reason San Diego is mentioned is because they took on Melvin Upton and Kemp’s contracts
But if Sandoval can’t hit in Fenway, why would he hit in Petco?
Because Sandoval has better lifetime stats batting in Petco. That’s why.
That’s because he was playing against the Padres, not for them
I agree. Preller dodged a big bullet when he didn’t sign him the first time. Now that bullet looks like an atom bomb.
I can only imagine how big he’ll be after surgery. I’ve had shoulder surgery, it’s a miserable recovery and there’s not much you can do while your arms all wrapped up. If he gained 20+ while he was on Christmas break for 3 weeks when he was with the Giants, him pushing 400 lbs after this is more probable than not
Sando is just a bit under the weather. Give him some rehab time and he will make Boston proud!
He better come back at least 50 pounds less than he is now and actually act like he cares. He showed up to camp around 280 pounds and when he was questioned about it he just shrugged his shoulders. If it wasn’t for the PA guy the sox have at fenway, Pablo was well on his way to getting booed out of boston on opening day
shrugging his shoulders was the problem. That is why he needs the surgery. Had he shown up to camp at 240, he would not have needed to shrug his shoulders and he could have been tearing up the league instead of his labrum.
Considering how well Shaw has been playing there is no way Sandoval was getting his spot back. At this point the most the Sox can get for Sandoval is a small amount of salary relief if he looks good at ST next year.
Or maybe DH LOL when Ortiz leaves
By next ST would be more interested in the upside of youngster Sam Travis at 1b with Ramirez at DH and Travis Shaw at 3b. That still leaves Sandoval with no place to play and thus far? Dombrowski has shown he’s inclined to sweep away the cpl of poor moves made prior to him.
Let’s hope he just decides to outright release this one and hope the NE media stops watching WS baseball and then clamoring for 2 week only heroes, then 6 month chumps like this guy is again.
Does this still seem odd and sorta shady? Maybe it’s just because he’s terrible, but the “needs surgery will tell you what exactly it is later” thing seems odd
Gastric bypass
What he said.
Does anyone even know how he injured his shoulder in the first place? This has shady written all over it. More like a way to get another body on the roster while he looses 50 pounds and gets his eating disorder in order. I know eating habits can be very hard to overcome so it will take time for him.
Probably while reaching for another cheeseburger.
Lifting his groceries?
10 Big Macs and 8 Quarter Pounders?
You mean his afternoon snack?
He first hurt it in 2011. He seemed to aggravate it when diving for a ball in the last game he played. They don’t have insurance so about the only benefit they get is being able to put him on the 60 day DL and free up a roster spot. I doubt Pablo agrees to unnecessary surgery to help out in this regard
For 71 mil. What would you or most anyone else do?
As it does sound a little shady I still find it hard to believe that Dr. Andrews would waste his time on any of this, if there wasn’t an actual injury.
true…but there are many instances where surgery is one option and/or a player can play w/o the surgery, with the understanding they’ll probably have to get it done down the road. If Panda has had a nagging injury or a prior history in the same area, then this could be an old injury that they decided to fix bc he isn’t playing and maybe it could help.
There is a certain mercy in this injury. Hopefully Pablo can go away, get healthy, and find his former abilities with a clean bill of health. A lot of work to be done between now and then, but good luck. One less distraction for the Sox.
They should lock him in a large cell and give him starvation rations for the rest of the season and offseason. Have him work the treadmill and weight room for 2 hrs a day before feeding
While I know this was said as a (morbid) joke, his body would fight him the entire way. Putting your body into starvation mode would slow his metabolism and would be counter productive. He would need a full-time nutritionist & strength and condition coach, physician supervision, regular labs, etc. I hope he can figure something out because if he is having weight problems now, when he retires….yikes.
More than anything he needs some freaking willpower.
No one has shoulder surgery just to come up with an excuse for not playing. Never root for people to be hurt. Underneath all the Pablo-ness there was a good player there once. Maybe next year he will rediscover it.
Nearly 100 million down the drain so far.
34 million so far, the contract was 95 total.
I think of it like some sort of mob payment. Pay the money and Sandoval doesn’t come and ruin your lineup.
He will be done after a year of eating cream pies and cannoli. Can’t wait to see how fat he is for spring training. Panda with a rebuilt shoulder going to be tough to get rid of. I think Price contract going to be a worse ride.
Did he tear the shoulder labrum ripping into whole lobsters at Faneuil Hall Marketplace?
This is my favorite username ever.
Well played.
I think at this point its pretty safe to put this contract in the “L” category.
Oh “no”
Oh “darn”
Whatever will we do.
Here I am, so genuinely distraught. My concern is definitely real and I am not happy.
Where’s papi?
Man everyone is stealing my comments today. That guy made me laugh, haha.
Very surprised the Red Sox skimped on insurance here.
They probably couldn’t find a company willing to cover him and/or the premiums were so high from their limited options it was cost prohibitive. Every insurance plan is an individual valuation and I can’t imagine the actuaries looked fondly upon his healthy and that level of financial commitment.
what a joke…oohs good on the Sox….hahaha
Great. He’s already the size of a small island and now he’s going to be sitting around on his duff for 5 months? He’ll weigh 400 pounds by Christmas.
My hypothesis is a shoulder impingement that turned into a rotator cuff strain/tear possibly.
If they release him now do they still have to pay for the surgery?
People are honestly terrible, three tears ago, everyone would have wanted this guy on their favorite team, but one bad season with a new club, going from San Fran to Boston, switching from NL to AL, and he’s instantly a horrible player and human being so we should trash him because he gained weight? Probably regrets singing with Boston in the first place and misses San Fran? Just because he is an athlete doesn’t mean he’s not just like everyone of you keyboard warriors. Guy clearly has issues off the field that need to be addressed and if he has a weight problem then why bash him? To make you feel better about your weight problem? You all need to grow up, guys still a great ball player and once he gets through whatever he may be dealing with you’ll all wish he was traded to your team. Good luck Pablo on a speedy recovery, looking forward to seeing you play again soon!
Waaaaaah!
Pablo Sandoval is fat.
Panda’s days at third are numbered, but can still be a productive 1B or DH. No need for hate. He deserved the contract he got and I hope he can find his way again. He’ll never be 180 pure muscle, but then again he never was but has three rings.
Thanks for that insightful contribution chester.
To the OP: I agree that Sandoval is being judged too harshly based on one season’s performance, although his stats have trended downward even before that. Still, if he makes a complete recovery to his shoulder, and actually loses weight next offseason, there is a real chance that Sandoval can earn playing time and be a real contributor again. But he has a lot of work before him to make that happen.
Now that Sandoval is out for the year we hope the Red Sox take this time to monitor his recuperation process and design a weight losing program to go along with it. Their investment is such that affirmative action from the team is needed and warranted. Should they think he still has “it”, there’s always next year, either as a 1B or as dh.
He was only good in playoffs, I never wanted him on my team. For a professional athlete that is paid outrageous money it is embarrassing for him to be that out of shape when he is paid to be in shape and a finely tuned athlete. Especially playing third, need to be able to move fast and if he’s fast enough fat imagine if he was in shape as he’s paid to be the best that he can. I hope he’s on your team now because if not your team will never take him for a bag of balls after shoulder problems, weight, and age.
I agree with those who suggest 1b. I see this playing out as Shaw at 3b, Pablo at 1b, and Hanley at DH next year, too.
I would not be at all surprised if this were just to cover for stomach stapling surgery. If Sandoval can’t control his food addiction by himself, the Sox will see that it’s done for him. And he might be just ashamed enough to go along with it.