July 19: The Red Sox announced that Sandoval has been released.
July 14: The Red Sox announced that they have activated struggling third baseman Pablo Sandoval from the disabled list and designated him for assignment.
Sandoval is midway through the third season of a five-year, $95MM contract that proved to be a fatal misstep for the organization. Signed on the heels of a six-and-a-half-year span during which he posted a very strong .294/.346/.465 batting line through 3533 plate appearances with the Giants (to say nothing of his terrific postseason work), Sandoval flopped in year one of the pact, hitting just .245/.292/.366 with 10 homers in 505 plate appearances. He made just seven plate appearances in 2016 before undergoing shoulder surgery, and his 2017 work has resulted in a dismal .212/.269/.354 slash through 108 PAs.
Boston will now be on the hook for the remaining $49.8MM that Sandoval is owed through the end of the 2019 season. With a trade effectively unfathomable, Sandoval can either be outrighted to Triple-A (if he accepts the assignment) or released, at which point any club will be eligible to sign him for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum.
Further exacerbating the pain that Sandoval has caused the Red Sox is the fact that his presence likely factored into the team’s thinking when it came to trading Travis Shaw to the Brewers this past offseason. Shaw, meanwhile, has broken out and been one of baseball’s most productive third baseman in his first half season with the Brewers.
For the time being, the Sox are deploying a makeshift platoon of Deven Marrero and Tzu-Wei Lin at the hot corner, and while that pairing leaves plenty to be desired from an offensive standpoint, it undoubtedly provides more defensive value than Sandoval brought to the table. Nonetheless, the Sox figure to be heavily linked to all of the third basemen that will be available on this summer’s trade market in the 17 days between now and the non-waiver trade deadline.
Of course, Boston also has a rapidly rising in-house option in the form of top prospect Rafael Devers, who ranks among the game’s five to 10 best overall prospects on most midseason rankings (No. 3 per ESPN’s Keith Law, No. 6 per Baseball America, No. 5 per Baseball Prospectus). Devers has yet to take an at-bat at the Triple-A level, and the team has said that he’ll head to Pawtucket before being promoted. That said, Devers has the potential to come up and impact the playoff race at some point in the season’s second half — particularly if president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and his staff don’t acquire a more established option at the hot corner.
It had to happen eventually..
NUNEZ!!
Too bad they couldn’t bury his contract in Pawtucket to avoid the Luxury tax. The Sox organization has developed an innate ability to make their poor decision free agents and trade candidates suffer to pay for their incompetent decisions.
It’s great that MLB has blocked John Henry and co from such blatant cheating.
Hanley is next
Here’s an inexpensive and maybe not so great idea…..Will Middlebrooks. He’s at Texas AAA and has 18 homeruns at the midpoint. I looked at all the teams out of contention at the major league level and very few have any pop.
whuaaaaaaaaaat? panda is lazy
had to be done. i’m afraid the panda is done.
He was done when they got him. Just had a fantastic World Series that never carried over to the Red Sox. Maybe it was a bad deal, but I don’t blame them for taking the chance that the World Series stardom would carry over to the next season.
Thx DD!! Now is time for Rafael!!!!
Thank god! Eat the contract and move on. “Eat” is a pretty fitting verb for this situation.
Well played.
Corny but I like it
Eat… corn… I see what you’re doing here…
finally
oh ya, that’s from hangover! very funny Paul…you’re as witty as you are handsome
Understatement to say his career went downhill fast
Kinda like how he would role down a hill
It’s funny because he’s fat.
Don’t worry Paul, I got “the Hangover” reference
Lol Mr Chow
How’s Travis Shaw doing?
i don’t get it. players do so bad in Boston and great once they leave. and guys like sandoval do so good other places and awful in boston. The sox are good because the players have played with boston their whole career (Vazquez, Travis, Pedey, Bogey, Marrero, Betts, Bradley, Benintendi) yes moreland is a fair exception.
When was Shaw bad in Boston?
Travis Shaw had an OPS+ of 90 last season in 145 games and was ABYSMAL (.187/.235/.364) against LHP. His approach at the plate seemed to have a lot of obvious holes that pitchers were exploiting a lot late last year. All in all it seemed like something of a Middlebrooks 2.0 situation.
Happy for him that he’s turned it around early this season but at the time of the trade I thought the Sox were getting good value for effectively a platoon player. Hindsight’s 20/20
The Redsox gave up way, way to early on Shaw. Sure he had a bad second half and couldn’t hit leftys but damn should’ve been more patient with him. I guess the Boston media and the fans are too quick to bury someone. Now look what he’s done this year
Different topic, but another sad Sox situation is that of Rusney Castillo., who’s actually doing well in Pawtucket, but will never be brought up.
bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2017/06/22/rusney-ca…
Not sure the Red Sox were giving up on Shaw, they just didn’t see third base as a need at the team, and wanted a reliever
He never was. The guy goes in a 3-20 or 3-25 batting slump in Boston and all the media and fans do is completely freak out. And because of that he gets traded to Milwaukee where he’s more focused and relaxed and having a productive season
Travis, as in Sam Travis? He’s played in just 15 games and has a 90 wRC+. And Christain Vazquez has been horrible the past 2 years (a total WAR of -0.8). Devin Marrero has been awful as well. They are good because of those other names for sure.
for what its worymth, Merraro is not the answer
Some guys don’t handle the spotlight of a big market well.
He played in three World Series. I doubt that was the problem.
if SF is a small market, where is the compensation?
SF isn’t a small Market. Ever looked at their payroll? Not too many small market teams with 6 players making 15 million per year.
Big Papi says not true/
Chris Sale is doing pretty well.
Uhhhh…what about Chris Sale or maybe a dude named David Ortiz?
Try being a Mariners fan.
Talk to us after the season. His first half of 2016 was good too…. tanked 2nd half. Welcome to the second half of 2017
He’s killing it it Milwaukee
In the mold of Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson…..finally the Panda has come back…..to the buffet table
Wow. Seriously lame attempt at, hmmm, assuming it was humor?? Here’s a news flash-You’re actually not the first one to make such a comment. I know, total shocker, right?? Try being a leader and not a follower
But Sandoval is fat.
So bleeping what. We’re stooping to fat shaming ballplayers now? Grow up, junior high is over.
The dude is paid millions to be an athlete, and ate his way out of the league. He’s pathetic for having zero self control or passion for baseball, and the Red Sox are pathetic for giving him that contract.
I like it. People can’t take humor obviously
Wow that was pretty lame
Wow. u 2 (j baker and real gone) are cool.
Not as cool as someone who says “U 2”. You must be a hit with the ladies.
Yeah you’re definitely not. As far as the ladies I’m a pretty big hit with one.
Your mom doesn’t count.
The only thing you’re hitting is the brazzers website.
I hope they date my sister and take us to B&R.
Nominated for worst joke of 2017
Looks like this turned into MLBTradeRumors Elementary School.
If this doesn’t rank as the worst signing in baseball history, it’s right up there, and it certainly does in Red Sox history.
It’s not even the worst signing currently in their system.
The only one that could possibly be worse in the Red Sox system is Rusney Castillo if that’s what you’re referring to.
I feel bad for Castillo because he’s actually having a good season and he’s guaranteed not to get a chance
Yes. 72 million is more than 50 million.
Trade him out of Boston and watch that hit tool finally materialize, ha
…josh hamilton
no, its bobby bonilla to the mets. they are still paying him.
The best part is that wasn’t even a signing they bought out the last year of his deal and paid him like 5 times more than he had left because of the incredible returns on their investment with Bernie Madoff lol
Eating $50mil on a bad deal? Must be nice
Cmon with the fat jokes man
I don’t think it was a fat joke…I think he was just saying that it must be nice for the Red Sox to play in a big market where Sandoval’s contract barely makes a dent in their overall payroll while that same contract would cripple a team in a smaller market
Someone should pick him up. Maybe the giants will roll the dice for the league minimum.
This wouldn’t surprise me at all.
Sunk costs; they’d have to pay him anyway. Most teams have a bunch of dead money on the payroll. For a bunch of years the Giants were always paying for guys no longer on the team.
Reds are still paying Griffey and Arroyo (from previous time with Reds)
Sad Panda
Boom
Funny he’s making about 1/6 of Rays entire budget.
Not surprised by this at all
Now send him with Devers and Groome to Toronto and you can have Donaldson in the middle of your lineup
I hope you’re joking because it’s gonna take a lot more than Devers and Groome, especially if you want them to even touch Panda’s contract
Wonder if the Yankees will ever eat Ellsbury’s contract?
They’re stuck with it unless they trade him and eat most of the contract. Sandoval has way more value as a guest at the concession stands than on the field.
Ellsbury would still make a fine 4th OF/pinch runner.. Better to get some value than nothing.
ellsbury steak is great with john cheese
Hope he signs with the yankees and catches fire in the second half.
That would be awesome ! Wonder if he can play first ? As bad as he is, his numbers are better than what they have at 1B…
He’s played 63 career games at 1B and has been much better defensively there.
Many Giants fans saw this coming and were relieved when someone else gave Panda the 5-year deal.
does it mean the new team that signs him only pay minimum wage for 2017 or all the way through 2019?
All the way through
just for 2017 i believe
They pay the prorated minimum for the rest of 2017, then he becomes a FA.
Most Red Sox fans saw it coming too… always was an over reaction signing
Yeah, thanks for that LOL
Costellanos /Wilson for Devers/Johnson and a choice of Henry Owens/Trey Ball
Avila hangs up on Dom I think. Not enough return for DET. But from a Boston perspective, I would be ok with that trade.
No you have that backwards. Devers has more value than all of those guys combined.
That’s not even close Dombrowski hangs up in a second
devers is worth way more than those guys and it’s not close. why would Boston consider that??
Hmmm possible deal happening?
No, he was just scheduled to come off the DL so they had to release him or push someone off the 25 man roster.
Take money. Place in trash can. Burn it.
like
does it mean the new team that signs him only pay minimum wage for 2017 or all the way through 2019?
There it is.
This is why there is such a disparity between the haves (Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, a few others perhaps) and the have-nots in MLB. They can afford to give Sandoval a ridiculous contract, have it not work out, chalk it up to a bad investment and move on. On 24 other teams this would be financial suicide and would cripple the franchise for years.
Name 1 example of a bad contract on a small market team that has crippled the franchise for years?
Joe Mauer
Mauer and Morneau
Twins got crippled by not having a minor league system for a decade way more than Mauer’s contract
Morneaus contract wasn’t crippling. Even with Mauers they went out and signed Nolasco, Santana and extended Hughes. What hurt the Twins was a series of really bad trades and poor drafts.
True; plus, they had this odd obsession with soft-tossing control pitchers for a long time. I suppose they thought they were exploiting a market inefficiency.
Todd Helton for the mid 2000s Rockies.
Giancarlo Stanton for the current Marlins.
I’d say Loria has been the cause of the Marlins woes, not Stanton.
That’s probably true, but Stanton will still be a major burden even if Loria sells the team.
Sorry I know you just asked for one, but I had more.
Barry Zito’s contract crippled San Francisco for a long time, didn’t it?
1 – San Fran isn’t a small market
2 – Zito won Two titles with the Giants and was a big part of their 2012 championship
SF isn’t a small market but is also not a ‘rich’ team like the yankees, red sox or dodgers who spend irresponsibly and then just shrug and move on (though the yankees seem to be changing that) – they books are followed closely and even though large contracts have been awarded to some guys there has been a reluctance after not just zito who under-performed for years but more so aaron rowand who under-performed and kept the giants out of the FA market for a while with what he was owed. The last couple of years has actually been out of step with the Giants FO philosophy and is coming back to bite them now.
Hard to say he was a “big part of their 2012 championship” when he had a 0.2 WAR on that season. He accumulated around 3.0 WAR over the lifespan of his 120MM+, 7 year deal.
However, the Giants did win 2 world series in that span even with that awful contract, so, it’s also hard to argue they were “crippled”.
The Giants have six players on the current roster who are making over 15 million dollars this year. They were able to throw away 126 million bucks on Zito- who provided them with negative value – and still win three World Series. They were also able to survive throwing away tens of millions of dollars on Aaron Rowand and Marco Scutaro and Noah Lowry and Armando Benitez…you get the picture. Giants aren’t a small-market team, nor have they been a particularly thrifty one.
Noah Lowry ? The Giants gave him all of $9M over five seasons BEFORE they ruined his career.
Hmm, for some reason i thought they paid him more than that. Maybe I was thinking of Randy Winn?
Not even a little bit – it was just a really bad signing.
Mike Hampton and the Rockies
That hurt the Braves also. Double whammy
Baseball has by far the most parity of the major sports. Your argument isn’t valid.
I’d say NFL.
Do you remember how many blow outs there were in the playoffs just last year
The same NFL where the Patriots won every year? Okay…
That argument is only partially true. Yes there is parity, but it only parity at the top. The problem with parity is at the bottom. The Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, have almost no chance at being the worst team in the league at the beginning of every season. Even when the Red Sox have had a couple of bad years, they were right back in the playoffs the next year. When a small market team, like the Cincinnati Reds, has a bad year, it means about 3-4 years of rebuilding at a minimum. The Reds were the best team in the NL in 2012, but couldn’t afford to keep their team together. The Yankees have missed the playoffs the past couple of years, but were never really “out of it” until the end. They have also never had a problem keeping their team together. It took one of the worst owner debacles in the history of sports to take the Dodgers out for a couple of years. Heck, the Dodgers won the division last year with more money on the disabled list than most other teams spent for their whole team. That is the problem with parity
the dodgers problem is likely about to happen to miami, it has a lot to do with having an investment group at the heart of ownership, it allows costs to be spread amongst a group so you end up being able to do a hail mary on a bad contract or eat a contract and if it works out, great if it doesn’t, spend more and move on – same with prospects and picks where the dodgers have bought comp picks and int’l spending by trading for bad contracts or money that the their teams just want off the books.
That’s not quite right about the 2012 Reds – they kept the core intact for quite a while – Bruce, Cozart, Phillips and Votto. That 2012 team had Hanigan as the starting catcher, he was never an in-demand free agent. Rolen retired after 2012. Ryan Ludwick got hurt and Drew Stubbs just wasn’t any good.
As far as the pitching, Cueto was traded for prospects but not until 2015 when the Reds were already bad; Latos and Bailey got hurt. Leake was likewise traded during that 2015 season for a prospect (DuVall) who has become a pretty decent player for the Reds. Bruce was traded for a guy who hasn’t panned out at all.
The only real prospect that played on that 2012 team was Mesoraco, and his career has been ruined by injury. So basically, none of those players left in FA; the Reds got unlucky in trades and injury. Their payroll was middle of the pack in 2012, a slight bit higher.
The biggest problem for the Reds was that all 5 of their starters were due free agency at the same time. And they chose to resign Homer Biley instead of Johnny Cueto. At the time it looked like a good idea because Cueto was hurt in 2013, but it has crippled them since. And since all the starters left at nearly the same time, the entire rotation has been young and inexperienced for several years now. You can win with a lot of young position players, but you can’t win with a completely young rotation.
There were three teams that were interested in Sandoval at very similar money. By definition, that means it was not a “ridiculous” contract. What is ridiculous (and sad) is how quickly Sandoval fell off from quality player to terrible one, especially given how entertaining and unique he was when he was “on”.
The mets should pick him up, combine Reyes with the panda for 3b platoon and you get bad contract extravaganza
Why does this actually seem like something they’d consider
” sign him for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum”
I see this written here all the time in these circumstances as if it has to be this way. As far as I know it is not a foregone conclusion that a released player who is owed money has to get the minimum. They could negotiate any contract a team is willing to pay them.
Todd Frazier trade?
Wouldn’t hate it if they can get him for a random minor leaguer, but I’m hoping they’ll just ride with Lin/Marerro, and maybe Holt recovers and adds a boost. Stable D, any offense is a bonus. Rather see them use their assets to grab another reliable bullpen arm–which I think will be more valuable down from now until whenever their year ends.
Yeah the price on Frazier won’t be high. Not a lot of demand and only a couple months of control.
Also, if you’re looking for a reliable bullpen arm, how about a Robertson and Frazier + cash package?
Ya I like Frazier as a change-of-scenery bounceback candidate at the dish. Smart baserunner too. Robertson would be awesome but probably command a solid haul since he’s elite & under control through 2019. I’m hoping they find value with a team like SD/SF/CIN/MIA who all are both outta contention and have multiple solid middle relief arms. Hembree and Barnes over-preformed early and after 40 innings have regressed. I think another reliable 6th/7th inning guy on the cheap, or a stud 8th (Robertson) would flatten out the workload and keep everyone effective. Kelly’s isn’t yet a lights-out 8th/high-leverage guy, but showed a big jump this year. Some of Farrell’s in-game decisions can be tough to stomach, but deserves a lot f credit for how well he’s managed the pen this year.
How was the deal a “fatal misstep?” The Red Sox are in first place by a decent margin and made the playoffs in the second year of the deal. At worst it waste a waste of excess money. At best it was a non-issue in the big picture. It may have been a “fatal misstep” for a small or mid market team, but a team like the Red Sox, Dodgers, or Yankees can make these mistakes and not even blink.
The Red Sox are trying to get under the luxury tax threshold so in a way, this deal hurts that goal. Also prevented them from signing Edwin.
Awww, the Red Sox weren’t able to get EVERYONE they wanted. How sad. I’m not going to feel bad because the Red Sox could afford ANOTHER $20MM per season player.
I think the yanks should
give panda a shot and make small trades for a reliever. Going prices for rentals is outta control.
When the Dodgers signed Uribe he did the same thing. They got him for 3 years and he sucked and for 2 years and the third and final year he played a lot better. Wasn’t great but was a lot better so they signed him again and he ended up being pretty good for them that last contract as well until Justin Turner proved to be the man of the future for them at 3rd. I wonder if the panda has anything left. Seems like he isn’t healthy and you gotta wonder if he’s even taking care of himself, we all know he struggles with his weight and the Giants had an issue with him so they forced him to diet. Maybe he takes the rest of the year off and signs an minor league deal with the Giants next year and possibly makes a comeback. My gut tells me he is done though.
Everybody was Kung Fu outrighting…?
Haha!
next mlb contract should be non guaranteed contracts.
Lol players never go for that. They’d strike if that was even put on the table.
To save the stupid owners from themselves? Nobody puts a gun to their head and forces them to overpay.
To save the poor billionaires a few pennies? No thanks. Non-guaranteed contracts are a disaster. Look at the NFL. Players retire bankrupt after playing for 10 teams, unless they’re quarterbacks. You think there’s a lot of player movement in baseball now?
The owners are making money hand-over-fist. Attendence is setting records; the MLBAM and local/regional TV contracts are pouring money into the sport. I don’t think we need to take money from the players and put it back into the owners’ pockets. So we won’t be seeing non-guaranteed contracts in baseball anytime soon, hopefully.
always admired his plate coverage
Buffet coverage all-star!
Hindsight is 20/20. Panda’s pant size, however, is 50/20.
Haaaaaaaaa
My gut tells me Panda is done. Panda’s gut says the same. Is this thing on?
Fat Panda jokes never get tired…
I think most fans saw this coming when he signed with Boston. Fat and lazy position players never last long in this league. Fat and lazy pitchers like David Wells and Bartolo seem to handle MLB better. I think running takes a toll on fatties.
Adios Panda Gordo!
Panda back to Giants! He might as well resuscitate his career! We love him…
Heck No
he badmouthed SF when he left – better that he move on
Define “we”
I wonder (somewhat seriously) why the Phillies wouldn’t consider taking him and some prospects in exchange for Franco.
Because they can wait a week and get him for nothing but league minimum $.
I understand that. The valuable part of the deal would be the prospects. The Phillies would essentially buy prospects from the Red Sox by taking on Sandoval’s salary. And he’s probably not much worse than Franco (though less upside). Not sure I would actually do this deal, but it’s an interesting thought.
Pablo Sandoval, Allen Craig & Rusney Castillo.
$197 million dollars
325 total games played
-1.5 total bWAR
Boston paid $200M to lose 1.5 games using these 3 over scrub replacement level players.
Wow.
You could probably cherry-pick any three highly-paid players from a big-market team and say the same. Castillo is apparently showing some signs of life but is blocked by the idiotic salary cap. As far as Allen Craig., it’s hard to figure out what happened, but occasionally players just stop producing for whatever reason. If teams had 100% foresight then baseball would be boring.
A team will sign him and he will do great for them. I’ve seen this play out to many times before. That being said Boston had no choice. This was not going to work out there.
The fact that the Red Sox can afford to eat $50,000,000 and 25+ teams can’t is why baseball is much more unfair than the other major sports.
Neh. Nothing compared to the NBA. A single player (LeBron, Curry, Durant) can decide the faith of the league by deciding in which team they’re gonna play. It’s just awful how unbalanced it is. Baseball is nowhere near as unbalanced.
The 2004 Pistons would disagree with you. But it has been a while since a team of non-Superstars wins a title.
Baseball has the biggest distribution of team success (i.e. parity) of the four major sports, and it’s not even close. In the last 5 seasons 8 different teams have played in the world series.
In the NFL it’s a salary cap, non-guaranteed contracs, and every year we get to watch Bill Belichek and Tom Brady. (well, if you watch football you do,)
In the NBA yep, Cleveland and Golden State. Every friggin’ year. NBA has a salary cap.
NHL, I suppose you’ve heard of the Blackhawks, right?
Give me a sport in which Kansas City can make it to the World Series two more times than the Yankees over a five-year period. That’s parity.
Its actually $64,000,000 in dead money, isn’t it?
Panda come back to the west coast play first base for the halo
He still has that potential ability to get clutch hits in the playoffs.
I could see him coming off the bench for Houston or Cleveland and “Bucky Denting” the Red Sox in the Playoffs.
“Bucky Denting” the Red Sox. That’s still funny.
Lol this was a terrible deal the moment he signed. I think he’ll be traded to the giants for cash or ptbnl. The player will be some random player on a wheel of fortune roulette.
Giants can get him for the league minimum. No reason to make any deal.
If they are desperate enough they’ll make a deal. They overpaid for a #4 starter Jeff Samardzija. Gave him 85mill too much. They are very desperate.
What are you smoking lol samardzija is way way way better than panda and it ain’t even close
No risk for Giants. Sign him for peanuts and see if Panda still has any value.
Panda will be more than happy to play for food.
Man, I’m so glad the Padres didn’t sign this guy back when he was a free agent. That contract would have crippled them more than they already are with all the current dead money they have on the books. At least the Red Sox can afford to pay him. The Padres dodged a huge bullet here.
The padres basically got James shields instead, which was crippling in it’s own way, but hey, the team did ditch part of the contract and got Tatis Jr. as well.
Even though the Padres wasted a lot of money on Shields.. I have a feeling landing Tatis Jr will make them forget about that. No way they could have gotten anything close to that had they signed and had to move Panda.
Yeah that’s true. They’re still having to pay for Shields, but at least they got a good prospect out of him.
“Fatal misstep”? Talk about hyperbolic exaggeration! In what way fatal? No one died, the Red Sox made the playoffs last year, and they’re playing well this year. The verdict on Shaw is still in the making. Signing Sandoval was an example of poor organizational judgment or evaluation, but hardly fatal. At least he didn’t hang on long enough to block Devers.
Still not convinced Shaw keeps his pace over 162 games. Good to be moving on from Sandoval, at last. The sun set quickly over Pablo.
Have you watched any Brewer games this season? The guy is for real.
Yes, I’ve watched Brewers games. I watched Shaw do the same thing last year in Boston, too, following a strong first half with a forgettable second. I’m not saying Shaw’s no good, I’m questioning his “pace.”
Look for Panda to end up playing 3b for the Giants.
He needs a stint in Japan. At least there he can fall back on sumo wrestling if the diet gets out of control again.
WOW! $50 million still owed and about that down the drain. Not many teams can afford to take a financial hit like that. Can you imagine if a small market team like the Rays, Royals or Padres had signed him? It would crush their ability to compete for several years.
Padres will pick him up once he clears
–> 2018 all-star
I’d be willing to bet that he signs with the Padres. and at least somewhat revitalizes his career. I saw over his last 545 AB’s for Boston, he hit .245/10/60-something. While I hate to say it, those numbers wouldn’t look too horrible for the Padres, plus would bide some time at low cost for the rest of the year at least.
Yeah, Padres could do worse than give him a look. He’s only a year older than Solarte.
Time to trade for Travis Shaw to come back. Well give em Tyler Thornberg – LoL
Moustakas would be fantastic but it’s not likely that KC trades him plus he walks at years end but then the Sox have Devers.
They can get by until Devers is ready with Devin M. and Wiz you wy pan etc…
Poor Pablo. Time for a few Big Macs a couple double Whoopers and a Jim Dandy. Nothing like an extra $50M when your hungry. LoL
Sad Panda will be eating his feelings.
Eat away those feelings Pablo!
It only makes sense that Boston would eat such a huge amount of money in relation to Sandoval.
Hey Red Sox fans just remember Pablo being made independently wealthy by your team the next time you: pay through the nose for seats at a game, can’t afford the concessions sold at the park due to their high prices, endure commercial upon commercial as you watch their game on TV. Not saying they are the only team to ever whiff when signing a free agent; just making you aware that the dollars for those kind of mistakes are not being “written off” by the team. Ultimately the financial burden falls on the shoulders of the fans.
Ticket costs have literally nothing to do with salaries. They are completely a function of supply and demand.
And concessions at stadiums are sold by concessionaires, who rent space. Again. Supply and demand. They sell ten dollar beers because people will buy them. But that beer money isn’t paying for player salaries
Perhaps when it comes to “aftermarket” sourcing of tickets. Otherwise, ticket prices as established by the team is a source of REVENUE. When a team is executing their operating budget, they tally up ALL the revenue sources (including what is received from concessionaires) and subtract from that all the fixed and variable costs. What is left is profit. If that amount of profit is unacceptable, then either REVENUES increase or costs decrease. What is the most “fluid ” REVENUE source?, Ticket prices, so they then get increased.
But that “profit” from ticket sales is dwarfed by the profit from MLBAM and local TV/radio and other media contracts.
Some team will take a flyer on him after he is released.
Worst Contract in MLB History?
No. Tons worse. Zito, Hampton, Neagle, Hamilton, Olivera, Alex Guerrero, Castillo, Prince Fielder, Don’t forget Darren Dreifort and Chan Ho Park, and Mo Vaughn too. There’s some other ones out there – Carlos Silva, the two Japanese pitchers the Yankees signed, Kei Igawa and Hideki Irabu, Yankee fans hated Carl Pavano and that contract, I recall. There’s probably other ones I’m not even thinking of.
Keep thinking of more– Pujols, Jason Bay…
Mo Vaugh?
Albert Belle
Wil Myers
Chris Davis is gonna be bad
Oh yeah; that won’t end well.
The O’s need to trade Manny to get some prospects in the farm system. I wonder what kind of package Boston would have to give to get him. Doubt the O’s move Manny to a division rival though.
I’d trade Manny pronto for a haul. That delusional geezer aneglos won’t do it though. The O’s farm system is god awful.
Don Gullett
Carl Crawford
Ryan Howard
Bobby Bonilla is still collecting his contract, I do believe (or at least was fairly recently)
Edit: yep;
“A man who last played 5,381 days ago owns this day. Not just this July 1, but every July 1 through 2035. It’s the day when the New York Mets pay him $1,193,248.20”
Good list, Mr. Coonce. I’d argue that Neagle and Olivera were probably the worst from your list on account of each having such acute issues both on and off the field. Sandoval may come second to Neagle, just ahead of Olivera in my opinion.
I would disagree about Zito. Terrible contract, no doubt. But at least the Giants got some value from it. 7 seasons of 4.62 ERA, 4.61 FIP, in 1,139 1/3 IP. For several years he was the best #5 baseball, just way over paid. Plus he was 3-0 in the 2012 PS, including a game 1 win in the WS. The Red Sox got just about nothing for their money. Plus, the Zito contract was more money overall but was still $2.5 less per year than Sandoval’s
Anyone think that the angels could pick him up and take a chance?
vernon wells
If he signed next year somewhere for $5 mil after preforming well at the end of this season are the Red Sox left off the hook for $5mil or does he make that on top of what the Red Sox owe him? If he pockets the extra he is a brilliant man and this was all a long plot.
Hmm… Is this the most money a player has had left on his contract when he was released?
Josh Hamilton
Good riddance! What a worthless turd.
Worst deal in the history of deals! -Trump
Talks are heating up with Chicago about Frazier could happen before end of weekend
Question: Name the #1 team that has thrown the most amount of $ on bad contracts? Can you estimate how much $ was wasted in these contacts?
Recently or all time?
Question: if another team signs him, will they also only owe him the league minimun for 2018 and 2019?
Yes
yup
Change of scenery at league minimum makes sense.
Still thinking he could “Buck Dent” the Red Sox in the Playoffs as a Pinch hitter/DH.
This got like 220 comments lol
15 comments if you subtract the food jokes.
So, SF trades nunez to Bosox and then sign Panda on the Sox’s tab?
He’s gonna end up with Giants or White Sox now that they traded Todd yes i know they have Davidson and Abreu but he can be their Dh and play first base for the White Sox
Uh huh. The Giants are sitting at 37-59, They need Sandoval the way the Mets need Tebow.
Wait…
He was the first Red Sox to break his belt while batting. Thanks for the memories
The Redsox need a 3rd Baseman…
…they could try Pablo Sandoval !
Maybe ???
Good one.
… the end.
Easy $95 mil and he’s set for life smh
Should’ve traded panda for Nunez, with Red Sox eating up his entire contract minus Nunez salary. Giants are the only hope for Panda
except the giants would never do that.
Ooooor they could do what they’re going to do, and trade Nunez for an actual decent prospect and get Sandoval for league minimum
The Giants are 37-59.
Let that sink in for a moment.
If I was Giants fan I’d be…something less than enthusiastic…to see Sandoval on the field in a Giants uniform, I might actually start focusing on the A’s.
Let THAT sink in for a moment.
The league should put a penalty on teams that misuse the DL. Sandoval was placed with an “ear infection”, yet he gets DFA as soon as he “comes back”, obviously they used the DL to buy some time.
Has that been done before the new 10 day rule?
Unless you are a licensed physician and work for the Red Sox organization, don’t make assumptions. You don’t know if he really had that ailment or not.
The claim wasn’t simply an ear infection, it was an “inner” ear infection. If your “inner” ear has an infection that means your brain has an infection. The BoSox deserve a sanction for insulting our intelligence with that one..
And speaking of insulting our intelligence, have Varitek and Pedroia convened one of their semi-regular secret-but-nonetheless-reported-to-the-press meetings with John Henry, in this case to complain about David Price and/or John Farrell? Just wondering…
I think the white sox should sign him then trade him to the jankees for fraizer.
Chapman’s contract will be the next Sandoval contract.
Cashman double whammy the Sox stole Frazier from Drowboski And added another great set up man in the pen
Goodnight sweet prince.
Too fat. Needs to have a little respect for the game the fans and the team. Almost $50m left on his contract he should be able to eat himself into a good case of heart problems and some diabetes too boot.
Between Ryan Howard, Adam Dunn, Prince Fielder, and now Panda, I have to assume that teams will think twice before offering massive contracts to players with that particular body type and skill set, no matter how enticing they are.
Although I agree that massive contracts to, lets call them Big Guys, need to be better considered, let’s not paint all those guys as Panda-like:
The proximate reason for Prince Fielder’s retirement – neck issues – have nothing to do with his admittedly spheroid physique. And for what it is worth he was a damn good player.
In terms of physique Ryan Howard is more similar to Dave Winfield than Pablo Sandoval. That isn’t to give Howard a pass for falling off the table, but the reason for that has less to do with his body type than the fact that, like many players before him, he simply lost it at age ~35. It is unfortunate, if not actually sad, but it happens. Frequently.
We are all personally responsible for our ‘actions,’ but I see Adam Dunn as a victim of horrendous coaching throughout the minors. This guy, giant though he is, was, unlike Sandoval, a true athlete, yet was never taught how to be a good hitter (or fielder…or base runner..) Dunn is Aaron Judge with no – zero, nada – technique or discipline installed by good coaching. His problems were not because he was, like Sandoval, completely unfit. He simply was never taught how to correctly play baseball.
Not to fat shame anyone, but being overweight and a professional athlete is not a good mix up if you expect good results.
Devers has already been called up to AAA and is batting ..421 after 5 games.