Guardians righty Nick Sandlin has been diagnosed with a strain in his upper back/shoulder and will miss the remainder of the postseason, tweets Zack Meisel of The Athletic. Cleveland will need to swap him out for the next round of postseason play. Starter Aaron Civale, who took the ball in the final regular-season game and was thus left off the Wild Card roster, will likely be added, though depending on other moves the team wishes to make, right-hander Cody Morris could be a candidate to join the fray as well. The team will have until tomorrow morning to make a formal decision on who’ll take Sandlin’s roster spot.
The loss of Sandlin is a notable one for Cleveland, even if the 25-year-old — like much of the Guardians’ roster — is far from a household name. The 2018 second-rounder made his big league debut in 2021, when he tossed 33 2/3 innings of 2.94 ERA ball, and has had similar success in 2022.
While this year’s 22.8% strikeout rate and 13.3% walk rate were steps back from 2021 levels (34% and 12.1%, respectively), Sandlin also saw his ground-ball rate spike from 41.7% to a whopping 55.9%. He tossed 44 innings of 2.25 ERA ball out of the Cleveland ’pen, including a sparkling 1.11 ERA and 26-to-6 K/BB ratio over his final 24 1/3 frames.
The Guardians haven’t formally announced the injury, a treatment plan or a potential timeline, but they’ll likely provide more details in the days to come. For now, what’s immediately clear is that their powerhouse bullpen will take at least a slight hit in their American League Division Series date with the Yankees. The bullpen — and the pitching staff in general — will still remain an unquestioned strength, however. Even with Sandlin sidelined, Cleveland can turn to righties Emmanuel Clase, James Karinchak, Trevor Stephan and lefty Sam Hentges in leverage spots — all four of whom had ERAs of 2.69 or better and strikeout rates of 28.4% or higher.
Tough break for Sandlin and the team…could have definitely used him to match up with some of the NY righties in the lineup.
I wouldnt be so certain that Civale is the replacement. The team has already announced Quantril, Bieber, McKenzie as the first three starters. With how the schedule is setup and the off days, Cal would be back on normal rest for a potential game 4 in Cleveland. For a potential game 5, I wouldn’t put it past the team to then start Bieber on 3 days rest. I think Cody Morris ends up being the replacement.
They should put both Civale and Morris on. They can take off either Bo Naylor (they don’t need a third C) or Kirk McCarty (isn’t very good).
@Col – Yeah, that’s fine and I could see that happening, I just don’t see the Sandlin for Civale only move. They don’t fit the same roles.
Col_chestbridge;
A good chance Bo Naylor stays on.
A poster made the point that Francona wanted Naylor on the roster because he might want to pinch hit for a catcher. Both Cleveland catchers are weak hitters, and both hit RH. Meanwhile the position players are overwhelmingly LH hitters (and Bo hits LH).
Right now the only LH in the bullpen will be Hentges if they keep McCarty off the roster.
Flexibility is the key to everything MLB.
Disappointing for him I’m sure. With those numbers for the team as well
Aaron Covale pitched a masterpiece in the season finale. He can’t be used if a long man is needed?
That’s a bummer for Sandlin. He is definitely one of the guys that helped them get this far.
It will likely be Morris to replace him. They probably go with 3 starters, so you’ll see either Plesac or Civale in the bullpen. Other than that, you’ll probably see the exact same roster as the WC series.
You say that now, until they place Sandlin on the 60 day IL and activate Shaw.
It’s going to be Bryan Shaw
Adding Bryan Shaw would be a disaster for Cleveland. The thought shouldn’t even cross their minds.
While the stats may point to adding Cody Morris, he really didn’t pitch too much in the major leagues this season. I believe he only appeared in 7 or 8 games, 5 of which he started. His results were quite good but he lacks the important experience that Aaron Civale would bring to the table. I’d be fine with either Morris or Civale, just don’t add Shaw!
I don’t know what team you have been watching. Sandlin had a very good year. Look at his numbers.
Since being called up to the majors after a brief AAA stint, Sandlin had *checke notes* only 6 walks in 27 appearances
A lesson for fans that are learning about Cleveland’s bullpen….
It’s been very good for years. They don’t buy it. They keep building it….with pitchers most never heard of.
It’s all about making the players a team has under contract better – in roles that suit them.
Civale, Morris – on
Sandlin, McCarty – off
Per Meisel
You may be right IndianFan. Cody Morris and Nick Sandlin have similar results in MLB but Morris was significantly better than Sandlin in MiLB. I think Morris is actually a slight upgrade. They are not weak but both are the weakest links in Cleveland’s super pen.
The best decision is replacing LH Kirk McCarthy with RH Aaron Civale. Although it would be better to have a 2nd LH in the pen, McCarthy is prone to giving up HR and hasn’t pitched well above A ball.