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After signing a five-year, $95 million contract with the Boston Red Sox, third baseman Pablo Sandoval‘s production in 2015 (.245/.292/.366, 10 home runs and 47 RBIs over 505 plate appearances) fell far short of expectations. Conditioning issues continue to linger around “Kung Fu Panda”, but he didn’t seem to be in any real danger of losing his starting job heading into this season. On Thursday, with a spring showing fresh on everyone’s mind, that changed.
Travis Shaw named starting third baseman for @RedSox. Defense was deciding factor. Pablo Sandoval will try to earn more playing time.
— Ian Browne (@IanMBrowne) March 31, 2016
Shaw earned the promotion, with a .333/.379/.519 slash-line and two home runs this spring, and all indications suggest he has been better defensively than Sandoval. The Red Sox now have a very expensive bench player, since Sandoval is due $17.6 million this year and $72.4 million over the next four seasons, but Farrell deserves credit as presumably the driving force for letting merit drive a surprising decision on the surface.
Sandoval can still be something resembling the player the Red Sox are paying him to be, and a benching could be the wake-up call he needs to get and stay in better shape. A trade is possible, on the heels of news the San Diego Padres have scouted Sandoval recently, but the Red Sox seem committed to keeping him rather than having him start with the possibility to showcase him to any interested teams. With Sandoval’s postseason track record in mind, maybe it’s best for him to be parked on the bench until he can be a real factor for the Red Sox.
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