What Is Pablo Sandoval Even Doing On The Red Sox?
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
Editor's note: This story was published just before John Farrell announced that Pablo Sandoval would be placed on the disabled list.
BOSTON (CBS) -- When manager John Farrell announced in spring training that Travis Shaw would start at third base and Pablo Sandoval would open the season on the bench, it was seen as a sign of the manager (but more, the front office) playing hardball with a big-money player who was not putting in the work. It was a move that was, rightfully and nearly unanimously, applauded.
Yet now, in Week 2 of the season, the team's insistence to superglue Sandoval's plus-size pants to the dugout bench is proving to be at least mildly problematic.
That's not to say that Pablo should be playing. Hardly. He's 0-for-6 with four strikeouts in limited playing time, and he's managed to commit a throwing error on one of his five total chances in the field. He doesn't seem to be putting in any extra work, either. There's no reason to believe he's any better now than he was last year. He should not be playing.
But ... why is he even on the team?
It's complicated, sure, but it really stands out on Wednesday, when Sandoval is once again not penciled into the Red Sox starting lineup. That's despite Sandoval owning great career numbers against Baltimore starter Ubaldo Jimenez.
In 39 career at-bats against Jimenez, Sandoval owns a .359 bating average, including two doubles, a triple (yes, a triple), and two home runs. He also has three walks, giving him a 1.020 OPS against the right-hander. He's by far the Red Sox player with the most experience against Jimenez, and by far the Red Sox player with the most success against Jimenez.
Yet he's on the bench.
That's where he was on Monday, at the home opener, leading to John Farrell having to perform logical gymnastics in order to explain why he let Chris Young (a "specialist" vs. lefties, so to speak) face a hard-throwing right-hander late in a tie game.
And that's where he is again on Wednesday, with Travis Shaw starting at third base and batting sixth.
For Farrell, he's created for himself a vortex of doubt with his pattern of benching Sandoval, starting Shaw ... then pinch hitting for Shaw in the sixth inning. Farrell apparently doesn't trust Shaw to bat late in close games ... but he trusts Shaw much more than he trusts Sandoval. So that tells you exactly where Sandoval stands on this team.
Again, that's not a statement made to try to elicit sympathy for a man who's making $100 million to sit front row at the baseball game very night. But it makes you wonder how much longer this can go on.
If Sandoval hasn't done enough to earn a spot in the lineup against a pitcher he's (relatively) owned in his career, then when will he ever play? And if he can't be used in a role he's supposed to fill even as a bench player (as in, batting for Young against a righty), then why's he even taking up a roster spot?
How long can this really last?
If this is how Farrell intends on using (or, more accurately not using) Sandoval this season, then the pressure should be on Dave Dombrowski and Mike Hazen to rid the team of Sandoval by whatever means necessary. They'll obviously never get any sort of valuable return on a player with that contract and that production, and they'll probably even have to pay a big chunk of cash to get him out the door.
It may not be critical, per se, to clear that roster spot and fill it with a versatile player who might actually help the team. But all it takes is one minor injury, one crucial substitution, to really turn that wasted spot on the 25-man roster into an albatross.
If Sandoval's only role on the Red Sox is to literally occupy space in the dugout before heading to the clubhouse and taking a shower, then why even have him there at all?
Note: Again, Sandoval has now been placed on the DL. How he sustained an injury without actually playing baseball is a mystery to which we may never know the answer.
You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
