Pablo Sandoval lost his starting third base job to Travis Shaw to kick off the 2016 MLB season. Now he's been placed on the disabled list as the Boston Red Sox have announced the veteran has a left shoulder strain.
Sandoval's lackluster spring training made way for Shaw, who was one of the team's best players leading up to the start of the season. Panda's career-worst campaign with the Red Sox in 2015 already had him on thin ice, especially after he signed a $95 million contract, but now a DL stint is bound to continue to keep him out of the team's big picture plans.
#RedSox today placed 3B Pablo Sandoval on 15-day DL (retro to 4/11) with a left shoulder strain & selected INF Josh Rutledge from Triple-A.
— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) April 13, 2016
Rob Bradford of WEEI.com was the first to report the team's transaction.
Sandoval told Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald earlier today that he woke up today and couldn't move his arm. The veteran was also asked if he still has a future in Boston and he replied that he had signed on for five years.
The Red Sox now won't have to worry about working him into the lineup as he'll be inactive for the next two weeks, which has been a bit of a controversy considering Shaw is earning the league minimum and Sandoval is making at least $17.6 million per season through 2019.
His trip to the DL will undoubtedly spur trade rumors as well. Sandoval has been the subject of such talk ever since president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was hired last season, and it's persisted into 2016 because the Red Sox, as of right now, could use some starting pitching. However, it's unknown how the team would be able to shed the veteran because of his costly contract as well as the inefficiency that has characterized his play over the past year. The team also won't have much negotiating leverage being that a 25-year-old with 65 MLB games under his belt heading into 2016 beat out Sandoval, a longtime veteran, for a starting job.
His standing with the team has been further questioned after manager John Farrell opted to not use him as a pinch hitter late in the game with a runner in scoring position against a right-handed reliever earlier this week.
"Regardless of the reasoning, it underscores Sandoval's imperfect fit on the roster," ESPN's Scott Lauber wrote.
Such speculation is bound to run ramped until the veteran starts to get more playing time or is finally shipped out of town.
But for now, he'll spend 15 days on the disabled list, which is at least better than being benched.
