Red Sox: Former 3rd baseman Pablo Sandoval finds new home in old home

Boston Red Sox off season acquisitions don’t always go as planned and Pablo Sandoval was the prime example of a complete bust addition

After the 2014 regular season, the Boston Red Sox needed to shake things up. They needed to get some new blood, infuse the energy and get things rolling straight away. The Sox had been in last place in 2012 with a 69 – 93 record followed up by a 97 – 65 record winning the World Series for the 3rd time in nine seasons to only fall back into the basement with a 71 – 91 record in 2014. They needed a change.

The Red Sox splurged during the off season adding two big players. Of course the term should be used lightly and is subjective depending on who we’re talking about. Pablo Sandoval was signed before the 2015 season for 5 years at $95 million dollars not including the $5 million dollar buy out in the year 2020 bringing his contract to a total sum of $100 million dollars. Ouch.

You would have thought that the Red Sox would have learned about handing out big contracts to players especially after the Carl Crawford experiment bombed miserably. I at this point, can’t tell which player busted worse. We could go by the numbers. Crawford didn’t even last two years in Boston before he and his contract got packaged out to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Let’s review the numbers shall we?

Crawford in 161 games slashed .260/14/75/23. The Panda in 161 games slashed .237/14/59/0. It’s hurts to think about it when we look back to both players, Crawford’s deal didn’t end up hurting as it got offloaded. Sandoval’s contract is a reality check for Sox management as this tells that the Sox are on the hook for $18 million in dead cap in each of the next two seasons. The Red Sox have suddenly turned into the Yankees.

While the contract idea still gives fans a headache, nothing was worse than watching someone who didn’t care about his own health try to fake playing a position he was paid to play. His complacency got the best of him. After winning three World Series Titles with another team, he felt like he’d done everything that he was supposed to do. Verdict? Pablo Sandoval was one of the worst moves this franchise has made in decades.

I’ll go on the record and say that the Panda flop was a worse move than the Carl Crawford sell. He will at the end of the day make closer to $100 million dollars from the Red Sox for the numbers mentioned above. Gut wrenching? I think so. Rumors have now risen that he’s being pursued by the Giants, yes, the team that didn’t offer him a deal, to play for them once again pending a physical of course. That should be exciting!

If Panda passes a physical for the Giants, then just about anyone could pass. The qualifications for passing that physical are being able to walk and breathing. The guy is a walking disaster. Of course, as everyone had assumed, he was going to go to a team that’s in the basement that has no chance at making the playoffs now. They’re the second worst team in baseball. It makes perfect sense to have the worst player join the worst team.

Do the Giants really think that Kung Fu Panda is going to bring them to the promised land for a 4th time? Madison Bumgarner is back so maybe that gives them a slight boost every 5th game. Still, can the Panda find his old form and rejuvenate his career again?

 

Photo Credit – Maddy Meyer – Getty Images