As bad as Pablo Sandoval has been with the Boston Red Sox, the relationship may not be over.
Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe said that Sandoval will certainly get a chance to start again. In fact, Abraham actually noted that he expects The Panda to be the team’s starting third baseman in 2017. Among the factors cited were Sandoval’s remaining contract and the struggles of Brock Holt, Travis Shaw and prospect Yoan Moncada.
Because of that, Sandoval deserves a chance to start in 2017. But if he doesn’t step up and take it, it will be time for Boston to cut ties with Sandoval.
In 2016, Sandoval came to spring training out of shape, lost his starting job, then proceeded to suffer a season-ending injury early in the regular season. The 2016 season was so disastrous that it’s actually easy to forget about how bad 2015 was.
In Sandoval’s first year with the Red Sox, he slashed at .245/.292/.366. Until 2016, those were all career lows. He also scored only 43 runs, hit 10 home runs and drove in 47. With the exception of 2008, when he was called up in mid-August, those were all career career lows — also until 2016.
So far, his time with the Red Sox has been nothing short of an epic failure.
Now at 30, Sandoval is still relatively young. As recently as 2014, he was one of the best players on a World Series champion. Sandoval is also a reasonably accomplished player, although his postseason accolades far exceed his regular season success.
Given Boston’s other options, Sandoval deserves a chance — but nothing more. If he doesn’t succeed in spring training and early in the season, it’ll be time for the Red Sox to end he experiment. That may come in the form of an outright release or via a trade. Either way, Boston’s front office would be forced to eat a lot of money.
Unfortunately, at that point, it wouldn’t have much of a choice. Sandoval doesn’t deserve a long leash — but he is worth one more chance.