10:20am: Sandoval will earn $5.5MM in 2025 and $12.75MM in 2026, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports. Speier adds that the Sox are still open to acquiring more rotations.
9:55am: Red Sox and lefty Patrick Sandoval agreed to a two-year contract worth $18.25MM guaranteed, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. Wasserman’s client was non-tendered by the Angels last month and is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery, which was performed in June. He will miss at least the first half of the 2025 season, if not more, but he could be a late-season option for Boston and should be a member of their 2026 rotation.
Sandoval’s two-year guarantee makes the Angels’ decision not to tender him and his estimated $5.9MM salary (per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) look even more questionable. Even if Sandoval had missed the entire 2025 season, he would have been in line for just over that $5.9MM salary – a total of $11.8MM. There is no way he would have received a nearly $6.5MM raise on that projected 2025 salary heading into the 2026 season.
The Angels may have traded Sandoval before releasing him, and market conditions have changed since then. Nevertheless, the recent two-year deals of Tommy John who re-created at the same time (eg Tyler Mahle, German Marquez) show that in the end there would have been commercial interest for the rest, but Halo opted for a quick salary adjustment. Maybe that made it easier for them to sign Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year deal, but Sandoval’s deal with the Red Sox shows that he might have at least a little trade value if the Halos offered him a contract and he continued to explore. market for his services.
While his exact timetable for a return to the top of the league is unknown so far in the rehab process, Sandoval is a quality arm who will slot into the middle of Boston’s rotation whenever he is cleared. A few days before his injury, I looked at the statistical similarities between Sandoval and another lefty – the popular trade target Jesus Luzardo. As of 2021, Sandoval owns a 3.80 ERA with nearly average strikeout numbers (22.6%) and a heavy 10.2% walk rate.
Sandoval’s command isn’t great and never has been, but that number is slightly off the 11.3% mark from 2023 that looks like a clear outlier. Sandoval posted a 9.3% walk rate in 2021, 2022 and 2024. It’s still not great, but it’s only about one point north of the league average. He sits at 93-94 mph with his four-seamer and sinker alike, pairing those fastballs with a slider that misses bats and a changeup that helps him keep righties at bay. He’s still commanding a significant team split, but right-handed hitters haven’t exactly crushed it (.263/.344/.391) and lefties shouldn’t bother swinging (.195/.274/.324).
More to come.
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