left handed Patrick Sandoval Having been through a lot in the past year, he recently discussed the twists and turns he’s been through on the MassLive Fenway Rundown podcast, as summed up by MassLive’s Chris Cotillo.
The southpaw underwent ulnar collateral ligament surgery last July, and perhaps the most notable thing he mentioned this week was that he had stent surgery rather than a full Tommy John surgery. When his surgery was reported last summer, it was unclear whether he would require a full UCL reconstruction or an internal stent alternative.
Some media simply use “Tommy John surgery” as a blanket term to cover any type of UCL surgery, but the distinction may be worth noting. Internal stent surgery can sometimes allow players to return to play months sooner than a complete reconstruction. That’s not usually a huge difference, but it could have an impact on Sandoval’s case. A full Tommy John surgery typically takes about 14 months to recover from, and if that timeline is followed, Sandoval would be back around September. But now that he has an internal bracket replacement, he and the Red Sox appear more optimistic about his contribution in the second half of the year.
This timeline also reflects the Angels’ bizarre decision not to invite him, which was a bit surprising when it happened. They could have retained Sandoval through arbitration through 2025 and 2026. Since he won’t be able to invest much money in 2025, that will limit his ability to get a raise in 2026, meaning he’ll likely be stuck around for two years for a total of $12-15MM.
That’s not a bad price for a pitcher as talented as Sandoval, even if his recovery eventually hits a roadblock, and it’s mostly just for his 2026 production. From 2021 to 2024, Sandoval pitched 460 innings and allowed 3.80 earned runs per nine innings. His 22.6% strikeout rate, 10.2% walk rate and 47.3% ground ball rate are all very close to league average.
But the Angels decided to move forward, catching Sandoval off guard by not offering him a contract and sending him to free agency. “I didn’t expect this at all,” he said. “I got a call two minutes before the bidding deadline. My agent told me they decided not to bid on me. I really didn’t know how to feel. I understood that they probably didn’t want to pay me while I was coming back from the injury. Give me that money to sit down and rehab for a year and they have the power to do that.
While the Angels are clearly not keen on paying for Sandoval’s rehab, other teams are keen on doing so. “The whole free agency experience has been crazy,” Sandoval said. “You don’t expect it. I think I have two more years to get a chance to choose which team I want to play for. The whole recruiting process or whatever you want to call it, it takes me back to my high school days and college comes and you chat.
Sandoval reportedly received some interest from the Phillies but ultimately signed a two-year contract with the Red Sox that guaranteed him $18.25 per year, $5.50 this year and $12.75 next year. He’d probably make millions more if the Angels kept him around, so this seems to be working out for the lefty, although it might be disorienting at first.
The Red Sox appear to be heading into 2025 with a slew of wild cards. Garrett Crochet and tanner hawk Both have breakout years in 2024, but have pushed their respective workloads to new heights. Walker Buehler He returned from a lengthy surgical absence in 2024 but had middling results. Lucas Giolito and Liam Hendricks They missed all of last year due to surgeries of their own. Garrett Whitlock Missed most of them for the same reason.
They plan to start the new season with a rotating combination of Crochet, Hawke, and Buehler. Brian Bello and Kurt Crawford. Giolito might be in the mix on Opening Day, and Sandoval might be a few months behind him.
