It's Clear that Sandoval has no Place on this Team
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| (March 13, 2016 - Source: Leon Halip/Getty Images North America) |
Contributing Writer
Yesterday on Opening Day at Fenway, Sandoval was met with a plethora of boos as he got introduced and as the game went on, it would not get any easier for big Pablo.
In the seventh inning, Mychal Givens was on the mound for the Baltimore Orioles (a right hander) with a runner in scoring position for the Sox. With Chris Young up at-bat, John Farrell elected to stick with Young despite that fact that his career average is .224 off of righties.
Farrell could have easily went with Sandoval, as he typically hits well against right-handed pitching.
But he didn't.
Instead, Farrell stuck with Young.
Farrell explained later to reporters that he wanted Young in the game to possibly face O's closer Zach Britton in the ninth.
"With the left-handed closer in Britton, that was the swing decision," Farrell said to reporters. "It's an aggressive move in the sixth inning, but the way the wind is blowing, the way the ball is carrying, looking for spots for Chris Young against the left-hander. that was it, knowing that Britton is going to close that game out, if they were to take the lead."
This decision says a lot about Sandoval's place on the team.
He has none.
Sandoval is not particularly fast, and he can only play third base. So after he lost his job at the end of Spring Training to Travis Shaw, there was no where to put him.
It was thought that Sandoval would only be used to start on off-days for Shaw and in pinch-hit situations.
As far as giving Shaw the day off, Sandoval started against the Toronto Blue Jays for a game and went 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts. His belt also exploded on a swing.
Pablo says he didn't step on a scale in the offseason. No doubt. Ask his belt. https://t.co/0mVT8pHMDx— Jim Rome (@jimrome) April 11, 2016
And Farrell elected not to use Sandoval in a pinch hit situation with a hard throwing right-hander on the mound.
So there go both of the scenarios in which we thought Sandoval would play in.
So there go both of the scenarios in which we thought Sandoval would play in.
If Sandoval stays with the team, the question of "where do we put our fat, $95 million third basemen and how do we use him?" will plague the minds of Dave Dombrowski and Farrell throughout the season.
But for now, it looks as if we're paying someone $95 million to just simply sit and watch the games from some high-quality, on-field seats.
We paid Pablo Sandoval $95 million to be a Sox fan.
