Red Sox Pablo Sandoval on the DL

The Boston Red Sox have placed third baseman Pablo Sandoval on the disabled list with a left shoulder strain.

It would seem that the Boston Red Sox have (temporarily) dodged a panda-shaped bullet. The question of when to play Pablo Sandoval and when not to has been taken out of John Farrell‘s hands, as the third baseman has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a left shoulder strain.

Sandoval has only started one game in this young season, going 0-6 with a staggering four strikeouts. He lost the starting spot to Travis Shaw in Spring Training. Shaw, inversely, has had six hits and four runs in a mere seven games.

Sandoval’s roster spot has been filled by Josh Rutledge, who was pulled up from AAA Pawtucket where has has racked up six hits in five games along with one stolen base. In 2015 with Boston he collected 21 hits in 39 games.

Sandoval is in his second year of a five-year contract for $95 million. Red Sox fans will not quickly forget how bad his 2015 season was, when he batted only .245 with 73 strikeouts and a mere 10 home runs. When Pablo showed up at Spring Training looking less like a baseball player an more like an actual panda, fans weren’t too thrilled. On Saturday in Toronto things didn’t get much better for Pablo when his belt opened (or “taps out” according to Twitter) during a big swing. Even Farrell has to admit Pablo has not had a good commencement to the season.

“It’s been a real tough start; he’s been an easy target,” Farrell told reporters, according to MLB.com’s Ian Browne.

Of course, the season is young yet. Perhaps giving Sandoval the rest he needs now will get him back on track so he can prove the haters wrong and make a strong showing during the rest of the year.

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One can only hope.