Red Sox: Pablo Sandoval nearing a return from the DL
Boston Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval is a clean minor league start away from rejoining the major league club.
A return from the disabled list is only a short distance away for Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval. According to Chad Jennings of the Boston Herald, he could be back with the club as early as next week in their series against the Chicago Cubs. Which also means the carousel of options at the hot corner is nearing an end as well.
Sandoval has been out since April 23 with a sprained right knee, leaving the Red Sox without a straightforward option to man third. Brock Holt took over briefly, but then hit the disabled list himself with a severe case of vertigo. He’s since been shelved indefinitely.
Following Holt came Marco Hernandez, who was nothing more than okay before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury back on May 3. The long-term injuries to Holt and Hernandez have left the Red Sox to lean on Josh Rutledge and Deven Marrero to assume utility roles for nearly a month. As far as fourth and fifth string options go, they’ve been alright.
Of the two, Rutledge carries the stronger bat with 13 hits in 46 at-bats (.283), though his .875 fielding percentage at third leaves a lot to be desired. For that reason, Deven Marrero has been the team’s everyday starter at third since May 13. He’s only hit .188 this season, but as a defensive option, he’s given the Red Sox a measure of consistency they haven’t been able to find elsewhere. In 120 innings at the hot corner, he’s yet to commit an error.
While the club will surely look to Sandoval to be the starter once he returns, Marrero does deserve credit for providing a stable hand at a position that has gone without one for what seems like the entire season.
Even though Sandoval hit just .213 with three home runs before the injury, he’s the team’s best chance at finding offense from the position. Collectively, Red Sox third basemen are 29th in both fWAR (-0.5) and wRC+ (60). Offensively, the position has been a black hole all season. Sandoval isn’t the player he used to be, but he provides more offensive upside than any of the players that have tried to fill his shoes over the past month.
He’ll make his sixth minor league rehab start Saturday night, after which the team will evaluate his readiness for a final time hopefully. Before clearing him to return to a full workload in the majors, the team wanted him to prove that he can play in back to back games.
Next: Vertigo has forced the Red Sox to shut down Brock Holt
If all goes well, the Red Sox will be back with their starting third baseman for the first time in more than a month. On potentially the same night David Price makes his first start of the season.