Since his return from the injured list following a nearly two-year long recovery from UCL surgery, Patrick Sandoval has been fine. He's posted a 4.58 ERA and 1.76 WHIP over 55 innings with the Boston Red Sox as they push toward the postseason.
But "fine" hasn't cut it for the Red Sox, whose success has come on the backs of the elite pitchers in their rotation. Sandoval's last five decisions have been losses, with a no decision in the mix from August 22 against the San Francisco Giants, one of the worst teams in baseball this year. On September 8, he allowed 10 hits and four runs to the Los Angeles Angels, another one of baseball's worst clubs (subscription required).
In three of Sandoval's last five losses, he's given up three earned runs or less, including a one-run outing against the New York Yankees. Boston's offense has slowed its output a bit since its red-hot streak in July and into August and even some of Sandoval's better pitching performances haven't been enough to save it.
The Red Sox aren't in a position to need Sandoval in October — three of Sonny Gray, Ranger Suarez, Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett could carry the rotation staff and Brayan Bello could serve as a backup in the event of an injury. There's an argument for replacing him in the rotation before October to help Boston win as many games as possible before the end of the season, however.
Patrick Sandoval's last five decisions have been losses, which could force Red Sox to replace him in rotation with Brayan Bello
Bello could be a candidate for the open rotation position. Despite his earlier struggles as a starting pitcher, the 27-year-old seemingly got his groove back after a five-inning, scoreless outing against the Angels on Labor Day. The Sox could also continue to use him in a bulk role following an opener, which has worked exceedingly well for the righty for most of the season.
Boston could also roll with Sandoval for the rest of the season to give its other arms more rest for October. The Red Sox are firmly in postseason territory with a 99.8 percent chance to make the playoffs as of September 9 (per FanGraphs) and the rest of the American League is in a tight race, fighting each other more so than the higher teams in the standings. While the Red Sox have the time to push for higher Wild Card standing (they sit three games behind the Yankees as of this writing), catching up will be a tall task as New York, one of the best teams in the AL all year, which finally got Aaron Judge back from injury, will have to fall off a bit for that to happen.
Swapping Sandoval and Bello's roles could help the Red Sox net a few more wins down the stretch, but in the team's eyes, they may not matter as much as keeping arms fresh for the postseason when the wins mean more.
Add us as a preferred source on Google