The Red Sox announced that they have returned the lefty Patrick Sandoval on the 60-day injured list. He will play the Sox on Thursday, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Left Alec Gamboa Optioned to Triple-A Worcester in concurrent active roster move. The right hand Jack Anderson he was selected for the assignment to open the 40 man position.
If Sandoval enters the game, it will be his first major league appearance in two years. His last outing with the angels is in June of 2024. He needed surgery on his hip soon after. The Angels didn’t like him the following season.
The Red Sox acquired Sandoval on a two-year, $18.25MM deal. Ideally, he could join the team in late 2025 before giving the Sox a full and healthy season in 2026. A few obstacles prevented that scenario from playing out. Sandoval couldn’t get out of the IL in 2025 and has now spent more than half of the 2026 campaign on the shelf again.
Obviously, the Sox would love to come back earlier, but this opener is still a good time for them. They have had a number of rotational injuries this year, with Garrett Crochet, Cutter Crawford, Johan Oviedo again Tanner Houck missed most or all of the campaign. Connelly Early he just joined that team in IL last week, leaving Boston in a trade that included Sonny Gray, Guard Suárez, Payton Tolle again Jake Bennett. Suarez is also injured, as he left last night’s game with an adductor strain.
Whether Suárez hits IL or not remains to be seen but Sandoval should be able to step in and replace Early. Sandoval threw 18 1/3 innings in his latest rehab assignment with a 1.96 earned run average. His last outing took him to five scoreless innings in a Double-A game on Saturday, throwing 68 pitches in the process. He should be ready for something close to a complete player’s career when he takes the ball on Thursday.
More to come.
