The Boston Red Sox designated Pablo Sandoval for assignment earlier today, only increasing their need at the position. However, that doesn't mean Boston is going to trade for one prior to the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline, according to Sam Galanis of NESN.com:
That answer might not be the definitive hope you were looking for after the Red Sox designated Sandoval for assignment Friday, Boston’s so-far successful 2017 campaign won’t come crashing down if the team doesn’t add another third baseman. In fact, the situation at the hot corner actually improved slightly before the All-Star break and could get better once the Red Sox begin their second half Friday.
We’re not going to pretend the Red Sox wouldn’t be better off with an established major league third baseman, but they’ve still had success as a team regardless. Boston still owns the American League’s second-best record and the sixth-best in baseball entering Friday and has seen drastic offensive improvement since a slow start to the season — in addition to being one of MLB’s best pitching clubs.
Brock Holt is expected back soon after spending most of the first half on the disabled list and should provide depth at third — and everywhere else. The 29-year-old was batting just .133 in his six appearances, but the emergence of Tzu-Wei Lin might allow the Red Sox to ease Holt back into the mix. Lin’s success has been in a small sample size, but it’s hard for the Red Sox to ignore the .333 average, .871 OPS, two triples and seven walks posted by the 23-year-old Taiwan native in his first 15 major league games.
Sandoval has been a major disappointment since signing a five-years, $95 million deal with the Red Sox before the 2015 season. Boston now has 10 days to either trade him or release him.
Sandoval has played in just 161 games since the start of 2015, hitting .237 with just 14 homers in his Red Sox career. This year, Sandoval was batting .212 with four homers and 12 RBIs in 32 games.
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