“Worst Pain I’ve Ever Felt”: Red Sox’s $18M Star The Boston Red Sox have been aggressive this offseason. So much so that they even tried clinching Juan Soto! While they missed him, this time they added an intriguing pitching staff signing: left-hander Patrick Sandoval for a two-year, $18.25 million contract. The 28-year-old player was once a standout Los Angeles Angels star. He was known to rack up strikeouts and deliver on the clutch performances. Even he was projected to earn $5.9 million in arbitration but was surprisingly non-tendered by the Angels. However, it might not have been such a far-fetched fact given that Sandoval was anyway not going to be able to play until mid-next year. The reason is that he underwent an internal brace procedure to repair a torn UCL in his throwing elbow. So why did the Red Sox take on this gamble and sign him? This just might be the team’s recent trend of targeting undervalued players with hopes that they reach their full potential soon. Less investment, high ROI. Sandoval had talked about his injury back in June, and it’s resurfacing back on now. Sandoval’s gritty determination to pitch through pain Talk about tough! Patrick Sandoval shared the story about how he knew something was wrong with his elbow, but he refused to leave the diamond until he could strike out Shohei Ohtani. On The Locker Room with AJ Ramos, Sandoval said, “I ripped a slider, one of the nastier ones I’ve thrown all year. I was like, ‘Oh no,’ I felt something in my elbow… 3-2 count, we called a fastball up, threw it as hard as I could, and it went 88 or 89. The worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life.” Despite the pain, he continued till he could. Interesting story here from Patrick Sandoval on how he knew he got hurt but wanted to stay in the game to strike out Shohei Ohtani. Always love hearing from the players on these kind of details, even if this one ended poorly. pic.twitter.com/K0brUhqOHa — Steve Perrault (@Steve_Perrault) December 20, 2024