Blue Jays win big Nick Sandlin As first reflected on the MLB.com trade tracker, he has been removed from the 40-man roster. Sandlin has been on the roster for more than three years and will surely elect to become a free agent in the coming days.
This is actually early non-tenderness in the right rear hand. MLBTR writer Matt Swartz projects Sandlin’s salary to be $2MM if he gets an arbitration contract. That’s not a huge number, but the Jayhawks are very unhappy with his future and they don’t want to keep him in a middle-of-the-pack role next season.
This reduces their roster size from 38 to 37 players. Teams have until Tuesday night to decide which eligible rookies to exclude from the Rule 5 draft. The Jayhawks have more available spots than if they waited until Friday’s non-tender deadline to advance.
Toronto acquired Sandlin as part of the secondary last winter Andres Jimenez trading. The Southern Mississippi product posted a 3.27 ERA in parts of four seasons in Cleveland. Sandlin never had great control, but he missed a lot of at-bats behind a plus slider and a promising splitter. The Jays are hoping he can play a bigger role after playing a sixth/seventh-inning role in the Cleveland bullpen.
Injuries prevented that from happening. Sandlin went down with a lat strain three weeks into the season. He returned in mid-June but was sidelined with elbow inflammation after nine appearances. The latter injury ended his year. Sandlin pitched a total of 16 1/3 innings. He allowed seven runs (four earned runs), struck out 16 and walked eight. He recorded five holds and one save, but also gave up three leads.
Sandlin’s stuff dwindled. His slider (78.4 mph) and four-seam fastball (91.4 mph) both hit career lows. While he’s never used a flamethrower, his heater speeds were between 94-95 mph during his rookie season and 92-93 mph last year. Other teams clearly share the Jaybirds’ concerns about the loss of velocity. Sandlin agreed to waivers, suggesting no club was willing to sign him for the projected $2MM price tag.
