Pair of Red Sox pitchers doubtful to return in 2025

The 2025 season may be over for two members of the Red Sox pitching staff on the 60-day injured list.  In speaking with the Boston Globe’s Tim Healey and other reporters Sunday, Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and manager Alex Cora both indicated that left-hander Patrick Sandoval and right-hander Liam Hendriks aren’t likely to pitch this year.

Sandoval underwent an internal brace procedure on his left UCL last July, so the southpaw was guaranteed to need at least a full year of recovery time.  Because brace procedures generally require 12-13 months of rehab rather than the 13-15 month timelines associated with full Tommy John procedures, there was some thought that Sandoval could potentially make it back before the end of the 2025 campaign.

However, Cora indicated last week that Sandoval’s throwing progression had been scaled back from bullpen sessions to just games of catch.  The setback has now seemingly elongated Sandoval’s timeline to the point that he almost surely won’t be fully ramped up (after bullpens, simulated games, minor league rehab games, etc.) to be ready before the end of September.

The Angels chose to non-tender Sandoval last winter, and the Red Sox signed him to a two-year, $18.25M free agent deal.  Just $5.5M of that salary was owed for 2025, as the idea was that Sandoval would be missing at least the first four months of the season anyway.  While this outcome isn’t unexpected, it is surely a disappointment to Sandoval that his UCL injury has continued to leave him on the sidelines.

Hendriks can sympathize, as the closer’s battle with cancer and then a Tommy John surgery limited him to five MLB innings in 2023 and then cost him the entirety of the 2024 season.  Similar to Sandoval, Hendriks’ hopes of a late-season return were dashed by some continued arm soreness, and then his return in 2025 was delayed by elbow inflammation during spring training.  Upon finally returning to the mound and making his official Red Sox debut, Hendriks posted a 6.59 ERA over 14 games and 13 2/3 innings before hip inflammation sent him back to the IL in late May.

Hendriks signed a two-year, $10M deal with the Red Sox in February 2024 that, like Sandoval’s contract, was backloaded.  He earned $2M while rehabbing in 2024 and then is earning $6M this year, plus there is a $2M buyout of a $12M mutual option for the 2026 season.  The Sox are a lock to decline their end of the option given Hendriks’ continued injury owes, and the former three-time All-Star will probably have to settle for a minor league deal in free agency this coming offseason.