It’s essentially an early non-tender from the righty reliever. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz expected Sandlin to get a $2 million salary if he was offered an arbitration contract. That’s not a huge amount, but the Jays were concerned enough about his future that they didn’t want to lock him into a center relief role for next season.
This drops the number of players from 38 to 37. Teams must decide Tuesday night which eligible prospects they want to keep out of the Rule 5 draft. The Jays have an extra spot available than they would have had if they had waited until Friday’s non-tender deadline to make the cut.
Toronto acquired Sandlin as a secondary piece last winter Andres Gimenez trade. The Southern Mississippi product had posted a 3.27 earned run average over parts of four seasons in Cleveland. Sandlin never had good control, but he missed quite a few bats behind a plus slider and a promising splitter. The Jays hoped he could take on a bigger role after being more of a sixth/seventh inning type in a loaded Cleveland bullpen.
Injuries prevented this from happening. Sandlin went down with a lat strain three weeks into the season. He returned in mid-June, but was shut down again after nine appearances due to elbow inflammation. The latest injury ended his year. Sandlin threw a total of 16 1/3 innings. He gave up seven runs (four earned) with 16 strikeouts and eight walks. He recorded five holds and a save, but also gave up three leads.
Sandlin’s belongings had been reduced in size. He averaged career highs on both his slider (78.4 MPH) and his four-seam fastball (91.4). Although he has never been a flamethrower, his heat was in the 94-95 MPH range during his rookie season and between 92 and 93 last year. Other teams apparently share the Jays’ concerns about the reduced velocity. Sandlin cleared waivers, suggesting no club wanted to take a flyer and make him an offer at the projected price of $2 million.
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