The Boston Red Sox’s pursuit of third baseman Pablo Sandoval was neither quiet nor surprising, so Will Middlebrooks had plenty of time to brace himself for the reality of losing his job.
That sense of inevitability did little to lessen the blow.
“It stung a little bit, just because I cared so much about being a part of that team,” Middlebrooks, now of the San Diego Padres, recently told MLB.com’s Richard Justice. “I’d be lying to you if I said it didn’t bother me. But at the same time, I like to think I have an idea of the business of baseball. You have a guy that keeps getting hurt, and they’re an organization that wants to win now. I understand that. It is what it is.”
Middlebrooks, who burst onto the scene with Boston in 2012, is coming off back-to-back injury plagued campaigns that forced the Red Sox to move in a different direction. He appeared in only 157 major league games the last two seasons, during which he hit .213 with 19 homers, 68 RBIs, a .629 OPS and 168 strikeouts in 608 plate appearances.
“I was about as low as you can get,” Middlebrooks told MLB.com of the end of last season, in which he battled hand and wrist issues. “It was tough. Not being able to go out there and contribute and help my teammates out was tough.”
The Red Sox traded Middlebrooks to the Padres in December — a little less than one month after signing Sandoval to be the team’s starting third baseman — in exchange for catcher Ryan Hanigan. The Sox did so with the understanding that Middlebrooks, still only 26, could evolve into an impactful major leaguer with his new team but that things simply weren’t working out in Boston.
The trade was strange for Middlebrooks, who still speaks highly of his time with the Red Sox. While moving on from the organization that drafted him was difficult, especially after winning a World Series in 2013, Middlebrooks also saw the deal as a fresh start.
“It wasn’t fun, knowing my role going forward was as a utility player and backup,” Middlebrooks told MLB.com of the month of uncertainty after the Red Sox signed Sandoval. “I didn’t want that. I didn’t know what to want. I’d never been in that position.
“So when the trade happened, it was a bittersweet feeling. I loved my time in Boston. I loved my teammates, my coaches, the staff. But for my career going forward, it was a great opportunity.”
Middlebrooks, who is competing with Yangervis Solarte for the Padres’ third base job, is off to a roaring start this spring, hitting .375 (9-for-24) with two homers, four RBIs and a 1.108 OPS through eight Cactus League games. It’s an encouraging sign for a once highly touted prospect who simply had no future with his previous organization despite the tools to become a solid big leaguer.
Thumbnail photo via Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports Images
