Pablo Sandoval left the Giants and signed with the Red Sox in 2014, after a meeting with David Ortiz and a conversation with the team in which they made it clear that — per The Boston Globe — “they saw Sandoval as an important component in their lineup.”
In 2017, they designated Sandoval for assignment — a move that cost them a staggering $48.3 million. As then-President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski said bluntly at the time: “It really came down to us feeling that we were not a better club if he was on our club at the major league level.