Angels learning brutal Nick Sandlin reality that Guardians already knew 

For four years, Nick Sandlin was a key part of the Guardians’ bullpen. While the level of his usage fluctuated based on injuries and availability, he always seemed to be one of the first players Terry Francona called upon to put out a fire. 

And while there were plenty of times where he wiggled out of trouble, there were also plenty of times where he made the fire worse, which is what eventually brought about the Guardians trading him to the Blue Jays following the 2024 season. 

That stay in Toronto only lasted one injury-plagued season, but he made his return to the big leagues over the weekend after the Los Angeles Angels selected his contract from Triple-A. 

And he responded to that selection by allowing  two earned runs in 1/3 of an inning in his debut on Sunday in Los Angeles’ 9-6 win over the Reds. 

It’s a performance that should look eerily familiar for Guardians fans. 

Nick Sandlin’s struggles have followed him since leaving Guardians 

Sandlin signed a minor league deal with the Angels in the offseason after a 2025 season where he was limited to just 16 1/3 innings in his first (and only) year in Toronto due to a lat strain and elbow issues. 

When Sandlin was at his best with the Guardians, he was able to generate oodles of soft contact and ground balls thanks to a funky arm angle that made it hard for hitters to barrel his pitches. 

But that went by the wayside during his final two seasons in Cleveland (2023 and ‘24). Not only did he post ERAs of 3.75 in both seasons, but he also allowed 12 home runs in both campaigns — a tangible example of how little he was fooling hitters. 

He had clearly dropped a rung in the Guardians' bullpen trust tree during the ‘24 season, and the front office made the shrewd move to include him in the deal that sent Andrés Giménez to Toronto. 

Toronto’s front office then decided to pull the plug on him after one season (in part so they didn’t need to pay him his projected salary of $2 million through arbitration. 

While Sandlin was able to quell a scoring threat by the Reds in the eighth inning of Sunday’s game, it didn’t take long for him to get into trouble in the ninth inning. 

After the inning opened with a fielding error from Oswald Peraza, he surrendered a single to Dane Myers and hit TJ Friedl with a pitch before being pulled for Drew Pomeranz, who surrendered a three-run home run to Elly De La Cruz two batters later. 

That outing does a great job encapsulating the Sandlin experience; some good, but also some incredibly frustrating bad. 

It’s an experience Angels fans should get used to.

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