Formerly successful Guardians reliever DFA'd by Angels after brutal start to 2026

On May 1, Los Angeles Angels reliever Nick Sandlin put together one of his best appearances in the past two years when he threw two scoreless innings against the New York Mets. 

While he didn’t record a strikeout across that time, he allowed just two baserunners and helped keep the Angels in the game. After an injury-plagued 2025 season with the Blue Jays, his scoreless appearance looked like a step in the right direction for the former Guardians reliever. 

Turns out that couldn’t have been further from the case, as the Angels designated Sandlin for assignment on Monday after he had a disastrous outing against the Mets on Sunday where he allowed two runs in one inning. 

That means Sandlin is headed back to the baseball wilderness, which has become the story of his career since the Guardians traded him away following the 2024 season. 

The best days of Nick Sandlin’s career seem to be behind him

The Angels decision to DFA Sandlin was a bit of a no-brainer considering he posted an 11.52 ERA in just 8 2/3 innings. While he posted back-to-back scoreless outings in the middle of April and had that aforementioned scoreless outing against the Mets, he allowed multiple runs in his other five outings of the year. 

Sandlin ended up in Los Angeles thanks to the Blue Jays cutting him loose after he recorded just 16 1/3 innings with them thanks to a lat strain and elbow inflammation. 

He ended up inking a minor league contract with the Angels and earned a big league promotion after posting a 1.42 ERA in 6 1/3 innings in Triple-A. 

Those numbers are a far cry from how he was during his peak with the Guardians, as he had a 2.55 ERA in 77 2/3 innings across the 2021 and ‘22 seasons. He had a stellar 2.25 ERA in that 2022 campaign and added one scoreless outing in the postseason before suffering a season-ending arm injury. 

He was still good in the following two seasons (3.75 ERA in 117 2/3 innings), but it always seemed like that production was built on a house of cards thanks to some rough underlying numbers. 

The Guardians ended up cutting bait with him after that 2024 season by including him as a part of their deal that shipped Andrés Giménez to the Toronto Blue Jays. 

While Sandlin still has three minor league options remaining, he just cleared five years of service time, which means he can't be optioned to the minors without his consent. 

It’ll be interesting to see if any team takes a chance on him considering he still posted an above-average whiff rate (31.1%). He’s clearly not the same kind of pitcher that he was during his Guardians heyday, but his previous success could still help him find a landing spot somewhere else.

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