In the winter of 2014, third baseman Pablo Sandoval was the hottest commodity at the hot corner on the free-agent market. After helping the San Francisco Giants claim their third World Series championship in five years in what would be the closest thing we've seen to a baseball dynasty since the New York Yankees of the mid to late 1990's and into the year 2000, the former World Series MVP inked a five-year, $95 Million dollar deal with the Boston Red Sox. And while his time in Boston began nightmarish for the 2-time All-Star, it would eventually be cut short as he was designated for assignment over the weekend.
Though staying healthy and in shape has never been a strong suit of Sandoval's, his ability to hit coupled with the defense he showed while with the Giants was virtually nonexistent during his time in Boston as he's been a shadow of his former self. In his first full year with the Red Sox, Sandoval struggled mightily, hitting a mediocre .245 on the season with career lows in both home runs (10) and RBI's (47) since breaking into the bigs in 2008. Hoping to bounce back with a solid 2016, his Sophomore year in Boston would be anything but as he was limited to only six at-bats in 3 games after straining his left shoulder which would require season-ending surgery. Following the injury, 2017 seemed to be promising for the 30-year old Sandoval who appeared in Spring Training close to 40 lbs. lighter and hitting much better at the plate as his .338 batting average and 5 home runs helped him win back the job as Boston's Opening Day starting third baseman. Instead, the struggles both offensively and defensively would continue as soon as the season started, as he hit just .212 with 4 HR and 12 RBI in 99 at-bats.
Adding to his frustration, Sandoval was plagued by injuries once more which eventually contributed to his designation despite still being owed over $48 Million dollars. That amount marks the second-highest total of money owed to a player, trailing only Josh Hamilton's $68.4 Million owed by the Angels after being cut by Los Angeles only two years into his five-year contract. While many around the baseball world would point to his former ball club in San Francisco as being an ideal landing spot for Sandoval, it's easier said than done and rather unlikely that he'll be reunited in the Bay Area. Though Sandoval became an instant favorite among Giants fans and players alike who embraced him with such nicknames as "Pandaval" and "Kung-fu Panda", he didn't leave on the best of terms with the Giants front-office. Not to mention the Giants appear to already have their third baseman of the future in 22-year old Christian Arroyo. Whether or not we'll be seeing fans at AT&T Park dusting off their old panda hats is anybodies guess at this point, but given the Giants could sign him to the prorated league minimum after Friday if the Red Sox fail to trade his rights, it wouldn't be the biggest of surprises if they decided to kick the tires on an old friend. In just 161 games with Boston over the past two and half seasons, Sandoval hit a sub par .237 at the dish with 14 homers and 59 RBI's.
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Given that the Giants-Dodgers series just came to an end, what better way to reminisce than to remember some of the most historic yet horrific incidents that ever took place with these two teams on opposite ends of the field. The most notorious incident in the Giants-Dodgers rivalry has got to be the Juan Marichal-Johnny Roseboro brawl. After a few debatable hit batsmen and an argument, Giants pitcher Marichal took a bat to Roseboro's cranium. (As shown in the pictures)
Roseboro was badly bleeding but was not severely injured. The two later became close friends. 
It's almost clear that the rivalry isn't as blood thirsty as it was in the 50's and 60's, but who said these teams still don't like each other? & What's a good ol' classic rivalry without a little pushing and shoving? That's exactly how game 3 of the 3 game series went between both teams on Wednesday. With the first game ending in frustration due to a few costly mishaps on behalf of the umpiring crew, it only got worse from there. Game 2 seemed to have a different take as the Dodgers pummeled the Giants starting pitching. But as game 3 came along, the Giants were in desperate need of a victory over there long time rivals. However they didn't get it easily.With the umpires being of no help thanks to a few more shitty calls, the game came down to the last pitch. A pitch that was hit into the deep left field bleachers by shortstop Juan Uribe that sent the Giants home happy with a 4-2 10th inning walk-off victory. But before the celebration, the benches cleared. With Eugenio Velez leading the 5th inning off with a double, Freddy Sanchez came up to the plate to single and bring home Velez. As Velez slid home, a ball that was sailed high was caught by the leaping Russell Martin. When the Dodgers backstop returned to gravity, he was upended causing him to fall back. Martin regained himself and Velez gave him a pat on the back to show it was an accident. Then came up Pablo Sandoval. Dodgers reliever James McDonald threw a first pitch high and in that seemed to have grazed Pablo's elbow. However the ump said it hit his bat first resulting in a strike. Sandoval took it as retaliation for the play that happened just seconds before. As he started to walk out of the batters box, he began jawing with McDonald and raised his arms. The home plate ump tried pushing Sandoval aside to avoid any further confrontation. Meanwhile Russell Martin tried getting in Sandoval's face to help back his pitcher. With both players arguing, the benches were cleared with players from both sides being held back. No blows were exchanged as the San Francisco crowd began chanting BEAT L.A. No ejections were given and Sandoval ended up walking to load the bases.Sandoval was dubbed the nickname "Kung Fu Panda" due to his resemblance of the kids cartoon movie that was recently released. Barry Zito is credited with the name giving after he returned to the clubhouse one day. After he had watched the film earlier, he said they looked alike. The name stayed put, and the fans and media have expressed it ever since. The city of SF has somewhat fallen in love with their new home grown star. Fans show up at the ball park with panda hats and signs to support their hero. It's just too bad we didn't get to see if the "Kung Fu Panda" actually knew Kung Fu...
