The Red Sox won’t lack in lefties next year.

They’ve spent December prioritizing southpaws, signing relievers Justin Wilson and Aroldis Chapman, making a bid to free-agent star Max Fried, then pivoting to a massive trade for White Sox breakout arm Garrett Crochet when Fried chose the Yankees.

On Friday, the Red Sox reached an agreement with longtime Angels lefty Patrick Sandoval on a two-year, $18.25 million deal, which buys out his final season of arbitration eligibility and first year of free agency. The Herald confirmed that Sandoval, who turned 28 on Oct. 18, will earn $5.5 million in ‘25 (a slight raise from his $5.025 million salary this year) and $12.75 million in ‘26.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan was first to report the signing.

Sandoval has spent his entire big-league career with the Angels, who acquired him from the Astros in exchange for catcher Martín Maldonado at the ‘18 trade deadline. Over 107 games between his August ‘19 debut and the Tommy John surgery that ended his ‘24 campaign in late June, Sandoval owns a 4.01 ERA and 1.392 WHIP, with 529 strikeouts over 536 innings. He’s worked primarily in the rotation (100 starts), but also made relief appearances early in his big-league career. His best season was ‘21, his first year working solely as a starter: he posted a 2.91 ERA over 27 starts, including a complete-game shutout, with career-highs in strikeouts (151) and innings pitched (148 ⅔).

Sandoval’s pitch mix is headlined by one of the best changeups in the game. He also throws a slider, sinker, four-seam fastball, curveball, and sweeper, which he introduced in ’23. The four-seam was his most-used pitch early in his career, but it yielded negative run value in five of his six seasons. According to Baseball Savant’s MLB percentile rankings Sandoval’s whiff and chase rates have plummeted in recent seasons, and opposing batters’ on-base percentages have climbed, but he’s consistently pitched to above-average barrel rate, exit velocity, and curveball spin.

Sandoval isn’t expected back on the mound until the second half of the upcoming season, which factored into the Angels’ decision to non-tender him this fall. He becomes the fifth pitcher in the last four offseasons to sign a multi-year deal with the Red Sox while recovering from UCL surgery: James Paxton, Liam Hendriks, and minor-league contracts for Wyatt Mills and Michael Fulmer.