Red Sox players who are painful to watch
By Rick McNair
Jul 21, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Boston Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval (48) throws out a runner at second base during the fifth inning against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Pablo Sandoval is not “heavyset,” nor is he “portly,” and since I am not sensitive to PC sentiments – Panda is plain fat. Terry Foster “Tub of goo” fat. Panda would make a good bookend to John Kruk of “I’m not an athlete, I’m a baseball player” fame.
Now the great quarterback, Sonny Jurgensen, once had a retort to a reporter on the Jurgensen girth: “I throw with my arm, not my stomach.” But Sonny never played third base and attempt to spear, deflect, corral and eventually throw a baseball zipped that way. I am beginning to wonder if Sandoval ever will.
Observing the appropriately named “Hot corner” with Sandoval displaying as much ability to catch a ball as the Venus de Milo is an adventure for the viewer and tragic for a pitcher concerned about an inflated ERA. Panda covers about as much territory as a postage stamp. The good news is Sandoval has displayed the fact that he is equally inept at going to his right or left. Roger Dorn would be a better option.
The other part of the game is hitting. Is there a rule that Sandoval must invariably swing at every first pitch or second or third…. I have never witnessed such an undisciplined hitter. Pablo has hit .291 in his MLB career and that is by wailing away at virtually everything tossed his way. Imagine what this dude could hit with some self-control.