Let’s make something clear. The criticism is not directed towards the Red Sox third baseman’s weight.
As I’m sure you know, Boston Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval arrived to Spring Training Sunday morning. Even though position players don’t have to report until Tuesday, Sandoval told the Red Sox that he was going to be there earlier. If we go back a month ago, Red Sox manager John Farell said that Hanley Ramirez and Sandoval “looked physically great” and that managing their weight was a goal for both players. According to him, Sandoval was “candid in his desire to get into better shape”.
In his first day at Ft. Myers, Sandoval said that he has nothing to prove, the Red Sox didn’t ask him to lose weight and that he doesn’t even weigh himself. Basically, he said that he doesn’t care.
Similar to Sandoval, English is not my first language so I know that when you are under pressure the words that come out of your mouth might not be what you really want to say. But when you are cashing checks of about $17.5 million and already know the essence of the Boston media, you have to be ready for this type of questions when you report to camp.
Opening Day is just around the corner and the Panda looks the same as last year, if not worse. A few days ago, I gave Sandoval the benefit of the doubt because he was a clutch hitter and a winner in San Francisco; the guy obviously knows how to play baseball. Maybe his first year with the Red Sox was an adjusting bridge year for him, and 2016 was going to be better. Perhaps he learned something about 2015 and realized the type of player that he has to be.
Welp. Here it is. Via the @BostonGlobe, the picture that everyone's going to be talking about tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/FbWPrm8DfH
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) February 21, 2016
After saying that he has nothing to prove, I’m done trying to believe in him.
Clay Buchholz has been with the Red Sox for almost a decade and he has something to prove this season. Dustin Pedroia has been the heart and soul of this team and he also has something to prove. Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts were MVP caliber last season, and guess what? They also have something to prove.
Sandoval will never be skinny or even athletic, but that’s not the problem right now. David Ortiz has rarely been in shape and a Boston Globe writer once said that Kevin Youkilis didn’t look like an MVP candidate, but like a butcher or refrigerator repairman. Ortiz and Youkilis have been considered icons in Boston regardless of their shape because they knew how to perform and when to keep their mouth shut, contrary to what Sandoval has been doing.
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I wouldn’t even be writing this article if Sandoval just said that he was eager to have a better season and leave 2015 in the past, but that’s not the case and that’s what’s wrong with him. It is unbelievable that a professional athlete that has been in the big leagues since 2008 can’t be accountable for a horrible freshman season with a new team. It doesn’t matter if he in shape or not, we want him to perform at the level he did when he was in San Francisco. He has to be that type of player again, the postseason hero that everyone loved in 2012.
He was fat when he hit three home runs against Justin Verlander in Game 1 of the 2012 October Classic and was named the World Series MVP a few days later. He was also fat when he had the second-highest batting average in the National League back in 2009.
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I’m sure we will forget all of this if he has a bounce-back season, but his arrival to Spring Training in 2016 will always be remember as the day he said that he had nothing to prove.