On Jan. 21, Red Sox manager John Farrell seemed pleased, telling Boston media that third baseman Pablo Sandoval had lost 20 to 22 pounds since the end of last season.
If true, Sandoval sure had one heck of a month.
Following a dismal debut season with Boston last year, Sandoval arrived at the Red Sox spring training complex on Sunday and was photographed in all his huskiness.
Sandoval — along with teammate Hanley Ramirez — reportedly had been asked by team management to lose 15 to 20 pounds in the offseason, but the former World Series MVP denies that such a request was made and hasn’t bothered to check his weight himself.
“I don’t weigh in at all. I just do my work,” Sandoval said. “Try and do everything I can. I don’t weigh in all offseason. Just try to get better, be an athlete.”
Farrell said Sandoval looked like a better athlete last month, though he denied this weekend that the third baseman was told to lose a specific amount of weight.
“I can’t tell you if he got on the scale or not. I can tell you that visiting him in January, it looked like he was in better condition,” Farrell said. “I will say when we met with every player at the end of last season, each player was given a specific plan, a workout routine. … We outlined he needed to come back in better condition. Along with that you anticipate the potential for weight to be dropped is there.”
Sandoval, 29, has been one of the heavier position players in baseball since his career started in San Francisco in 2008, but his physical condition wasn’t a hindrance to the switch-hitter’s success before arriving in Boston last year, having signed a five-year, $95 million contract.
Perhaps more troubling to Red Sox fans than Sandoval being out of shape was that he did not seem bothered after having the worst season of his career, in which he hit .245 with 10 home runs, 47 RBIs and a .658 OPS.
“I don’t got nothing to prove,” Sandoval said. “It’s not a disappointment. It’s baseball. It’s surprising. You’re not going to have the whole season great. You’re going to have some ups and downs. You have to prepare yourself to be ready. And when those down moments come, shake it off and keep working hard to do everything you can do to prove next year will be better than that.”