Boston Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval signed a huge deal with Boston after his championship runs in San Francisco where he gained the nickname Panda after his rotund figure. After signing with the Red Sox Sandoval's weight hurt his production by keeping him off the field. Sandoval only played 3 games for the Red Sox last year and 126 after being over 140 all the seasons before that except for two. There something to be said about performing at a weight especially when your team wins not just one World Series but three. Was Sandoval out of shape yes. Was Sandoval a vital member of those Giants at the time the answer is also yes. Sandoval dedicated himself to getting in better shape and has. He looks better than he's ever had, but the question I have is will it work for him?
New York Yankees ace CC Sabathia had the same weight issue that Sandoval had going into the 2014 season. Sabathia blamed eating large amounts of cereal for his weight issues and like Sandoval made it a goal to lose weight. In 2013 when Sabathia was still overweight he pitched in 32 games he did have a then career high 4.78 era but he still logged 211 innings after losing the weight Sabathia in 2014 pitched in 8 games. Was that all because of the weight, or lack there of, I doubt it, but when Sabathia was overweight he knew what he had to do to make his weight work for him since he was a workhorse. Sabathia made logging over 200 innings a season a tradition. Am I predicting a drop off for Sandoval, not necessarily, but this is something to keep an eye on because as a big man he was a part of a team that won several World Series he's yet to prove what kind of player he is as a thin man.
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