Videos posted to Instragram from Red Sox team facilities in Florida show that Pablo Sandoval appears to have lost a significant amount of weight, notes Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com (who, unfortunately, does not seem to have been at the scene to report on Sandoval’s mass live). The videos show Sandoval running and lifting, and he appears to be significantly more svelte than he was prior to the 2016 season. The Red Sox are now two mostly wasted years into Sandoval’s five-year, $95MM deal after Sandoval performed poorly in 2015 and then lost most of 2016 to a shoulder injury. Getting a good 2017 campaign from him would provide them with a significant boost, particularly with less certainty at the corner infield spots and DH than they’ve had in years past. Here’s more on the Red Sox.
- Brad Ziegler is now (or will soon be) a Marlin, but Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski’s trade for him last summer might rank as one of his best so far, WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford writes. Many of Dombrowski’s trades so far have been risky, as the Sox have given up top prospects like Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Manuel Margot and Anderson Espinoza. While the two prospects (Jose Almonte and Luis Alejandro Basabe) with whom the Red Sox parted for Ziegler have potential, the risk was manageable. Also, the Red Sox likely wouldn’t have made the postseason had Ziegler (who posted a 1.52 ERA over 29 2/3 innings with Boston) not stabilized their bullpen, Bradford argues.
- The Red Sox’ recent trade for Tyler Thornburg looks better than it did in the short time since it was made, due to developments in the free agent market for relief pitching, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald argues. Not only have top closers like Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon cashed in big, but even secondary relief arms like Ziegler and Junichi Tazawa have gotten significant paydays. Thornburg, who’s coming off a brilliant 2.15 ERA, 12.1 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 season in Milwaukee, gives the Red Sox a strong bullpen option who will be controllable for three more seasons. The Red Sox’ only significant miss on the bullpen front was Koji Uehara, who signed with the Cubs for a reasonable price, Mastrodonato writes.
While Sandoval has become a joke in Boston and the major leagues I admit I’m very hopeful about him. Shame can be a motivator and going from a star in San Francisco to a less than nothing in Boston has to be a shameful enough motivator that he’ll want to earn some of his paycheck.
If he can put together an average season next year, I’ll be more than thrilled for/with him.
I echo that sentiment. Anything average or better we get from him is a windfall. It is nice to see him at least try to be responsible about his weight. Wish him the best, and hopefully he has a comeback year for us.
Well you and Mookieslip might be hoping for an average year and thinking that makes the 5 years am 95 million a good investment but not sre Red Sox management agrees with you.
2 years in, 40 million invested for 1 average year and 1 total bust year you think this is a good investment hoping fir an average year? Really!
Glad you don’t make decisions on my investment portfolio.
He’s getting paid no matter what and at this point anything would be better than what he’s given you so far
They didn’t say it was a good investment. They were merely commending him for trying to lose the weight and get back to the player he was before. Don’t be a d*ck.
Lol. Congrats Rocky, that’s officially the dumbest snide comment (on a comment) I’ve seen this year… you put words in his mouth just so you could belittle Panda’s contract. U know, the one he never mentioned at all (that’s fully guaranteed whether Pablo improves or not) when saying he hopes to see a decent year
LOL bro you ain’t got no portfolio trust me
The real issue is that he showed up in bad shape and still walked away with the funds last year… gotta side with the owners here, that contracts should have weight clause stipulations in them.. no excuses here dealing with millions
Best comment yet!
He gets his pay check either way. The SF Giants weight regime was very wise, in retrospect. Grateful for everything he did in SF and would take him back in a heartbeat for purely nostalgic reasons. If he gets his head (even more than his gut) in shape, that guy can absolutely rake.
Pablo needs a special contract. For every calorie that goes in, a dollar comes out.
That would be nothing. He could eat twice the recommended daily calorie intake every single day of the year and he’d still be making millions a year.
Stewert, true to his form in Arizona, took the wrong Basabe twin in the deal for Ziegler.
Amazing how awful his tenure was while GM of that club and have to wonder how much of the blame laRussa shares for his supposed “keen” insight.
Good Giant and I wish the best for him but the yearly weight drama yo-yo was a drag.
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,” but fool me three times?
Already trying to salvage Dombrowsky’s tenure in Boston by claiming his trade for Ziegler was great? Spare me, the guy is a complete fool.
Koji was down for about a month, Taz’s arm was shot then from 3y straight of over use and Kimbrel had just come back from a knee injury.
THAT deal saved the day, nothing short and that he stole him from the hapless Stewert made it even more amazing. Robbie Ross, Heath hembree and Matt Barnes were the only guys then remotely effective out of the pen and both hembree/Barnes rookies.
We’re really going to give Ziegler credit for adding 5 wins to Boston in 29 innings of work? Was a solid trade, but to claim they wouldn’t even have made the playoffs without it is an exaggeration.
The Sox got a good one in Thornburg. His stuff is nasty
As a Brewers fan, I hated to see him get traded
Panda will be on a short leash I hope he does well but if not I don’t see the Sox wasting any time and put Holt in to replace him.
Some teams like the Red Sox can FAIL horribly with a contract like Panda and just write it off.
For other teams, a contract like that would be crippling.
MLB is pretty unfair.
It’s like… What else can be done? Big owners are forced to give money to poor ones, then owners in Oakland and miami don’t/won’t spend it on salaries like they are supposed to. The CBA was even changed this time with penalties and cash flow to oakland reduced as a penalty because of this.
loria was actually forced into giving hanley his original contract earlier because of pressure, possibly some with the Stanton one also because he maintains such a paltry payroll.
Sox owner John Henry might be the biggest owner of all in speaking of disgust with regards about henry and as a prior owner of the marlins? He might know of that market and it’s viability more than the others.
Just like in every giveaway program which exists.. if it’s not earned the old fashioned way? it’s going to be eaten up with massive waste and misdirected,
Unless there’s a serious salary cap ceiling implemented that nearly every team can reach (which will not happen any time soon, certainly not while baseball is thriving), there’s just no way around it. Even with what MLB does to help small market teams, there’s still a $100 million gap between what some teams can spend compared to others. The gap could probably be a little lower, but I’m not really big on forced parity either (like the NHL), which comes with its own issues.
Well, here’s a refreshing puff piece on the Red Sox front office.
MassLive……mass, live…..hahahahaha.
Decision’s to sign Panda, Castillo and Allen Craig are the reason why the Sox can’t sign Batista or other players that they might have.
Deal’s like there’s should come with a clause especially Castillo’s and Craig’s, that if you don’t make the major league roster your contract should be renegotiated to fit the pay of a minor league player.
Because what’s to stop players from doing what Panda did, getting a big pay day and just not caring anymore??
Fans are paying way to much money to basically be robbed by players like such. Contract’s are a big joke as they are today.
that would be nice….
The percentage of revenues going to players are at a 30 year low. Owners are raising prices because they can, not because they are going bankrupt from players forcing large contracts upon them. As much as I hate to see it hurt the team I really could care less of John Henry makes $500 million or $480 million in a year. Also Craig was a trade but I get your point I cannot believe he is still on the team!!! Completely forgot about him LOL
this is for the whole room
what does the players have in common:
Drew
Lackey
Offerman
Crawford….give up
Panda like contracts.
Lacky is one of the most hard-working athletes that has ever come into Boston. He got a bad rap for eating Popeyes chicken in the clubhouse and maybe wasn’t the greatest teammate but the reason he sucked in 11 was because his arm was hanging by a thread and the doctors misdiagnosed it. Red Sox don’t win the World Series in 13 without him
The Red Sox didn’t sign Allen Craig he, and his salary was acquired in a trade.
RS should try to trade for mike trout
Ur high the rSox don’t have enough now 4 Trout, They don’t need him at all, I would love them to get a POWER BAT..Maybe EE. Wishful thinking.