Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval was the talk of the town on Sunday after an unflattering photograph was published by the Boston Globe. In the photo, you can see Sandoval’s gut, which is a rather stark reminder of the veteran’s weight issues.
The Red Sox asked Sandoval to lose weight over the offseason, and he lost 20-22 pounds according to a January report. Dave Dombrowski, the club’s president of baseball operations, isn’t concerned about any apparent weight issues, Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reports.“I’m not concerned,” Dombrowski told the Globe. “We were watching him very closely all winter. We had people with him at least once a week. The goal was for Pablo to get in better overall condition and I feel like he did improve.”
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“Pablo has the body type he has,” said Dombrowski. “He’s never going to be svelte. We know that. We wanted him to be prepared for spring training and he is.”
Sandoval, 29, signed a five-year, $95 million contract with the Red Sox in November 2014 but struggled this past season. He hit an uninspiring .245/.292/.366 with 10 home runs and 47 RBI over 505 plate appearances. He’ll be under pressure all season to make significant improvements on those numbers.