Good news for San Francisco fans: “Operation Panda” is underway, and if things continue at this pace, the Giants are going to be the biggest winners in the end.
Joan Ryan of the MLB.com blog Inside the Giants Clubhouse reports that budding star Pablo Sandoval has already dropped 10 pounds as he attacks his offseason conditioning program like a jelly donut, even though the season is still nearly five months away.
Head trainer Dave Groeschner said of the one-man camp: “We’ve never had a player do anything like this - ever.’'
“There are no guys who show up in November to get ready for the season,’' Groeschner says. “But this is something Pablo wanted to do. He knows how important it is for him and for the team that he has the endurance to play every game. And what he’s doing is not easy. It’s an entire life-style change.’'
For the first time in his life, Sandoval is lifting weights. He’s eating vegetables. He is meeting every Wednesday while he’s in Scottsdale with a nutrition professor from Arizona State University, who is teaching him about healthy food choices and portion control. He and his brother, who Sandoval brought with him for motivation and support, are eating catered meals - delivered to the Giants complex every morning in a cooler -- of low-cal entrees like broiled chicken or salmon, and lots of salads, veggies and fruits.
Secondly, the sloppy, overweight version of Sandoval is already a freak of nature, putting up a .333/.381/.543 line in his first full season while smashing 25 home runs and driving in 90 runs. All of this despite a portly physique (listed at 5-11, 245) and a Guerrero-esque penchant for swinging at anything within reach.
But now the Panda is getting serious. He’s replacing cheeseburgers with carrots, fat with muscle. Be afraid NL West. Be very afraid.
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