I thought that Jim Leyland’s claim that Miguel Cabrera was in the best shape of his life was the final nail in the coffin of my favorite spring training cliche. It seems, however, that Russell Martin is truly the man who took the BSOML meme out back and beat it to death with a large club.
Why? Because as Sam Miller of the OC Register notes, Martin has claimed, in one way or another, to be in the best shape of his life for four years running. But click through for the graphs Sam added and you realize that it may very well be that getting in shape is the worst thing that ever happened to Martin. Either that or he has used BSOML to mask quickly eroding baseball skills.
Naw, no one would ever do that, would they?