Some news about the defending World Series champs and their division rivals…
- The Padres "remain open" to the idea of signing another Major League starter, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com. This is just pure speculation, but of the five hurlers on Luke Adams' list of pitchers that could benefit from the NL, three (Jeremy Bonderman, Bruce Chen and Kevin Millwood) are still available and would likely be open to the idea of pitcher-friendly Petco Park.
- Brandon Belt "has a legitimate chance" to win an everyday job playing first base or left field in San Francisco, writes MLB.com's Chris Haft. Belt, who turns 23 in April, has just one minor league season to his name, but he hit .352/.455/.620 in 595 plate appearances for the Giants' Class A, Double-A and Triple-A affiliates.
- Pablo Sandoval has lost 17 pounds training with former Olympic decathlete Dan O'Brien and plans to lose more weight before the start of Spring Training, Rich Aurilia tells Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. Sandoval was threatened with a demotion to the minors by GM Brian Sabean unless the "Kung Fu Panda" improved his conditioning this offseason.
- The Rockies' big extensions with Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki put more pressure on the team's minor league system to produce low-cost, quality players, writes Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post.
I sure got shot down quick when I brought up the idea of the Padres signing Bonderman. Would still like to see it.
I don’t mind the idea of the Padres signing Bonderman at all. That would allow Luebke to go back to AAA for awhile and really hone his craft and would send Mosely to the pen to strengthen it. I don’t see them having as much luck with injuries to the rotation as they had last year, so the more pitchers the better. I would still like to see another lefty in the bullpen.
I’m hopinh that Belt can be ready to start at first and the Giants put Huff to LF…
Is Burrell still a Giant? If so, I don’t see this guy winning an every day job unless he has an historic spring training. But if not, disregard this, mock me, or whatever it is you kids do these days on the internet.
1 year/$1 million deal for Burrell.
1 year/$1 million deal for Burrell.
Burrell has a 1 year/$1 mil contract so if he struggles then it won’t be tough to just bench him or cut him.
I think Belt might be a better option in the OF, he’s a little more athletic than Huffdaddy at this point and neither is a gold glover at first.
Belt is actually really good at first, if you read the whole article.
From what I have heard and read Brandon Belt is supposed to have a really good glove at first.
Sandoval is still fat. 17 pounds is nothing. Losing weight isn’t going to improve his swing!
It’s best not to make that judgement before the season starts.
It’s easy to make that judgement because 17 lbs is nothing in the couple months he has been “working out”. With a personal trainer and a nutritionist, those pounds should fall off!
Seventeen pounds in a few months is actually a pretty good mark. But that said, weight is and always has been a stupid metric to judge anything other than, well, a person’s weight by.
Why? There are a number of reasons, but let’s go with the simplest: Muscle weighs more than fat. If he’s burning fat and putting on muscle, that’s fantastic in all sorts of ways — not only that it will likely help his performance as a baseball player, but that keeping all of those muscle cells fed increases metabolism and will help–you guessed it!–burn fat.
Unless and until you know the SPECIFICS of his program and his progress, reserving judgment shouldn’t even have to be suggested. It should be understood.
wasnt he supposed to lose a bunch of weight the year before , maybe a multiple year deal will buy him enough ice cream and tacos for him to become the talent that everybody in venezuela knows he can be , including johan santana , take that mets fans
“If he is burning fat and putting on muscle”
The problem with that, we will call it a “what if”, is that to lose weight he has to consume fewer calories than his current weighing body is accustom to, however, to put on muscle, he would have to feed it excess calories. That will make it very hard for him to do both at the same time. For Sandoval to lose more weight this off season, he will have to sacrifice some muscle mass, and most likely come into the season with less strength. Add to that the fact that throughout the season baseball players lose strength, I would expect his power to be down.
It’s a shame he came into the league a few years too late. He could have just popped a few pills or plunged a few needles this off season and came in to ST lean and mean.
Seventeen pounds in a few months is actually a pretty good mark. But that said, weight is and always has been a stupid metric to judge anything other than, well, a person’s weight by.
Why? There are a number of reasons, but let’s go with the simplest: Muscle weighs more than fat. If he’s burning fat and putting on muscle, that’s fantastic in all sorts of ways — not only that it will likely help his performance as a baseball player, but that keeping all of those muscle cells fed increases metabolism and will help–you guessed it!–burn fat.
Unless and until you know the SPECIFICS of his program and his progress, reserving judgment shouldn’t even have to be suggested. It should be understood.
Sniderlover, meet RepOak.
RepOak is a bitter troll.
I don’t understand how he can’t lose weight… With a little running and eating right the weight would fall right off him…
It’s called genetics, ethnic food, and a divorce to go through at age 23…
I think if he was solely focused on losing weight he could have easily dropped 35-40 pounds by now, maybe more, but he has to be concerned with keeping as much strength as he can to get him through the season. It’s a long road ahead, he can’t come in to ST with no energy and expect to gain strength over the 162 game schedule.
All of the weight they lose on The Biggest Loser looks great while those contestants are on the scales trying not to be eliminated, but that is NOT healthy for the human body. Without anything to back it up, I’d be willing to say the weight they lose is even likely BS.
Anyhow, it would be impractical for a person in his profession to drop weight at a faster rate.
He could have definitely lost more weight than just 17 pounds, if he only did cardio. But you have to keep in mind that he’s weight lifting too. Most people will gain weight (muscle weight) if they both lift and do cardio.
During the WS he was caught eating Cheetos and Mt Dew for breakfast…
it’s not like he played during the WS anyway – let the man enjoy his concessions!
Losing weight can’t hurt. Can you at least give him credit for that?
It wasn’t the mechanical aspects of his swing, it was his approach, that was more mental than anything.
They wanted him to lose weight to improve his range at 3B, and make his hands quicker
There are no reports of him working with a swing coach and trying to revamp his swing.
Saw him in Valencia over holidays and he was still huge. I go 6′ 250 lbs and he dwarfed me in girth.
It would be so nice if Sandoval showed up slimmed down, buff, with his swing back and ready to play 3B.
It would be even nicer if Belt raked all spring training and won the opening day 1B job on top of that.
A slimmed Sandoval may lead to improved range at third. A lot to look forward to if he’s getting in shape.
How is Belt stating when they signed Huff 2/22. I saw Belt in the arizona fall league and he looks like a player.
Move Huff to LF, Burrell plays off the bench.
Then what do you do with Mark DeRosa?
Move him to CF, Ross takes RF.
Torres is in CF and Ross is in RF. DeRosa could take 3B if Sandoval struggles early or he can platoon in the infield and corner outfield spots. The Giants have too many outfielders, I kind of wish they would have never brought Burrell back…
Well there could be a chance that Freddy Sanchez doesn’t start right away, as he had offseason surgery on his arm, so DeRosa might have some playing time at 2B if Freddy isn’t ready to start by Opening Day.
DeRosa in CF is not a situation any team wants to start the season in…
DeRosa in CF is not a situation any team wants to start the season in…
mark derosa will probably play everywhere. he might even make a spot start every once in a while.
he will still complain something hurts just like he did last year ,maybe dragon software can teach him how to hit while he isnt 100 percent
It’s still unclear if DeRosa will be ready.
DeRosa figures to be a utilityman at this point. He will probably play 2B/3B/LF as needed.
Move Huff to LF, Burrell plays off the bench.
If Sandoval does get into a shape and finds that swing again, it would help them immensely…i mean they did the WS without him so it could only help if he can get back to his ’09 form.
Just think how dangerous the middle of the Giants lineup would be.. If Belt truly lives up to his expectations, Pablo returns to his ’09 form, Huff repeats his ’10 production, and Posey continues to rake the ball..
Of course, no one can predict 2011 performance just yet.
To many ifs in that sentence…
Hence, which is why I began the list with the word “if” and included a statement about 2011 performance at the end..
Hence, which is why I began the list with the word “if” and included a statement about 2011 performance at the end..
Just think how dangerous the middle of the Giants lineup would be.. If Belt truly lives up to his expectations, Pablo returns to his ’09 form, Huff repeats his ’10 production, and Posey continues to rake the ball..
Of course, no one can predict 2011 performance just yet.
i dont care how many taco supreme meals pablo doesnt eat ,the padres still win this division
Padres?? they need a “retard” button next to the “like” button
never count out a team with great pitching and nothing to lose.
really??? padres??? this must be sarcasm
Cool story bro.
In the immortal words of Ashkon, “Thankfully the Padres choked!”
Chances are, the Padres don’t get anywhere near close enough to choke on the season’s final weekend in 2011. There is no way their starters repeat last year and that offense is probably the worst in baseball, outside of Seattle. Relying on Bartlett, Hudson and Hawpe to make up for the loss of A-Gon is a pipe dream.
When you’re being sarcastic or joking, your text is supposed to be in green.
I can’t wait to see Pablo Sandoval’s pole vault and high jump in spring training.
padres busted their nutt, and still didnt get the job done. thumbs up to you!
Padres=80 win team at beat in 2011. bookmark is and quote be
*it *me
There is a reason there’s an edit button.
If Belt can be a .280 25HR guy (probably not this year) and Sandoval can do the same, the Giants are going to be scary for a long long time…
I’d love to see if his power translates to the bigs like Posey’s did. If Belt shows up and Sandoval has a season midway between last year and the year before, the Giants won’t miss Uribe, the hot Ross, or Burrell being in the lineup one bit.
I’m more worried about how Posey will do this season when pitchers have had more time to create a “book” on him like they did with Sandoval and the other Giants rookies of the recent past.
If Belt can be a .280 25HR guy (probably not this year) and Sandoval can do the same, the Giants are going to be scary for a long long time…