Despite the Outcry, It’s Still Weight and See on Pablo Sandoval

It’s not worrying about Pablo Sandoval’s weight that’s a big deal.

It’s worrying about worrying about Pablo Sandoval’s weight that has turned out to be the early story line of Red Sox spring training.

Oh, the hand-wringing firestorm that colleague Steve Silva caused when he snapped a photo of the portly new Red Sox third baseman last week, capturing Boston’s $95 million man manning his position, taking drills in Fort Myers, Fla. with a noticeable gut protruding over his constricted waistband.

Safe to say Pablo Sandoval didn’t miss too many meals this offseason [cough] #redsox #worst2firstround2 pic.twitter.com/zN0ZHUYEXG

— Steve Silva (@stevesilva) February 17, 2015

“Safe to say Pablo Sandoval didn’t miss too many meals this offseason,” Silva wrote in a tweet one week ago, sparking a viral share of Sandoval’s unflattering profile that must have played as a shock to those who knew nothing about the former San Francisco Giants World Series hero.

Sandoval is listed at 5-foot-11, 245 pounds (he was a career-high 278 pounds following the 2010 season). It’s not like his physique should have suddenly snuck up on anyone. And yet, Silva’s photo put members of the BBWAA into a defense mode probably not seen since the last time a mere mortal reporter happened to scoop their illustrious members.

A Boston Herald beat reporter wrote on Sunday that the photo was delivered “sans context,” as if there should have been some level of clarification that Sandoval’s belly was a mirage caused by the Floridian breeze. Others maintained how weight shouldn’t be an issue with Sandoval, in that he’s looked like this his entire career, with one beat writer even deriding Boston.com for posting an “unflattering” photo of the third baseman, a photo used in the writer’s notebook that very same week. Essentially, Sandoval’s public relations experts in the BBWAA went into overdrive in order to simmer the flames over Sandoval’s weight.

Why? What’s the — no pun intended — big deal?

Sandoval is still a great hitter, is especially nimble at third base for a man his size, and already has three World Series rings in his back pocket, helping him land a five-year, $95 million commitment from the Red Sox in the offseason. That seems to be the BBWAA’s spring storyline, and damn it if they’re going to stray from that.

So, what, nobody is allowed to be concerned about the fact that the team’s second-highest paid player at $17 million this season showed up to camp looking like a balloon animal? We should all look at his career .426 batting average in the World Series and not worry about the fact this his OPS has dipped dramatically each of his last three seasons with San Francisco? It’s always a slippery slope to question an athlete’s motivation, but with three rings and gobs of guaranteed cash in his back pocket, there can’t even be a sliver of apprehension as it pertains to Sandoval?

Nope.

Look, like many, we were on board with the Red Sox’ pursuit of Sandoval during the offseason, but it still doesn’t change the fact that a handful of teams might have been scared off by the free agent’s weight. It was never an issue in San Francisco (he was nicknamed “The Panda” for God’s sake), but Sandoval is still only 28 years old. What happens if the weight does happen to impede him once his metabolism kicks in? I’m sure the BBWAA will go at him with kid gloves if he’s hitting .176 in his first month with the Red Sox just like he managed last April with the Giants.

Sandoval was a good pickup for the Red Sox, regardless of body type. But the knee-jerk furor surrounding a simple photo of the guy pretty much explains why his acquisition wasn’t more hotly contested last December. Apparently, this was the first time Sandoval had ever heard a fat reference.

According to the Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy (who, if memory serves me right, spent springs some two decades ago chomping at the bit to see how fat Roger Clemens would show up to camp), Red Sox officials said that Sandoval was “hurt” by the photo and the remark that Silva posted. “Changed. Burned.”

Oh, stop.

At least the excuse-mechanism is already in place should Sandoval get off to a slow start here in Boston, a la Edgar Renteria and other high-priced, high-profile free agents before him. “It’s that mean, old Boston. They called me fat.”

Geez. Sorry. To be frank though, I had meaner things said to me during gridlock traffic Sunday trying to get into the TD Garden for Disney on Ice. And that was only by my wife.

If Sandoval truly is that sensitive about a photo — sans context, remember — then that’s not a good sign. More than one free agent has come to Boston tempted by the dollar signs, only to soon realize the terrible mistake it was for either his own psyche or his family’s. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Sandoval, but if he’s really “changed and burned,” then we’re going to have some problems.

“I love it,” Sandoval told MLB.com’s Ian Browne. “I’m making fun of the guy who put the picture out there. I’m making fun of him because I want him to spend one day with me to see how hard I work, so I’m ready.”

Sandoval said that he has long-heard criticism about his weight.

“I love it. I love it. Motivate me to work hard and show [Silva] to keep his mouth shut. That’s what I do.”

So why exactly is this instance any different?

And why is everybody bending over backward to hide the issue of Sandoval’s weight?

Sandoval was fat. Is fat. Now we know we’re not supposed to debate whether he “will be” part of the equation.

Everything is still awesome in Fort Myers.