It appears that the Kung Fu Panda has finally seen the light:
…. Sandoval showed up at Triple Threat in Tempe, Ariz., properly motivated. It was up to owner/director Ethan Banning and his team, including O’Brien, to provide the structure he needed.
Just more than three months later, Banning reported that Sandoval weighed 240 pounds when he took his physical Friday morning. His body fat measurement went from 30 percent to 19 percent. Combined with an estimated gain of seven pounds of muscle, Banning said Sandoval has shed 45 pounds of goo.
…. Sandoval couldn’t do three pull-ups in early November. Now he does sets of 10. His legs shook when he tried to squat 135 pounds. Now he is squatting 400. The first day, Sandoval struggled to complete two reps of an exercise called the inverted row. He maxed out at 26 last week.
His flexibility and range of motion vastly increased, too. Sandoval, a switch-hitter, complained of constant hip pain last season, and now acknowledges that the problems wrecked his right-handed swing. (He hit .379 from the right side in ’09 but just .227 last season.)
“It was bad, my hips,” Sandoval said. “I (couldn’t) even get through to the ball. Now I can swing hard. Now I get loose and nothing is sore.”
Sandoval received chiropractic alignments and deep-tissue rubs — what Banning called “hurt-you” massages — to correct the dysfunction in his hips. Three months ago, he couldn’t touch his fingertips to his toes. Now he palms the floor.
That’s terrific news. If Sandoval can regain his breakout ’09 form, it’ll be like the champs picked up a premiere free agent.
UPDATE: Lincecum appears to be primed for a big season too. Man, what a difference a year –and a title– makes. Between the fantastic young pitching staff, the team has two terrific young hitters in Sandoval and Posey, and waiting in the wings is Brandon Belt, trying to force his way onto the club. These great young players are surrounded by, dare I say it, a solid, if unspectacular group of relatively modestly paid veterans, leaving the Giants, and Giants fans, with perhaps as bright a future as any team in baseball. I was dead wrong last year, and I’m happy that I was:
…. And a long time gone….
…. San Francisco Giants (1954)
Years since last championship: 56Reason for gap: Though the Giants’ long drought is no secret, it’s still somehow shocking to see the team so far down this list given its status as one of the National League’a great franchises. This is a franchise that has 17 modern pennants and five championships, the team of John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, Carl Hubbell, and Willie Mays. And yet, since they relocated to the West Coast, they haven’t been able to raise another flag. This is especially odd because the Giants have often had the talent to compete, have often had the financial support necessary, and have had the opportunity to win. Some aspects of the long slump are just a matter of bad luck, of not being able to win a key game in a postseason series. As Charles Schulz’s outraged response, a slightly different swing by Willie McCovey and we might not even be talking about more than a half-century without a Giants championship.
Notwithstanding the post-Bonds years, when Brian Sabean’s efforts to rebuild the team have been hamstrung by what must be an organizational edict not to sign any bats….
I figured I’d stop it right there. This is a BP piece, talking about the franchises that have gone the longest without a title. The Giants have the third worst streak in all of baseball, behind only Cleveland (62 years) and the Cubs (102 years). That is simply awful.
It reminds me that this team has no excuse not to make a run at a title, or should I say, had no excuse this past off-season not to make a serious commitment to building the championship caliber offense needed to compliment their championship caliber pitching staff. Fifty-six years. Longer than my whole life.
Wow. Nostradamus, my ass. You’d be hard pressed to find a faster turnaround of the fortunes of a team. I’ll say it again, kudos to Sabean and his staff, to Dick Tidrow, to the entire organization. There’s never been a better time to be a Giants fan, and that’s saying something.
Hat Tip to Baseball Musings
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one thing last year demonstrated is how little hitting is needed to complement what was the best performing pitching staff in mlb. if panda can split the difference between his first two full seasons, that is as huge as his belly last fall.
i don’t want this offseason to end! best winter evah!
COME ON MAN LET’S GET SOIME SECOND GUESSING GOING FROM YOU GUYS WHAT’S WRONG HERE.
WE ALL KNOW SABEAN IS A BUM THAT GOT REAL LUCKY AND BOCHY RAGS ARE GENIUSES!!!! RIGHT!!
SHORTSTOP, ANOTHER AGED VETERAN!! GIMME A FUCKIN BREAK!! WHERE IS THE NEW GUY WITH THE PROVEN BAT!! OH YEAH WE STILL GOT WHO?
as you seem to need to yell to get your point across…allow me to say this
since 2005, everything posted on this blog has been on the money….that includes the bashing of both sabean and bochy
now….GO FUCK YOURSELF…YOU UNBELIEVABLE TROLL
Joe,
Gman is one of my neighbors and friends. He’s kidding.
But thanks for having my back.
oopsy
not very good at reading sarcasm
john….its gonna be nice to spend a season not bitchin about stuff….so can we go back to discussing the insanity of the upcoming bonds trial?
how many millions has the gov already wasted on this stupid prosecution
Uncle Joe good covering Johns back. John and the rest of you guys have been spot on damned near all the time(I couldn’t give it all to youse). Some time ago I turned 2 friend onto this site. One a Yankee follower and the other a great Cubs fan. Both remarked that this site is the best they have ever read. They also said, “John’s a FUCKIN’ GENIUS, and should be writing for the big time. And that sports fans is going to go right to Johns head, unfortunately! So here is my grouse: Yet again we have another shortstop in the twilight of his career. When he was juiced, he was a very good hitter, he was still decent last year We’ll see this year.I’m just looking for the future of the team; and I’m, certain he will have a great year, barring being 36 yrs. old. Burrell fell off in the last 2 series of games. kHowever he did help set up some of the opposing pitcher for the next batter. We don’t need a .250 hitting left fielder. I know he is the insurance with Belte in the wings and Huff, we’ll see. Pablo will bust out this year!
Rowan is gong to come out strong for the first 2 and a a half months. Last year he got beaned,slight benefit of the doubt ensuing. The previous 2 yrs. he was strong in the first 2 months. Then he loses his timing by July, August his eyesight and swing. By mid sept. he only has 1 hit hit for the last 20 at bats.
Sooo get him traded by mid May and eat what has to be eaten!
I hate hearing that Nate is being shopped, Joe!
Gman aka The Troll
gman,
per bochy, they are gonna play nate in every of position….as his strength is right and a bit of center, the only thing that i can think is that they want other teams to see his versatility.
baseball is a biz…giants payroll now at 115 mil….
im sure they are shopping rowand, but when bochy says that rowand is only gonna play center during st….they aint shopping him, or sabean has totally given up looking. he is not gonna beat out torres for the cf position…so he is gonna be coming from the bench….a very fucking expensive bench player, who can only play one position. the residuals of sabean’s insanity regarding the of rears its ugly head.
as for our new ss, as there is nobody in the minors ready to come up, uribe is gone to the bums, and edgar thought a one mil salary, (after the team paid for 2 years of him rehabbing) was a slap in the face, because he was finally healthy come the post season….im ok with the move.
with the payroll, wont be much wiggle room in terms of during the season trades and acquisitions….but sabean is the king of the dumpster dive….and players have a habit of playing better when they come to sf midseason….so im not that worried.
anyway…i dont care that much
the giants won the ws….not really expecting them to do it again during my lifetime….so now im gonna kick back and just enjoy the game.
would love to see belt come up in may and start raking….would be cool to have back to back roy’s on the team
either way, they will be paying rowand’s salary. might as well keep him as insurance against torres’ steroids wearing off. yeah, i said it.
oh…and i hope the post regarding pablos increased flexibility ends the stupid debate as to whether the extra weight affected his hitting
of course it did
i am a bit bummed about one thing….the trade rumors regarding nate.
im really hoping that sabean focuses on one thing is spring…rid the team of rowand
if they eat 3/4 of his salary, its still a win
That’s Baseball Musings.