Souhan on Sano

[Richie the Rally Goat]

I was impressed that nobody started a thread on that terrible article. I guess it had to happen. Feel free to not go there to read it... Ha!

done and done! I refuse to give the strib money, even advertising clicks, especially for Souhan drivel

[Doubles]

Let's talk about the problem of David Ortiz and weight.

I didn't realize Ortiz was an extremely talented defensive player before he compromised his agility and got so big he had to turn in his glove for a mostly full-time DH role.

 

Terrible comp.

[jimmer]

Let's talk about the problem of David Ortiz and weight.

david ortiz DID play a mean 3rd base...

[biggentleben]

 

It probably would be beneficial if Sano lost 10-15, maybe 20 pounds. It's not going to get easier as he gets older.

 

In all seriousness, does the weight number itself matter, or is it the composition of what the weight is?

 

Sano was incredibly open this offseason that he wanted to get himself in the right type of shape to be ready for 3B in 2017. He dropped fat, but he had also added muscle. More than one person has talked about him still doing weight training in season. If Sano had previously had minimal experience lifting, it would not be uncommon that in a year of lifting that he gained 30-50 pounds of muscle.

 

Reporting a weight number means about as much as reporting a batting average with no context. If I tell you that Buxton is hitting .400 over the last week, that's good. If I tell you that Sano is hitting .150 over the last week, that's bad. Except that if Buxton had a .500 BABIP and Sano had a .100 BABIP, there'd be some things beyond just the batting average that led to whether or not Buxton or Sano had actually been good or bad at the plate in the last week.

 

As far as his rehab, if he's been doing the lower body and flexibility work that was in a few articles I found through the magic of Google after this POS article came out, his weight number isn't going to be a major issue in the recovery as his body will have been built to handle his current body weight in much more stressful situations than injury recovery.

 

What frustrated me more than anything was that I found no less than 17 articles with unique quotes from Miguel Sano from the point of his back issues last September to his current shin injury regarding weight and how important keeping his body healthy, flexible, and agile was to his success. Someone who has been that open about his body and his weight would no doubt have been quotable if Souhan had honestly intended to do a quality, researched piece. Instead, he wanted to shoot arrows from on high without having to get his fingernails dirty by wading into the muck of actually talking to a lowly player to complete an article.

[biggentleben]

Best note I got on this - 

 

I was talking with someone who has been with ESPN for a bit and previously was a contact I had for other things. We were discussing the Chattanooga team and the rotation, specifically. I brought up that many online folks were disappointed when ESPN (and a couple other spots) listed Gonsalves as one of the starters Monday against the White Sox and it wasn't.

 

His response back was legendary. He said that they got the information that it was going to be Gonsalves from someone in the Twins clubhouse. However, the source must have been the same one that Souhan uses...

[drjim]

In all seriousness, does the weight number itself matter, or is it the composition of what the weight is?

 

Sano was incredibly open this offseason that he wanted to get himself in the right type of shape to be ready for 3B in 2017. He dropped fat, but he had also added muscle. More than one person has talked about him still doing weight training in season. If Sano had previously had minimal experience lifting, it would not be uncommon that in a year of lifting that he gained 30-50 pounds of muscle.

 

Reporting a weight number means about as much as reporting a batting average with no context. If I tell you that Buxton is hitting .400 over the last week, that's good. If I tell you that Sano is hitting .150 over the last week, that's bad. Except that if Buxton had a .500 BABIP and Sano had a .100 BABIP, there'd be some things beyond just the batting average that led to whether or not Buxton or Sano had actually been good or bad at the plate in the last week.

 

As far as his rehab, if he's been doing the lower body and flexibility work that was in a few articles I found through the magic of Google after this POS article came out, his weight number isn't going to be a major issue in the recovery as his body will have been built to handle his current body weight in much more stressful situations than injury recovery.

 

What frustrated me more than anything was that I found no less than 17 articles with unique quotes from Miguel Sano from the point of his back issues last September to his current shin injury regarding weight and how important keeping his body healthy, flexible, and agile was to his success. Someone who has been that open about his body and his weight would no doubt have been quotable if Souhan had honestly intended to do a quality, researched piece. Instead, he wanted to shoot arrows from on high without having to get his fingernails dirty by wading into the muck of actually talking to a lowly player to complete an article.

I agree the number doesn't matter, which is why I didn't specify a certain number. I look at him now and think he could benefit from dropping 15ish. I don't think a specific number wad helpful or meaningful from Souhan.

 

I also wouldn't think bulking up with that much muscle is ideal for a baseball player either.

[biggentleben]

 

I agree the number doesn't matter, which is why I didn't specify a certain number. I look at him now and think he could benefit from dropping 15ish. I don't think a specific number wad helpful or meaningful from Souhan.

I also wouldn't think bulking up with that much muscle is ideal for a baseball player either.

 

That part is a complete misnomer. If you're doing consistent flexibility/agility work while you add the muscle and doing "skill" work while you add the muscle, you could actually be significantly better than without that bulk...

[by jiminy]

I think Souhan is a guy that people in the Twins organization go to to leak out a whisper campaign against a player. If they don't like someone's attitude or work ethic, they badmouth him anonymously, through Souhan. It's not so much that he's lazy or a poor reporter for not doing research and not getting a quote. It's that he's a tool.

 

He cozies up to the Twins and does their bidding. In return he gets "access" and "inside information." When he says, "people in the Twins organization think..." I believe him. It's not factual information about Sano, but it's an announcement that someone wants to embarrass him.

 

Getting a quote from Sano would be useful if the point was to get at the truth. But it's not. It's to fire a warning shot at Sano, from someone who wants to stay hidden.

 

The person who mentioned Slowey above nailed it. He got constantly slagged by Souhan, on behalf of the Twins. They didn't like him, and they wanted to make sure the fans didn't like him. So he danced to their tune.

 

But it wasn't just him. Remember, Perkins was in the doghouse for a while, for disputing how an injury of his was handled. So he got slagged on anonymously for his attitude and work ethic. Garza too, to a lesser extent. The Twins way was always to be a hustling veteran, not an uppity youngster. Remember all those guys Gardy would only bench if they couldn't walk?

 

I will say that in this case, though, I happen to agree with the anonymous critics, and with Souhan. Not defending his process. But if you have that much talent, and that much potential, and have that much money at stake, and so much of your team's future and your fans' hopes ride on whether you get the most out of your ability and become a transcendent superstar, or are content to just be a pretty good slugger, you really should do your best. Even if you don't care about all the people who care what you do, you should care about the hundred million dollars difference in salary you could make. Refusing to eat a healthy diet and play at a healthy weight shows a lack of commitment. Is it hard to lose weight? Sure. So hire a full-time dietician, cook, personal coach, assistant, whatever, to help you keep on track and achieve your goals. With that much money at stake, you can afford to; it would pay for itself a thousand times. But just commit, and people will help you. If you'd rather indulge and eat whatever what you want, fine. But you can't say you're doing your best. You're just not.

 

Linking it to this injury is probably a cheap shot. But what about last year? Did you  think he was doing everything he could to achieve his potential? He blew off his off-season training program and his diet, came in overweight, and his production plummeted, for basically the entire year. That finally woke him up, and he committed to doing better this year, and he did. But it looked like it took a full year of failure to motivate him, from the outside anyway. Is he doing everything he could now? I don't know. How would I? I don't work there. So if people in the Twins organization think he's not, I want to know that.

 

I don't take Souhan's article as fact based on research or honest reporting. I take it as a whisper campaign by the organization. That probably reveals more about them than him, of course. But Souhan was quite open that he had no real information, he was just passing on gossip some people in the organization wanted to get out. So I'll read it with interest, if only as a view into their thinking. Not Falvey and Levine's, probably, but somebody's. It's like reading a press release from a communist country. It's not fact, but it reveals something else.

 

And my gut feeling about Sano, after last year, was to worry a little. He seemed content to just do the things he was good at, not be the best he could be. The organization stood by him, he responded amazingly, proving me wrong. He is working on his weaknesses, instead of just focusing on his strengths. He is working on his fielding. He's changed my mind.

 

So it's interesting this latest attack, coming after a prolonged slump. Did he slip a little in his dedication? Is his recent slump because he's not working on the little things, and going back to old ways? Is his weight gain indicative of flagging interest? Someone seems to think so. But there are no facts, nothing to convince me one way or another.

 

And I'm not even sure this is one of those state sanctioned whisper campaigns. It being Souhan, he could be just going rogue and making it up on his own, just to piss people off and get page views. He does have a nasty habit of taking provocative stances occasionally just to stir up a response, like mini-Reusse. The  BS he says about Mauer, it's hard to believe come from inside the organization. It's so dumb you have to think he's just trolling. So maybe that's all he's doing here. Who knows.

 

Of course I wouldn't mind a real reporter looking into it -- asking Sano, asking the coaches, trying to find out what's really happening. But that's not what this is about. It's just an amusing column of words. He's a stylist, not a content guy. You can't criticize Carlie Rae Jepsen for not being Bruce Springsteen.

[biggentleben]

 

Of course I wouldn't mind a real reporter looking into it -- asking Sano, asking the coaches, trying to find out what's really happening.

 

They have. All season long. If you Google it, since his back stuff last year, Sano was quite upfront that he needed to be in top physical condition, and he's done such with diet and exercise. There are dozens of articles about it in the past year from the offseason, during spring, in season. Sano's been incredibly upfront on his diet, exercise, and forming new habits. Frankly, I took to watching a few game tapes from last season and different points of this year, and Sano is noticeably leaner in the waist and thicker through the legs and chest. Comparing video throughout this year, there is no notable difference all season in waist. His thighs were thicker, but thicker with more shape as well, so I would imagine he's added muscle.

 

One thing we all should force ourselves to do in the current world environment - when presented an opinion (even mine here), background check it before just accepting it. Souhan's not got a great reputation among people in the game for presenting real information. In fact, one scout who was with the Rays when they acquired Garza mentioned that portions of the Garza/Twins "feud" were 100% from Souhan, and he printed it over and over so much that the player and team both questioned whether the other side had, in fact, said such a thing. That's horrid journalism - creating a rift just to create a story. It's despicable and deserves absolutely no readership.

[ahart10]

Sano has more of a Big Hurt or Miguel Cabrera build than a Panda build. By no means would I call him obese. All the weight that Bart carries hasn't stopped him from being productive into old age. Stress related injuries happen over a full MLB season.

[Doubles]

 

Sano has more of a Big Hurt or Miguel Cabrera build than a Panda build. By no means would I call him obese. All the weight that Bart carries hasn't stopped him from being productive into old age. Stress related injuries happen over a full MLB season.

 

Not sure Colon, a pitcher, is a fair comp to a third baseman.  But ya gotta realize Colon- by body, age, & performance- is a huge outlier by pretty much any standard.  That's a major reason he has built up almost a cult-like following.  

[ahart10]

Not sure Colon, a pitcher, is a fair comp to a third baseman. But ya gotta realize Colon- by body, age, & performance- is a huge outlier by pretty much any standard. That's a major reason he has built up almost a cult-like following.

I was comparing Sano to Thomas and Cabrera. The Colon comment was only to show a little extra size doesn't stop a player from aging well. Would Big Papi be better? 

[Doubles]

 

I was comparing Sano to Thomas and Cabrera. The Colon comment was only to show a little extra size doesn't stop a player from aging well. Would Big Papi be better? 

 

Ahhh, gotcha.  Sorry I mis-read.  

[h2oface]

 

I don't think anyone is saying carrying an extra 20 hinders Sano from hitting the ball his hardest.  From Souhan's column:

 

"Sano should play at about 260 pounds, if not 250. He would have more energy, would run better, would have a better chance of staying healthy and would remain powerful enough to hit the ball out to any field in any ballpark. He would also be able to remain at third base, where his strong arm is an asset."

 

I find that paragraph hard to disagree with.  Especially as it relates to Sano's chances of staying at third base.  Better conditioning = better agility = a better ballplayer.

 

Absolutely! Unneeded extra weight not a plus (especially if it is fat, and not muscle), in most anybody (unless you are a sumo wrestler , perhaps, or a weightlifter, etc - and not saying Sano's extra weight is fat - or all fat). Nothing to see here........ mostly common sense.