Cecil Fielder, Prince Fielder, Mo Vaugn, David Ortiz, Matt Stairs, John Kruk, Carlos Lee, Pablo Sandival, Tony Gwinn, Kirby Puckett
When they were young I don’t recall Colon it CC bring fat. Maybe they were but I’m thinking that was natural spread as they got older. Zambrano at 30 wasn’t as doughy as Martes at 20. Thick trunk and butt? Yeah, lots of power pitchers have it. Dickie do over the belt? Not a good sign imo.
All those guys fat as kids? Which is specifically what I was taking about as young guys. Carlos lee and Tony Gwynn were stealing lots of bags (Tony Gwynn stole 56 bags as a 27 year old!) when they were kids. Jon Singleton was stealing food from the spread for late night munchies. Cecil and prince were always disgusting fat bodies.
Hell I don't know what they were as kids, why don't you research it and let us know. I have seen fat guys out play pretty boys all my life. No matter what you think there are different body types. I do agree that some of these guys have not produced the way they should. I think some people quickly judge some of these guys about their bodies without giving them a chance. Some of them could surely use a better training regimen, but some are just the way they are.
Gerrit Cole was overweight during his stint with the Pirates. Last year he was out of shape, This year he looks fantastic, leaner with muscles. The Astros Trainers, Yoga Instructors, Cooks all are amazing
Fernando Rodney, Johnny Cueto Stros did trade 1 big ol' guy who was very well thought of, Oscar Henriquez, in the Moises Alou deal. He never panned out. Ooops. Neither did Barrios, but he was skinny.
I did the research on Lee and Gwynn. They were athletic when they were young and breaking in. I’m not saying it’s impossible to play baseball being fat, As baseball is as much a game of skill as athleticism, Im saying I’m skeptical when a young guy doesn’t take care of his body before it starts getting harder and going to ****. I know the FO wanted Reed to lose weight and get in shape and wasn’t impressed when he didn’t. Tyler awhite did for a while and he seems to have passed him on the depth chart... Maybe it’s nothing. I will stop with this random thought now, sorry for the diversion.
Fun Fact: Tony Gwynn was a pretty badass college basketball player at San Diego State. All-Conference PG type stuff. (this is all from memory now) : He wanted to concentrate on hoops, but after his freshman year one of the baseball players who had played against him in HS saw him walking down the hall and asked the coach "Is that Tony Gwynn?" "Yeah?" "He's the best baseball player I've ever seen." Then he got a spot on the SDSU baseball team, played both sports, and the rest is..... Also, file this away as another "What Could Have Been": [Jack] McKeon: We got ready for the Draft. Nobody had Gwynn on their list. I am in the Draft meeting, and I said, "We're drafting Tony Gwynn." Now, we were going to take Kevin McReynolds No. 1, and I said "OK, but we're taking Gwynn No. 2." My scouts said no, we want this pitcher from Miami [Ohio], Bill Long. He was out of Moeller High School. One scout says, "He's a better pick." I said, "I hadn't seen Long, and you've seen both, and you are telling me Bill Long is better than Tony Gwynn?" He said, "Yep." "Well I have to take your word for it, but Gwynn is No. 3," and there wasn't going to be any debate about that. I had to threaten to walk out of the room. They kept saying we could get him later. But I loved the kid. I wanted to take him earlier, not later. Finally, I had to say, "Take the kid now before we lose him." MLB.com: Could you have waited after the third round and drafted him? McKeon: Wouldn't have happened. It's a good thing we took him when we did. Bob Cluck, who had worked for the Padres, lived in San Diego and ran the San Diego School of Baseball, was a national crosschecker for the Astros, and he had Gwynn high on his list. We don't take Gwynn in the third round, I know now we wouldn't have had Gwynn. He would have been an Astro. https://www.mlb.com/news/jack-mckeon-on-padres-drafting-tony-gwynn/c-235553994 Stros did not have a 1st or 2nd round pick that year because of FA signings (Dave Roberts...no, not that Dave Roberts. Look him up.)
Odd thing about it is that Gwynn became more and more obsessed with hitting. There are only a handful of guys in history that thought about and studied hitting to the level Gwynn did.... all from a guy that at 18-19 years old wanted to play basketball and not baseball.... Hornsby, Cobb, Williams, Rose, Carew and Bonds are the only guys I can think of that studied hitting to the level Gwynn did.
I was adding to that post while you were posting. Somewhere online there is a 30 minute taped conversation b/t very old Ted Williams and Tony Gwynn just talking about hitting. It's one of the greatest baseball videos I've ever seen. Oh, I do like this part of Trader Jack's interview too: MLB.com: Where did Gwynn enter the picture? McKeon: At the end of Spring Training, we would play San Diego State at Qualcomm Stadium before the regular season opened. I was sitting in the box with the San Diego State athletic director, and this guy goes up and it is boom, a double off Juan Eichelberger. Next time up, it's boom, a triple off Steve Mura. I am watching this guy hit line drives all over the ballpark. He is running the bases like he has eyes in the back of his head. I asked the athletic director, "Who is this guy? I watched this team a lot before I went to Spring Training. I don't remember seeing him." He told me it was Tony Gwynn, and he was a basketball player, and the basketball season just ended, so he had joined the baseball team five days earlier. MLB.com: And that was the genesis of Gwynn becoming a Padre? McKeon: I wouldn't have been interested if I hadn't seen him that day.
Like others have said, we ain’t selling jeans here. Reed’s body type would be fine if he didn’t have such a long swing that was slow even in its windup. Dude failed the eye test in multiple ways; I just don’t know if weight was one of them. I’ll take a young Matt Stairs (haha, sorry, even thinking about his habitus now makes me laugh) if the guy can produce in the majors.
The result of all this data appears to be, broadly, a confirmation of what scouting wisdom had been: Good major leaguers usually do make good jeans salesmen. .... "Oh yeah, our guys look good in jeans," Beane concedes. Good read: http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19571006/did-moneyball-teach-us-mlb-selling-jeans
Roster moves: Carlos Sanabria to BC Bryan Abreu and Luis Garcia to QC Jacob Billingsly to TC Ian Hardman and Dariel Aquino Released Now only 15 players from the 2016 draft left in the system. Schroeder, France, and Roach are the only signed 2018 draftees not on a roster. TC only has 31 players on it's roster so they could add up to 4 active players and not be over the limit. Those spots could be for JP France, Dalton Roach, Alex House, and Hunter Martin.
