San Francisco Giants Broadcaster Suggests Pablo Sandoval Is Dealing With Legitimate Eating Disorder

After signing a five year, $95 million contract in November of 2014, Pablo Sandoval‘s first season with the Boston Red Sox was a massive disappointment. Over 470 at-bats, “Kung Fu Panda” posted a .245/.292/.366 slash-line with 10 home runs, 25 doubles and 47 RBI.

Weight concerns have been constant throughout Sandoval’s career, dating back of course to his time with the San Francisco Giants. Upon arriving at Red Sox spring training, concerns about Sandoval’s physique came back to the forefront when this photo surfaced:

Welp. Here it is. Via the @BostonGlobe, the picture that everyone’s going to be talking about tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/FbWPrm8DfH

— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) February 21, 2016

Another layer has been added to the story now, with Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow suggesting Sandoval has an eating disorder.

Here’s a sampling of Krukow’s comments to KNBR on Tuesday morning, courtesy of CSN Bay Area:

“It’s unfortunate,” Krukow said. “We love the guy. He was amazing in our uniform and amazing for our city … there’s no more charismatic guy that I’ve ever met than this guy. You can’t help but love this guy.

“He’s just one of those people that you want to be around. And it’s unfortunate. I mean, he has an eating disorder. It’s plain and simple. He can’t control himself.”

As expected, everyone involved from Boston’s end has immediately denied any major concern over Sandoval’s weight. He himself has denied he was told to lose weight during the offseason, despite multiple reports to the contrary citing comments from multiple people in the organization.

Red Sox manager John Farrell said a month ago that Sandoval had dropped over 20 pounds since the end of last season, but the early spring training evidence does not back that up. The potential of a legitimate eating disorder is a serious issue, but it’s hard to confidently diagnose such a thing from the view of the media, which includes the concern reflected in Krukow’s comments.

Carrying substantial extra weight has always put Sandoval’s long-term durability into question, and now entering his age-30 season that is becoming an increasing concern even if the Red Sox want to dismiss it. But it comes down to how he produces on the field, so if Sandoval starts 2016 well, stays healthy (legitimately drops weight) and has a productive campaign, concerns about his weight will fall to the back burner.