Kuzul

Jesus Montero is fat.

That sounds harsh, but it seems to be the overarching sentiment coming out of Seattle Mariners spring training, where Montero has showed up 40 pounds overweight.

The Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish (h/t The Big Lead), reports the young catcher bulked up over the winter, and not in the massive-amounts-of-muscle way. His belt size is growing and his pants are bursting, and Montero blames the weight gain on, well, eating.

Per Divish, Captain Obvious had the audacity to state, “After winter ball, all I did was eat.”

That’s excusable for an average Joe after a weekend bender in Vegas, but when you’re a professional athlete like Montero, not so much (apologies to any professional eaters in the audience). Imagine showing up to work with a hangover and telling your boss that you were blackout drunk a few hours ago…but you’re sorry. 

Things are going downhill fast for Montero, a former top prospect who was once mentioned in the same conversations as MLB wunderkind Mike Trout.

No, I’m not kidding.

Hard to believe for a middling catcher-turned-first baseman that played all of 29 games last season due to injury and a 50-game suspension after being named in the Biogenesis steroid scandal.

In those games, he had as many hits as strikeouts (21) and batted all of .208. However, the 24-year-old weighed 230 pounds, which we are guessing the Mariners might take at this moment.

While there is no mention of his current weight, Divish reports that each player is given a target weight every season—something Montero has failed to meet in Seattle on multiple occasions. 

Here is the big, beautiful specimen, via a tweet from Divish: 

All is not lost for Montero, who as recently as 2012 belted 15 home runs, batted .260 and drove in 62 runs in 135 games for the Mariners.

All optimism has been lost on general manager Jack Zduriencik, though, who had a pointed assessment regarding his nonchalant power eater, via Divish: “We are disappointed in how he came in physically.” The GM continued, “It’s up to him. I have zero expectations for Jesus Montero. Any expectations I had are gone.”

Manager Lloyd McClendon was equally frustrated: “At some point, the light has to come on for all of us. When I talked with him, I told him he’s at a crossroads. It’s time to put up or shut up.”

For his part, Montero states that he is “comfortable” with his weight and is doing all that is asked of him, including extra cardio work.

Maybe next time, Montero will instead answer for his weight with something like “big is beautiful.” At the moment, it seems the public admonishment has worked on the young athlete, who maintains, “Whatever they want. I’m here for the opportunity.”

Hopefully that means the extra work leads to some of the extra weight melting off by the start of the season, and that raw talent can beat his apparent apathy.

If that’s the case, the Mariners will have a nice asset. If not, baseball fans have just another cautionary tale that making it to the bigs is never enough, because you still have to work at it tirelessly—good advice no matter the venture.

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Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier has appeared in only one major league game in his career, but he has already found a way to make a name for himself at Tampa Bay’s spring training before games get underway.

The 23-year-old took a few seconds to show the world his Jay Z impression:

It wasn’t much, but Kiermaier didn’t disappoint.

[MLB.com, h/t Beer Mug Sports]

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The seven-year, $155 million contract that the New York Yankees gave to Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka has been one of the biggest sources of buzz throughout the MLB offseason.      

Whether Tanaka’s game translates to the big leagues after dominating in his homeland remains to be seen. However, one prominent MLB ace has come out and said Tanaka isn’t worth such a high price tag: fellow Japanese hurler Yu Darvish. 

Per MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan: 

Context is everything in these situations, though, and Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com suggested that the Texas Rangers star was laughing when he made his remarks about Tanaka:

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News provided a statement from Darvish after his comments were made public:

The two-time MLB All-Star also discussed the influence he and other Japanese pitchers have had on the market, implying that it helped Tanaka land a big payday, per Sullivan:

The Rangers ace also mentioned the posting system, which essentially involves a transfer fee from Japan. Tanaka’s former team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles, were to be paid a $20 million posting fee by the Yankees as part of the acquisition, per Marchand’s report on the contract.

Aaron Gleeman of NBC Sports’ Hardball Talk points out how the Rangers sent Darvish’s former team in Japan $51.7 million in posting fees to bring him over from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league.

Darvish arrived in the MLB in 2012 and took little time to establish himself as one of the top pitchers in the league. This past year, he even finished as the runner-up for the American League Cy Young Award. 

The right-handed Tanaka went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA with the Golden Eagles this past season, which had Yankees scouts convinced in his abilities to pay him such a hefty salary.

As unfair as his contract may seem, there is plenty of time for Tanaka to prove his worth in pinstripes. The exorbitant contract shouldn’t come as a huge shock either, considering the Yankees are consistently putting together superstar-laden rosters with massive payrolls in an effort to return to the Fall Classic.

With the disparity between the contract Darvish has—$56 million over six years, according to Spotrac.com—and the deal Tanaka inked, one could reason that Darvish wasn’t entirely joking. However, considering his swift denial and the fact that both pitchers were teammates in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, it’s unlikely that Darvish meant anything by it. 

Either way, it will be interesting to see if Tanaka responds to Darvish’s comments, and whether he lives up to his hefty salary in the 2014 MLB season. 

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Timing is everything.

Pitcher Matt Garza was a free agent this winter, but he was having a hard time getting many offers. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t able to be available when teams wanted to talk.

He had an offer early in the offseason from the Los Angeles Angels. The club offered him a four-year, $52 million deal. Instead of having a chance to mull the contract over, an anniversary trip cost him a chance to consider an offer.

MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy was able to talk to Garza about the situation:

They offered, but it was more of a weird situation. I was on vacation with my wife and I didn’t want to be disturbed, and it was like, ‘Here it is, we’ll pull it in a certain amount of hours.’ I didn’t have a chance to respond, so I just said, ‘Whatever. It is what it is.’

It wasn’t anything big. It was an offer and I said, ‘I’m on vacation. I’m not thinking about baseball, Dude. Me and my wife are enjoying ourselves.’

Garza and his wife Serina were on vacation in Turks and Caicos when the Angels made the offer. It wasn’t a long-standing offer apparently.

Once that offer was on the table, the 30-year-old had to play the waiting game. Even though he has posted a 3.84 ERA in eight seasons, there wasn’t much movement in the pitching market.

It took about six weeks for the Milwaukee Brewers to step in. Garza, via McCalvy, signed a four-year deal worth $50 million guaranteed, plus a vesting option for a fifth year.

The right-hander stayed positive throughout the winter: 

I had no worries. God’s going to make things work out either way. It is what it is. I guess you didn’t want me that bad, I take it. I found a team that wants me and makes me feel at home. I was looking for a great fit and I believe I found it.

The couple’s vacation apparently cost Garza $2 million in guaranteed money. Although Los Angeles certainly has the more talented roster, the veteran is happy with where he landed. 

From February through October, MLB players don’t have much time to spend with their families. When they have free time in the offseason, family comes first. That’s a rule that Garza takes seriously, even if his future is on the line. 

[H/t Greg Smith of Black Sports Online]

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Suppose you just inked a giant major league contract. What’s the first big purchase you would make?

For Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, it was a ridiculously expensive charter flight from Tokyo to New York City. According to Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News, the newest addition to the Yankees‘ roster arrived in New York on Tuesday after a long international flight aboard a very empty jumbo jet.

Indeed, Tanaka allegedly dropped $195,000 to secure private transportation aboard a Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Japan Airlines. As its name suggests, the Dreamliner is a luxury aircraft built to carry a large amount of people to faraway locations. 

The baseline 787 is built to carry 242 passengers. Tanaka’s flight, on the other hand, featured a markedly sparse cabin—six passengers in all, including Tanaka, his wife and their brown toy poodle. 

While extravagant, one can hardly call the purchase surprising. Tokyo is a long distance from New York, and $200,000 is a drop in a bucket for a man who just signed a seven-year, $155 million contract.

Prior to his flight, Tanaka spoke to members of the Tokyo press on Sunday and explained he was covering the cost of the charter with his own money, per the New York Post’s Bruce Golding.

“It’s a (chartered) private jet. It’s not something the Yankees have prepared,” Tanaka said. He also claimed he chose to fly private in order to be “in the best of form” for spring training workouts in America.

Tanaka and the rest of the Yankees pitchers and catchers will begin spring training in Tampa, Fla., this Saturday. Judging by the wintry weather currently afflicting Japan, the Sunshine State will be a welcomed change of scenery. His drive from the hotel to Tokyo’s Narita Airport allegedly took eight hours due to poor weather. 

Be on the lookout for more big purchases from Tanaka. The man has yet to pitch an inning for New York, but he’s already spending like a Yankee. 

Put it this way: If you’re going down to watch some spring games this year, don’t be surprised if there’s a brown poodle in the dugout chowing beef tartare. That’s just how Tanaka rolls.

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A little girl nearly stirred things up in the love lives of Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg and infielder Anthony Rendon when she was allowed to ask “how many girlfriends do you have?” 

Strasburg tells the girl that he has a wife and thus “no girlfriend” while Rendon takes a little more time to come up with his answer of “one.” It’s not completely clear why Rendon takes so much time to deliver his answer, but there’s a chance he’ll have a very upset girlfriend at home if she gets wind of this. 

Hat tip to Nina Mandell of USA Today‘s FTW for the find. 

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New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia has long held an image as one of the rounder players in Major League Baseball. That appears to have changed, as Sabathia’s wife Amber posted a photo of the ace lefty at a wedding over the weekend looking positively slim.

He denies that he has lost weight, instead saying that an offseason of intense training has helped bring tone to his physique. Per Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports (h/t Mike Axisa of CBS Sports), Sabathia says: 

I’m actually the same weight as I was last year, just a little more toned and a lot more strong. This is the first offseason I was able to weight-train and get stronger and not worry about weight loss.

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Just a few days after they released their new mascot, the Chicago Cubs have unveiled a few of their Sunday throwback jerseys for the 2014 season.

You can see four of the jerseys above, with them coming from the 1942, 1953, 1929 and 1969 seasons. The 1929 Cubs went 98-54 that year, eventually losing to the Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series.

Thanks to Matthew Robins (@BupsJones on Twitter) for the find.

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Updates from Saturday, Jan. 11

Richard Durrett of ESPN provides Derek Holland‘s description of what occurred:

It was Holland’s dog, Wrigley, a boxer, who caused the starter to buckle on the stairs of his home and injure his left knee badly enough that he needed arthroscopic surgery Friday morning to repair torn cartilage. 

“He was running up the stairs and clipped me,” Holland said Saturday. “I hit my knee on the step, and if it wasn’t for me grabbing the rail, I might have fallen all the way down the stairs and cracked my head open.”

—End of Update—

Original Text:

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Derek Holland could be out for some time after undergoing offseason knee surgery following a freak injury resulting from a hard fall at his home, according to The Dallas Morning News‘ Gerry Fraley on Twitter:

As The Fort Worth Star-Telegram‘s Drew Davison points out, Holland released a statement expressing his anguish following the mishap:

Losing the 27-year-old left-hander for an extended period of time is sure to hurt the Rangers in the early part of 2014. After all, Holland has won at least 10 games in each of the past three seasons with Texas, finishing 2013 with a career-best 3.42 ERA.

Holland has gone 49-38 in five seasons with the Rangers and boasts a 3-0 postseason record since 2010. 

Holland is heading into the third year of a five-year, $28.5 million contract with the Rangers that includes $11 and $11.5 million club options for the 2017 and 2018 seasons, respectively, according to Spotrac.com.

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Most people love sledding. Most people in Boston also love Fenway Park, the iconic ballpark for the Boston Red Sox.

Those people who love both now have a chance to combine the two. The ballpark has been transformed into Frozen Fenway, a place for kids (and adults) to go sledding and enjoy the great venue.

Hat tip to Busted Coverage for the find.

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