Pablo Sandoval to San Francisco Giants: Respect is a four-letter word

You have all heard by now, the report out of Boston, that the San Francisco Giants’ Pablo Sandoval, according to his brother, is looking for respect. Thank goodness for that; I thought he was looking for 100 million dollars. So The Panda thinks San Francisco lacked respect, huh?  If there is one thing over which the Giants have slathered Sandoval, for McCovey’s sake, it is respect.

I won’t insult you by suggesting that all of that Panda paraphernalia in the stands at AT&T Park is a sign of respect; no, that’s the dollars waving at you. But the fact that Bruce Bochy believes in his third baseman, ought to be one indication that Pablo has indeed been granted respect. Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote a piece on Wednesday, in which he deflated any argument that might have been made, that The Panda has been dissed in any weight, shape, or form.

Ostler pointed out three different ongoing instances of serious respect being bestowed upon The Panda since the 2010 playoff debacle, when Pablo was deemed too out of shape to participate in the postseason fireworks.

To suggest that the Giants have not rendered the required amount of respect to Pablo Sandoval, is simply bogus.

The first was the support the organization provided for Pablo, considering Sandoval was supposed to be a professional athlete, and in the best shape of physical shape.

Over the course of the off-season, following 2010, the Giants set up an elaborate and organized program for Sandoval to proceed to do, what he might have considered doing on his own, were he interested in being retained as a third baseman in the National League. The result was that Sandoval came into camp in the spring of 2011, in excellent shape.

Secondly, despite his propensity for swinging with great abandon at pitches hopelessly out of anyone’s known strike zone, Bruce Bochy adamantly required that his coaches allow Sandoval to stay the course. “Leave him alone,” Bochy told his staff because he saw in Sandoval, something special. Pablo calls this a lack of respect?

And in terms of tangible evidence of respect, how about three years at seven million per, sans weight clause? The money was fine; it was the lack of a weight clause, simple in its implementation, that was shockingly trustful. Seriously? You trust this kid who has already given up the opportunity to play in the World Series, to suddenly develop an aversion to cheeseburgers and fries?

Oct 19, 2012; St. Louis, MO, USA; San Francisco Giants right fielder Hunter Pence (8) makes a sliding catch against the St. Louis Cardinals during game five of the 2012 NLCS at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Sure, and Hunter Pence now eats nothing but Big Macs.

For The Panda’s keeper to suggest that Pablo is looking for respect, that in some way,  shape or form, had been withheld by the Giants in the past, is patently preposterous.

It’s beginning to sound as though Sandoval has developed such a big head, it’s time he was made to take out the trash and empty the compost for a week, to put him in his place, which is seeming less and less as though it will be San Francisco. Do you think The Panda will miss the cold of AT&T Park?

Judging from the footage of him shivering at the airport in Boston, I think he just might, but not in the way one might have thought.