Will Panda's weight be a problem?

Photo from Steve Silga, boston.com

Pablo Sandoval is overweight. Them's the brakes. It's gotten to a point where Sandoval said back in November that he has a personal trainer that he'll stay with until he retires. He checks in at 240 pounds, according to Over the Monster, and that's being generous. But how much of a problem will it be?

Not much, Over the Monster says:

Remember, when Sandoval was the World Series Most Valuable Player in 2012, he didn't suddenly have a six-pack or pecs. He was the same round, oddly proportioned baseball player. Sandoval has age on his side and was continually effective for the San Francisco Giants despite his size. While we certainly don't know whether or not he will be able to be consistently productive over the length of the contract, what we do know is that Sandoval is never going to be built like an NFL running back.

And let's take a look at some of the numbers - he's a career .294 hitter, which ain't too shabby. Then there's his postseason performance: 2012 World Series MVP, .364 batting average, 6 home runs and 13 RBI's in the 2012 playoffs. His 2014 postseason stats? More of the same: .364 average, but 0 homers and 5 RBI's. Still pretty impressive in my books. He's also got a .960 career fielding percentage at 3rd base (76 career errors), which is pretty good.

The numbers suggest that the weight isn't as big of a problem as some people make it out to be. And then there's also the David Ortiz comparisons:

It wasn't long ago that Ortiz was struggling to hit for average and had seen a drop in his OPS for three consecutive seasons. Ortiz is listed at 230 pounds (although he likely weighs more than that), and although he hasn't the fluctuating weight problem that Sandoval has had, he certainly doesn't have Richie Sexson's chopstick-like physique. All the complaints over Ortiz' contracts over the last couple years haven't been about how a team could commit so much money to a player of his stature and age. Instead, it's been about Ortiz' bickering for an extra year of security. Not many complaints were made about committing significant money to a player of Ortiz' girth. The center of concern around Sandoval, however, continues to be about weight.

I personally don't think it will be a problem, but only time will tell for sure.

Stats from ESPN.com.