MLB offseason no longer a time to rest

Bert Blyleven

Much has been made this winter of the offseason training regimen of Pablo Sandoval, a budding star of the San Francisco Giants.

Sandoval has loads of talent, but has caught plenty of heat for his portly physique. So he has dedicated himself to a difficult offseason program to get in shape and turn some of that fat into muscle.

It’s pretty rare for a player to undertake such a venture so early in the offseason, and really underscores how times have changed from when I played (1970-92). Nowadays players must train much harder in the offseason to stay ahead of — or even keep pace with — the competition.

PUTTING FOOD ON THE TABLE
The biggest reason things have changed over the years, of course, is money. I signed my first pro contract in 1969, and was invited to spring training in 1970. I made $500 a month after signing, and later about $1300 a month after being assigned to Triple-A. That obviously isn’t a lot, and you need to put food on the table. Like a lot of players back then, I had to find work in the offseason to supplement my income, and couldn’t afford to do what Sandoval is doing this year.

Even when you make camp, like I did right off the bat, you still only get meal money during that time. So you end up living cheap and eating at a lot of smorgasbords. I got a job pumping gas at a Texaco Station, and I would work out in my off hours.

Even as my career progressed and my salary increased, I still often worked in the offseason. One year I stayed up in Minnesota and sold pool tables. Other years I went on the Twins’ offseason caravan, where we would spend three months going to banquets, doing speaking engagements and making hospital visits, thanking fans in the outstate areas. It was a good way to make extra money.

I’m not complaining about the way it was, I just did what I had to do. And I was actually one of the lucky ones as I was called up to the majors in June 1970, my first season. There are so many minor leaguers who toil away and never make it to the big leagues, or take forever to get there.

When free agency came about in the mid-70s, things began to change, and the money got a lot better. Players like Sandoval don’t have to work in the offseason and can dedicate themselves solely to preparing for the upcoming season.

TEAMS EMPHASIZING CONDITIONING
With the bigger dollars players are making, teams want to get the most for their money, so they in turn have stepped up their emphasis on conditioning. When I was playing, many players would come into spring training maybe 60-70 percent ready, and use camp to get ready for the season. Now teams want their players ready to go from Day 1 of camp.

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For the Twins this year, for instance, pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 21, and the rest of the squad on Feb. 26. The first game is March 5 against Boston, giving position players only a week to be ready for the first game.

Ballclubs have come a long way since the 1970s. At the Twins facility in Fort Meyers, Fla., there are guys working out now, and many more will start showing up around the first of the year. And even established players like Joe Mauer will be there working out long before spring training arrives.

Perry Castellano, the Twins’ strength and conditioning coach, lives there. He’s out there on a regular basis, creates workout programs specific to players, and the team encourages guys to work out as much as they want.

It’s not that I think guys nowadays work harder, but I think they work smarter and the teams give them better facilities. All of these spring complexes are amazing, with four or five fields, plus a main field for games. You have six or seven batting cages, all of them covered so you can still hit when it rains.