Spring Training 2010: "I'm in the best shape of my life"

[jmcclain19]

Every February, hope springs eternal and major league players return to the ballfields in Arizona & Florida to report for Spring Training.

Unfortunately, one of the rites of spring is also cliched sports reporting & those same ballplayers using the same repeated lines about how they changed their batting stance, lost weight or are in the best shape of their life.

In a humorous exercise, I'm going to do my best to keep track of how often this idea - how great of shape the player is in - is repeated by different players & recited in the media this spring training.

This thread is part I - "I'm in the best shape of my life"

[jmcclain19]

Person 1 - Ken Griffey Jr

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...=.jsp&c_id=mlb

With Spring Training less than three weeks away and arthroscopic surgery on his left knee more than three months behind him, Griffey figures to be in much better shape.

"I'm not saying he will look like he did in 1995, but I think he will look better [than last year]," Mariners head athletic trainer Rick Griffin said. "I haven't seen him recently, but he told our general manager that he will be 'ripped.'"

Baseball's active home run leader had surgery to remove a bone spur in October and Griffin said the team's designated hitter is "better now than he was at any time last year.

"He knows how to lose some weight, and when I last saw him, he had lost six or seven pounds."

[jmcclain19]

Carlos Zambrano

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...,3344222.story

Pitchers and catchers don't have to report to Fitch Park in Mesa until Feb. 17, but Zambrano already is working out, promising to atone for his nine-victory season.

...

Carlos was a little heavy last year, there's no question," manager Lou Piniella told fans at the Cubs Convention. "He's another player (besides Geovany Soto) we had a nice conversation with toward the end of the year.

...

"He looks absolutely wonderful, and I think you'll see a heck of a better performance from him just because of that," Piniella said. "The mental part of it? He's mentally strong. He fights himself at times. He needs to harness that a little bit. But you want competitors on the mound, and Carlos certainly competes."

[klw]

Tom Verducci did a column on this a couple of years ago you may enjoy.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...l?eref=writers

[klw]

Originally Posted by jmcclain19

Carlos Zambrano

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...,3344222.story

Zambrano forgot that he said the same thing back in 2008
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Here's a list from 2008 in case there are other repeat proclaimers.
http://www.rotoauthority.com/2008/01...-traini-1.html

[klw]

the Pirates Andrew McCutchen
http://www.timesobserver.com/page/co....html?nav=5051

They were the ones that Andrew McCutchen said the other day, when he announced: "I'm in the best shape of my life."

Granted, at 23, McCutchen doesn't have a large body of work at this point. Still, if the Pirates are to get where they want to go this season, then chances are the legs of McCutchen will have to take them there.

And to hear McCutchen tell it, they've never been as strong or as quick as they are now, which bodes well for a team that may have to play "smallball" in order be successful this season.

"I know my legs definitely have gotten a lot stronger because of the things that I got done in the off-season," McCutchen said. "They're what carry you throughout the whole season. If your legs give out, you have nothing else. You need them."

[traderumor]

See which one of these end up on the DL first

I like the way how someone's bad year is attributed to "he was too fat." Then they lose weight and lose stamina and strength because of the weight loss.

[RedsManRick]

This thread is awesome

[paintmered]

Originally Posted by RedsManRick

This thread is awesome

Yeah, it really is. Great stuff, Josh.

[jmcclain19]

Glad you guys like it. Everyone please feel free to contribute if you come across any stories in the same vein.

[jmcclain19]

Matt Stairs

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/features/rumors

Matt Stairs still hoping to land a job at age 41, has dropped 31 pounds this winter, reports ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. Stairs has gone from 230 pounds to 199 -- the lightest he's been in about 15 years. Stairs lost the weight on the Nutrisystem program.

[WMR]

Bahahahaha, one of the best threads on the entire internet. Kudos McClain.

Loving the Stairs one especially.

[GAC]

Gary Matthews Intends to Prove Himself with Mets

http://www.metsblog.com/2010/02/05/r...prove-himself/

In a report for Newsday, David Lennon says Gary Matthews Jr. has been working with both a running coach and a personal trainer since November, and Matthews says he’s in “phenomenal shape”.

However, Matthews told Lennon during a phone interview yesterday Omar Minaya didn’t make any promises to him, but hopes to let his work ethic speak for itself.

[jmcclain19]

Jose Reyes

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4879468

"I'll be ready in 2010. Be there, it's going to be a show," he said, according to the New York Post. "I can do everything I did before on the field ... I can't wait to hit a triple."

[WMR]