FORT MYERS, Fla. -- When it comes to what Pablo Sandoval looks like and what he says, things apparently aren't as they seem.
Sandoval arrived in camp yesterday with everyone eager to see how he looked and what sort of shape he was in. Sandoval may not have passed the eye test for many. He looked somewhat lighter than he was at the end of the 2015 season, his first in Boston, but perhaps heavier than when he started last year.
Manager John Farrell's remarked last month that Sandoval had dropped 20 pounds during off-season conditioning, and perhaps because Sandoval's weight ballooned over the course of the season, that could well be true.
But appearances aside, Sandoval, interviewed by reporters at his locker, then made some strange comments. He maintained that the Red Sox didn't ask him to lose weight and wouldn't agree that last year was a disappointment. He said that he didn't have anything to prove to Red Sox fans and insisted he never weighed himself all winter.
But Sandoval's words to the media contradicted what he told members of the organization. One Red Sox official acknowledged that Sandoval revealed he was "embarrassed'' by what happened in 2015, and set out to make good for 2016.
"I don't (have) anything to prove,'' he said. "I'm just preparing myself to perform well, to support my teammates and play well and try to get to the World Series.''
As for his disastrous 2015, Sandoval wouldn't classify it as a "disappointment.''
Boston Red Sox
"It's not a disappointment,'' he said. "It's baseball. You're not going to have all season (be) great. You're going to have ups-and-downs. So you have to prepare yourself to be ready and when those down moments, shake it off and keep working hard to prove next year you're better than that.''
In recounting his off-season workout regimen, Sandoval said he got clearance to begin working out in mid-October after missing the final few weeks of the season with pneumonia.
“I prepared myself to be an athlete in the field,'' he said. "I didn't try to lose weight.''
Asked what went wrong in 2015 -- when he was so inept hitting right-handed (2-for-41) that he gave up switch-hitting and finished with a .366 slugging percentage -- Sandoval chuckled slightly and said: "For me, bad moments. Bad moments. Like I said, it was up-and-down.''
Pressed on how much weight he dropped in the off-season, Sandoval claimed he was unsure.
"I don't weigh in,'' he said. "I just do my work, try to do everything I can. I don't weigh in all off-season. I just tried to get better and be in a better position.''
He added - twice -- that no one from the Red Sox organization asked him to lose weight. Later, in his daily media briefing, manager John Farrell said the Sox did ask Sandoval to report in better condition, so perhaps this is merely a matter of semantics.
But what Sandoval said publicly and what he said privately to people in the organization was wholly different. A Sox official who visited Sandoval on multiple occasions in the Miami area said Sandoval was routinely at a gym prior to 6 a.m., committed to getting in better shape and rebounding from 2015.
As the official watched Sandoval take ground balls Sunday morning, he noted Sandoval's improved technique at third.
"He's getting underneath grounders, the way you should,'' said the official. "He couldn't do that a year ago.''
How that translates into on-field performance once the season begins is unclear. And so, too, is the matter of Sandoval's shape and weight, his evaluation of last season, and his commitment to a better 2016.
That, as Sunday demonstrated, depends with whom and when he's talking.