SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Kung Fu Panda is a lot less roly poly.Boston Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Pablo Sandoval has trimmed down after missing nearly the entire 2016 season.The third baseman appeared to be well over his listed 255 pounds when he reported for spring training in February, and he was limited to three games and seven plate appearances before season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.He did lose a lot of weight. I wont give you the exact weight. I just dont believe in doing that, Dombrowski said Monday as the annual general managers meetings started.Sandoval helped San Francisco win World Series titles in 2010, `12 and `14 but hit .245 with 10 homers and 47 RBI in his first season with the Red Sox after signing a $95 million, five-year contract in November 2014.Boston said during spring training it was not concerned about Sandovals weight, and principal owner John Henry said Sandovals body-fat ratio was 17 percent, down from 21 percent last year.Sandoval spent much of the season at Bostons spring training complex in Fort Myers, Florida.He was down there working on rehab, then strengthening, took groundballs, throwing, swinging the bat. Hes ready to play in games right now, Dombrowski said. Im going to give him credit: He worked on dietary aspects of his life. ... Hes really taken tremendous strides.Boston has not decided whether Sandoval will be allowed to play in games this winter.Hes actually asked if he could play winter ball. Were not ready to do that yet with him, Dombrowski said. We still think theres a lot of benefit by him continuing to be in Fort Myers and be down there working with our people.Sandoval is a candidate to play third base next season, along with Brock Holt, Travis Shaw and Yoan Moncada. Sandoval also could get time at designated hitter following the retirement of slugger David Ortiz. Sandoval lost his third base job to Shaw in spring training this year.After winning the AL East, Boston was swept in the Division Series by Cleveland, which won the AL pennant and lost the World Series to the Chicago Cubs in seven games.Dombrowski, who joined the Red Sox in August 2015 after he was fired by Detroit, said he spoke to executives from the Atlanta Braves, who won 14 straight division titles from 1991-2005 but just one World Series, and John Hart, whose moves helped Cleveland to six first-place finishes in seven years from 1995-2001 without any championships.Ive actually been involved in winning the division five of the last six years. We havent won a World Series, Dombrowski said. And I cant seem to see that theres a common thread when I start talking. If somebody has one, Im kind of open to hear about it. You start talking about who plays well at a particular time period. Its just one of those things. 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What general manager Dave Nonis called "short and productive" negotiations ended with Kessel signing a US$64-million, eight-year contract on Tuesday. Tracy Mcgrady Magic Jersey . Thats not a comment on the suspension that banished the Portland Winterhawks general manager and coach from his Western Hockey League teams bench for most of the 2012-13 season. BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Jerod Evans said that he needed to clean up some things during Virginia Techs upcoming off week.The Hokies fan base may be wondering what exactly that is. His play so far has been sparkling.Evans, the Hokies starting quarterback, threw three touchdown passes and rushed for one to lift Virginia Tech over East Carolina 54-17 on Saturday.The Hokies (3-1) scored on their final five possessions of the first half, including all four of their second-quarter possessions, to overwhelm East Carolina (2-2) and snap a two-game losing streak to the Pirates.Evans completed 13 of 20 passes for a career-best 282 yards and rushed for a career-best 97 more. He has thrown at least three touchdown passes in three of the Hokies first four games and is completing 67 percent of his passes.I missed a couple of things here and there, Evans said. I have a lot of things that I can get better at for sure.Evans entered the game with an ACC-best 10 touchdown passes this season. Of more importance to Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente, he has thrown just one interception.I think hes pretty good, Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente said of Evans. Hes been judicious with the ball and hes going to the right place most of the time. Hes been pretty efficient.Following a punt return for a touchdown by Greg Stroman and a touchdown run by Marshawn Williams that gave the Hokies a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, Evans threw touchdown passes of 24 yards to Isaiah Ford, 13 yards to Travon McMillian and 55 yards to Cam Phillips. That final score gave the Hokies a 38-0 halftime lead.ECU quarterback Philip Nelson had 362 yards passing and two touchdown tosses to Jimmy Williams. The Pirates had 443 yards of offense, but committed three special teams mistakes, fumbled once and were sacked six times.We studied the film well and they had a lot of keys when they were sliding the protection, said Ken Ekanem, who had two of the Hokies six sacks.dddddddddddd We had a lot of indicators and we knew when someone was going to be left one-on-one. We look forward to one-on-one matchups and pride ourselves on winning those. We did a good job of that today.THE TAKEAWAYEAST CAROLINA: Coming off a 20-15 loss at South Carolina and playing its third consecutive game against a Power 5 opponent, the Pirates looked a step slow and out of sorts from the opening kick. They went three-and-out on five first-half possessions. The Pirates hope to regroup now that they have finished the non-conference portion of their schedule.That was clearly the best football team that we have played, ECU coach Scottie Montgomery said. The most physical. The biggest. The fastest. The strongest. The smartest. I thought they competed well in their scheme. They played great emotional football. They leaned on their crowd. They played a complete football game -- as complete as it gets.VIRGINIA TECH: The Hokies dominated on special teams, scoring four touchdowns as a result of those units. Greg Stroman scored on an 87-yard punt return, and a blocked field goal attempt led to an Evans touchdown pass to Isaiah Ford. Cam Phillips blocked a punt that led to an Evans touchdown pass to Travon McMillian, and a sack of ECU punter Worth Gregory in the fourth quarter led to a 1-yard touchdown run by backup quarterback Brenden Motley.UP NEXTEAST CAROLINA: The Pirates open AAC play next Saturday with a home game against UCF. ECU blasted the Golden Knights 44-7 last season for their first win in Orlando since 2008.VIRGINIA TECH: The Hokies are off next week before taking on North Carolina on Oct. 8 and will be looking to avenge last years 30-27 overtime loss. The Hokies have won nine of the 12 meetings with the Tar Heels since joining the ACC. ' ' '