Pablo Sandoval challenges Boston.com's Steve Silva to workout contest

There's been an awful lot of attention paid to Pablo Sandoval's girth over the last couple days, and if the Kung Fu Panda isn't exactly fuming, he's also not about to take the criticism lying down. Instead, he's decided to issue a workout challenge to Steve Silva, the Boston.com reporter who produced the photos in the first place.

"I love them, I love them. I'€™m making fun of it. I'€™ve put other pictures out there making fun of it because I want [Steve Silva] to spend one day with me to see how hard I work. So I'€™m ready."

Sure enough, Sandoval approached Silva personally soon afterward and it seems like the challenge is on:

Pablo Sandoval just challenged me to workout with him. There may be a 50-yard dash contest in our future. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/I39RZLVpK6

— Steve Silva (@stevesilva) February 21, 2015

For those keeping track, the report date for pitchers and catchers was two days ago, and already the Red Sox have had their second baseman threaten to break Dan Shaughnessy's collarbone and their third baseman declare the inaugural Professional Athlete vs. Middle-Aged Journalist Workout Challenge.

This might be a really fun year.