How it all works out. (The Closer).

Guys today are so much bigger then they were 10 years ago. Guys are in better shape. The players are becoming more specialized. The workouts of players have to be specific to guys, according to what they do. I know steroids have hurt the integrity of players in the game, but believe me, not everybody who is massive is on steroids.

Each team has its own strength coach. Our guy with the Rockies is Brad Andress. Brad is not the militaristic guy you would think. He's not the old high school coach who just yells at you and tells you, "YOU DON'T WANT IT!" Brad is in charge of coming up with individual workouts for all 25 guys. Plus, he's responsible for the entire minor league system.

When Brad first got hired in baseball, by the Tigers 12 years ago, he was coming out of a football program at Michigan. He had to adjust to the everyday mind-set of baseball. In football, players can go hard in the weight room once or twice a week. They have time to recover, so it's not that big of a deal. But in baseball, players don't have that time to recover.

Brad breaks the team into position players and pitchers. Among the position guys, there are everyday players and bench guys. The everyday guy has the hardest balancing act. He has to maintain his strength but still must be able to play every day. He'll do light weights with a lot of reps. He won't go up in weight on his bench or squat or whatever during the season. He just tries to stay as strong as he was in spring training. It's unreal to me, but position players can lose up to 15 pounds in the season. These guys sweat so much, and they play every day, so their bodies just can't recover. The last thing an everyday player wants to do is go in the weight room after a game and lift. But if he doesn't, those balls he's hitting out in April go to the track in September.

Bench guys don't play much, but they have to be ready when called upon. These guys get their ...