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Red Sox introduce Pablo Sandoval, with plenty of pandas

(USA TODAY Sports)
(USA TODAY Sports)

Pablo Sandoval put on a Boston Red Sox uniform Tuesday and was introduced to the media as Boston's new $95 million man.

He sat there, next to Red Sox GM Ben Cherington, and said the things that players say at these types of press conferences: He was excited for a new challenge, he's looking forward to playing with David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia, he loves Fenway Park.

The most existential moment, however, came when Sandoval was asked about the panda. Panda — as in Kung Fu Panda — is his nickname. Fans wore panda hats in San Francisco because they loved him so much. Leaving as a free agent doesn't mean a star has to divorce himself from a nickname, but Sandoval's answer was a bit peculiar.

"Ben didn’t sign one guy,” Sandoval said. “It was a two-for-one deal. The panda is with me.”

Trip out on that, Boston. The Panda is his Yoda or his Great Gazoo or his Jiminy Cricket. But hopefully not his Tony Plush.

But Sandoval's right, the Panda is with him. And the Red Sox made sure we all knew it.

They used the panda emoji on Twitter:

The put up a panda poster in his locker:

And they brought out a guy in a panda head to hang with Pablo.

Not those guys in the panda heads, because we're pretty sure they're staying in San Francisco.

If Boston really wanted to make a splash and show that money ain't a thing, they could have brought in a real panda bear to hang with Pablo.

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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!