Pedro Martinez Set To Sign 3 Yr 40 Million With...

[Bonds]

8 years TO THE DAY since the Red Sox let go of another HOF fame pitcher, saying he was passed his prime.

[yeszir]

Originally posted by Bonds*@Dec 13 2004, 08:58 PM

8 years TO THE DAY since the Red Sox let go of another HOF fame pitcher, saying he was passed his prime.

Wow, thats eerie. And images aren't allowed in signatures, as you can probably see from your sig.

[Bonds]

Yup; noticed it about 2 hours ago, too lazy to change it.

[RedSoxRooter]

Originally posted by Bonds*@Dec 13 2004, 08:58 PM

8 years TO THE DAY since the Red Sox let go of another HOF fame pitcher, saying he was passed his prime.

True. Then look who we picked up to replace Clemens.

The cycle will repeat.

[ahhchon]

there are no future hof on the market. pedro was the only one.

 

john

[BoSox Rule]

Pedro wasn't a a future HOFer when we got him either. Hmm.

[yeszir]

Originally posted by BoSox Rule@Dec 13 2004, 09:29 PM

Pedro wasn't a a future HOFer when we got him either. Hmm.

He was also, what, 26? Not many pitchers are already in the HOF when they're 26.

[Zenny]

Well, A.J. Burnett is available in a trade, in case I haven't said that FOUR THOUSAND TIMES ALREADY!

 

[Gertie]

Meh... AJ Burnett. Potential? Yes. Injuries? Yep. Immaturity? Also yes.

 

Big gamble, considering what the Sox would need to give up?

 

Absolutely.

[ahhchon]

Originally posted by BoSox Rule@Dec 13 2004, 09:29 PM

Pedro wasn't a a future HOFer when we got him either. Hmm.

he was as close as they get.. heh.

 

he came off a cy young winning year at montreal. he also had a SUB TWO era. c'mon bosox. of all people. i thought you and i were the biggest pedro fans alive.

 

i saw pedro pitch when he won the cy young with montreal, i don't know about you but i knew he was a future HOF.

 

john

[RedSox24]

what about odalis, has he signed anywhere yet, not that he is a future hall of famer but it could be another lefty in the rotation

[BoSox Rule]

Originally posted by ahhchon+Dec 13 2004, 10:10 PM-->

QUOTE (ahhchon @ Dec 13 2004, 10:10 PM)

[ahhchon]

lol, bro. you're so shook up about losing pedro you can't read. i was the one that said that.

 

when i saw pedro pitch in 97 i would have put money in him being a future HOF (not if he got injured of course, major injury that is).

 

there is no one like that today on the FA market, that's what i was saying.

 

john

 

p.s.- werne't you like 7 or 8 at the time, that could be why you didn't notice, :harhar:

[ahhchon]

ahh, i see the mixup now. you guys thought i ment that pedro was allready considered a future HOF. no no no. i ment that he was so damn good it would have been foolish to not consider him a future hof.

 

there are no pitchers like that on the FA market today. his cy young year with montreal was just NASTY. 1.9 era i believe. to think he had a 1.74 era in the AL is just awsome. sigh, pedro my pedro, why did you have to go.

 

john

[BoSox Rule]

285 ERA+

 

[BoSox Rule]

Remember though, we didn't sign Pedro. We traded for him.

[RedSoxRooter]

But Pedro wasn't on the FA market when we got him either. I guess my point is, however optomisticly ******** this sounds, that the Sox can still upgrade - even after losing Pedro.

 

17.5 million can go a long way if spent correctly. I have faith in Theo. It may not go to pitching this year, but maybe next year when something really good comes along.

[ahhchon]

close enough. the expos only traded him because they knew they wouldn't be able to sign him.. damnit, let me whine about losing pedro how i want to.

 

yes, it can go a long way. i hope he puts it in something good and not overpaying to get renteria, clement and tek. think about it. renteria will be overpaid 3-4 mill @ 10 mill, clement will be overpaid 1-2 mill at 7-8 mill per, and tek will be overpaid 3 mill @ 9 mill per. that's at least 7 mill per year and at most 9 mill per year.

 

if we're going to burn the farm system we should head after burnett if he's as good as zen says. looking at some of his stats they do look promising.

 

john

[element1151]

After the World Series win i kind of expected Pedro to sign with us, im also surprised that the Mets made a run for him, does this make them a contender now?

[ahhchon]

of course it does.

 

pedro

glavine

benson

trashel

zambrano

 

they would be much better if they kept kazmir, but they are the mets afterall.

 

seems like they are going to sign a big bat. look for the mets to shake up the nl east a bit. the braves will somehow do well (they are truely gifted, they turn s*** into all stars) and the phillies will probably implode, the marlins keep losing the boys that won them the 03 series and the washington expos will be a cellar dweller.

 

i'm predicting the mets will be in the playoffs next year, IF and IF they make a few GOOD lineup adjustments.

 

john

[RedSoxRooter]

I had no idea about the shoulder.....

 

From ESPN.com

 

 

They're going to have their chances to get me back in that uniform. If they don't get me, it's probably because they didn't try hard enough."

-- Pedro Martinez, after his final game with the Red Sox

 

ANAHEIM -- Oh, they tried. The Red Sox tried harder to "get" Pedro Martinez than many people in their organization wanted to try. They tried harder than Pedro will ever acknowledge they tried.

 

 

 

Pedro Martinez's ERA ballooned to 3.90 last season.

 

 

But hard as they tried, Martinez will never throw another pitch in that Red Sox uniform. We know that now.

 

 

We know because on Monday, he said yes (at least tentatively) to the New York Mets, to an offer of $50 million over four years that is as close to a definition of insanity in baseball as we have witnessed since -- what? -- the Mike Hampton contract?

 

 

The Red Sox were never going to guarantee this man four years. They weren't particularly excited about guaranteeing him three years.

 

 

They know -- everybody knows -- Martinez has a tear in his labrum that's practically as wide as the San Andreas Fault. One informed estimate put that tear as 90 percent full.

 

 

So there is a stupendous chance that one of these days, Pedro will go from being Omar Minaya's most famous acquisition straight to being the Mets' next Mo Vaughn.

 

 

Minus the insurance, that is.

 

 

We surveyed a half-dozen baseball men Monday, after word of Martinez's stunning I Love New York tune began to leak around the winter meetings. The question we asked was this:

 

 

What are the chances of Martinez making it through four healthy seasons as a Met -- no muss, no fuss, no trips to the DL?

 

 

And the unanimous answer won't surprise you: Zero. None. Nada.

 

 

Pedro's clock is ticking. And the always-wary city of New York will be watching.

 

 

We wish him the best, because it has always been a blast watching him perform his inimitable magical mystery tour on every mound in America. But the way he worked these negotiations, the way he misled the Red Sox on his way to exotic Flushing Meadow, will not go down as his finest hour.

 

 

The complete details of this negotiation may never become clear. But this is how this deal went down, from what we know now:

 

 

On Saturday night, the Red Sox were just about 100 percent sure he was coming back. He had asked them to guarantee three years. So grudgingly, they guaranteed three years and $38 million.

 

 

He had asked them for perks and planes and privileges that Bronson Arroyo will never even envision, let alone ask for. But grudgingly, the Red Sox gave him virtually all that, too.

 

 

That was supposed to be that. Instead, Pedro did nothing more but use that astounding offer to squeeze more out of the Mets.

 

 

His agent, Fernando Cuza, met with the Mets on Sunday. He laid out what the Red Sox had promised Martinez. He asked the Mets if they were willing to guarantee a fourth year.

 

 

Mets GM Omar Minaya mulled it over for a while. Then, on a Sunday night that changed everything, Minaya agreed to guarantee four years, about $50 million.

 

 

Incredibly, Pedro still didn't say yes.

 

 

Standard negotiating practice these days, according to two longtime baseball negotiators, is never to offer a deal-sealer like that fourth year without explicitly saying, "I'm only offering this if it means this deal is done."

 

 

But it appears Minaya didn't attach that stipulation -- because after that, according to sources who had spoken with the Red Sox, Cuza went back to the Boston delegation one more time.

 

 

He said Pedro was hurt and angry. Why would one team be willing to give him four years but the Red Sox wouldn't? Why wouldn't the Red Sox show him the respect he had earned after all these years?

 

 

The Red Sox delegation didn't need to listen long. They had heard enough. They had done enough. They had done all they were going to do. So if Pedro could get all that from the Mets, he should probably go get it before the Mets changed their mind.

 

 

And that was how it ended. Seven of the greatest seasons in Red Sox history.

 

 

More than 200 trips to the mound. An astounding 117 wins -- vs. only 37 losses. Nearly 1,700 strikeouts in 1,383 2/3 innings. And no number that can measure the charisma, the genius, the sheer artistry of one of the great pitchers of his time. Or any time.

 

 

The Red Sox won't be the same without him. There will be a little less buzz, a little less electric current surging through those Fenway nights, a little less reason to blow up an evening's plans to make sure you made it to the TV room for Pedro's starts.

 

 

But it's a funny thing. As much as the Red Sox will miss all that, they won't miss the countless days he showed up late, the obligations he dodged, the special treatment he demanded.

 

 

 

Martinez will have a challenge awaiting for him with New York fans.

 

 

If he can get away with that in the city of New York -- where he has hardly been everyone's favorite baseball visitor, where they have reaped none of the joy he has spread over these last seven years -- more power to him.

 

 

But we are trying to imagine the back page of the Post or the News after he opted not to show up for Game 6 of an apocalyptic League Championship Series, as he did this past October. The headlines might not fit on the page.

 

 

In the end, he needed more rest and nonstop maintenance. He was still fun when he took the ball, or when he led those cheers from the dugout. But one baseball man who knows the Red Sox well predicted there would be no clubhouse uproar over this. Not a peep.

 

 

"You'll be amazed how little you'll hear those players complain," he said. "I bet you'll never hear a word -- no matter how many games he wins."

 

 

The Mets get a great pitcher -- on some nights, anyway -- and a great attraction for their new TV network. But don't ask for 120 pitches. Don't ask for nine innings. Don't ask for any emergency starts on short rest. And even regular rest may stop being quite enough.

 

 

What the Red Sox get, mostly, is a huge challenge. They were sure they had Pedro. Then they didn't. They were sure they had Carl Pavano. Then he U-turned toward the Bronx to make his mother and father -- longtime Yankees fans -- happy.

 

 

So now, instead of those two, they have David Wells, who turns 42 next May, and a giant hole in the rotation that Pedro was supposed to fill.

 

 

They can use some of Pedro's money on Edgar Renteria, a tremendous player and more cost-effective purchase. But it appears they will take their time trying to find that last starter. Maybe Odalis Perez. Maybe Tim Hudson. Maybe some other creative Theo Epstein acquisition.

 

 

They will still be good. They will still be must-see New England TV. They will still get to raise that World Series banner on Opening Day.

 

 

But everything that comes after this will be filed under Life Without Pedro. He made their world more interesting every moment he was around. But he might very well have made their life a lot more peaceful just by deciding he had hung around long enough.

 

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

[ahhchon]

"That was supposed to be that. Instead, Pedro did nothing more but use that astounding offer to squeeze more out of the Mets."

 

oh c'mon.. the sox made an offer pedro would accept. too bad the bets made one he COULDN'T turn down. 4 years 56 mill is what is reported. that's WAY too much money to turn down. pedro didnt' squeeze anything out of the mets, he wante 3 years around 13-14 mill from the sox, he got that. i don't think he expected 4 years 56 from the mets. that's crazy.

 

john

[RedSoxRooter]

I'm more curious about this... "They know -- everybody knows -- Martinez has a tear in his labrum that's practically as wide as the San Andreas Fault. One informed estimate put that tear as 90 percent full."

 

What does 90% full really mean? Is it 90% torn, or 90% healed with scar tissue???

[RedSoxRooter]

... and if it's 90% torn, how in the hell does he pass a physical?

[yeszir]

I don't even know what a "labrum" is, let alone that Pedro has a tear in his...

[soxonfox]

anyone else think this is way to much money for him and to long of a contract?

[yeszir]

Soxonfox, i merged your topic here. Look for other threads before posting, please.

[sarasoxfan]

why are they still using words like--"likely"...because of the tear?

 

Is the guy going and if so, what happens if he does fail his physical....?

 

I am so confused right now.

[ahhchon]

pedro is not going to fail the physical. the mets allready agreed that they would not give him an MRI. it was posted on espn last night.

 

john

[sarasoxfan]

okay, so that's that...he bails for a few million, that will make a big difference to him when he retires I'm sure...

 

he was great but I for one am not too broken up to see him leave.

 

he was a spoiled baby--and not that I begrudge someone making a living, the new yorl newspapers will eat him alive when he starts with his prima dona s***....

 

thank you, good bye and good riddance...(greedy *******)

 

respect my ass....here on earth we call it money.

 

let's sign the non declining tek and soon!!!