Seriously. I was talking with one of the News.com guys the other day, and when I mentioned that I’d be posting on the whole Pedro-to-the-Mets deal, his response was classic: “I knew it!” Predictable, I am.
Anyway, I know many of you could care less that a millionaire pitcher from my favorite baseball team took more millions to head to another baseball team, and I can’t really blame you. Sports, like music, are one of those personal obsessions that you either share with someone or you don’t.
As I’ve written before, baseball, and the Sox in particular transcend the normal boundaries of sport. The team’s been described as a de facto religion, and I certainly wouldn’t argue the point. Any of you who read my postings on the Red Sox miracle run through the playoffs have probably picked up this insignificant-in-the-grand-scheme-of-things yet overwhelming sentiment on my part, but it can’t be stressed enough.
So what’s this mean vis a vis Pedro? Simply that Martinez leaving the Sox is not – for me – just another roster move, just another free agent departure. It’s the departure of the greatest pitcher I’ve ever seen, and am likely to see in this lifetime. Just look at the pitcher he’s most similar to here (incidentally, my grandfather and I used to talk a lot about that assessment, and I don’t he’d object to the putting the two in the same sentence). With that understanding, you might assume I’m devastated by the loss. Well, you’d be right. I was sick when I heard the news, and I have been avoiding SportsCenter since.
But at the same time I’m surpringly understanding of the situation. My biggest fear was that the Sox would slap him in the face with a below market contract, as they did with Clemens. That didn’t happen. The Sox offered him what I feel was a competitive contract. The Mets offered him a better one, and he took it. I don’t blame the Sox for what they offered, and I don’t blame Pedro for taking the better deal. Jose Melendez could have been speaking for me with this bit:
If Roger Clemens was a bad breakup, if Mo Vaughn was a bad breakup, then Pedro is a good breakup. Have you ever ended a relationship where you were still in love, where there was warmth and good times, but it just couldnt be sustained? Where fundamental differences in what each of you wanted out of life and out of a partner made staying together simply impractical? Jose has. And he was right to do it and so were the Red Sox and so was Pedro. (link)
That’s pretty much exactly how I feel about it (thanks to Joy of Sox for the pointer).
I’ve been surprised at how much this is being made out to be a purely financial decision by folks I respect (Gammons, Ryan and Simmons). I’m not naive, and clearly Pedro’s in it for the cash. But for me, one of the biggest reasons Pedro took it was the extra year. Even Pedro’s most ardent fans – such as your truly – are forced to admit that his brilliance has taken a toll on his slight frame. He just doesn’t have the horse-like build of a Clemens or Schilling (though I believe that when all is said and done, he’s been better than either one of them). As a result, I think Pedro wanted to take the deal that gave him the best chance at pitching the most years. That came from the Mets. Hence, he’s out the door.
Unlike some past free agents that spurned the Sox for greener pastures (see Clemens, Roger), I will continue to root for him for the rest of his career, and he’ll always have a place in my heart. I’ll continue to cherish the performances he gave us while wearing a Sox uniform. Among my favorites: coming in from the bullpen in ’99 to no hit the Indians over six innings, the 17K game against the Yankees, the 1 hitter against Tampa Bay after Gerald Williams charged the mound, the 2-1 win over Clemens and the Yankees (with a nice dinger off Clemens from my boy Trot), drilling Sheffield this year after he kept stepping out, and of course, his 3 hitter in the World Series against one of the top 3 lineups in the league.
So Pedro, as I said when Nomar left, ave atque vale. See you in the Hall someday.
