Mets general manager Omar Minaya paid Pedro Martinez the respect the pitcher was looking for, something no other club cared to do. Minaya treated and paid him like an ace diva and no doubt will continue to do so, giving Martinez free reign in Queens. That's why Martinez will be a Met. The Mets stepped up in class, something they failed to do with Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield and Vladimir Guerrero. Is that a good thing? It's not so easy to answer.
The fact that Boston let Martinez slide easily into Minaya's arms and that no other club in a market blown wide open with dollars cared to enter the bidding tells you this was a gamble by Minaya. This was not Dan Duquette trading for the young Pedro in 1997, when all of baseball coveted the Montreal ace.
Minaya is personally tied to this deal. It's his reputation as the man with "full autonomy" that goes on the line with Pedro's health, his stuff and his reputation as an independent contractor. At the money Minaya shelled out -- which should have been used to help lure the younger, more impactful Carlos Beltran -- his gamble only works if Martinez can reverse the declines in his stuff and efficiency and, at 33 with a history of slight shoulder trouble and a small frame, he finds a higher threshold of year-to-year physical fitness and durability. He must take the ball regularly and pitch at an elite level.
Can Martinez do that at ages 33, 34, 35 and 36? No one else in baseball but Minaya wanted to take that risk. I don't rule out Martinez doing it because he's supremely talented with a tremendous pitching intellect, which means he can make late-career adjustments with his body and stuff that many others can't. (Kevin Brown comes to mind.) But you'd be kidding yourself, based on the rest of baseball sitting this one out, to think the odds are with him.
It's a fascinating and complicated signing for all those reasons and more. And as you'll see in my winter meetings breakdown of winners and losers, it cannot be easily categorized.
Winners
New York Mets
They substituted Martinez, a Hall of Fame pitcher whose declining stuff will play well in the NL, for Al Leiter. They're better. Period. Martinez also gives the Mets' plans for a TV network a bona fide star power.
Pedro Martinez
As one former teammate said, "It's not just the Yankees who hit him. Toronto and Baltimore hit him, too, and he knows it." Now he's out of the AL East. There will be days in spacious Shea Stadium against weak NL lineups in which he will look spectacular. His ERA is likely to return to something closer to 3.00 than 4.00. It's a great move for him at this point in his career.
Boston Red Sox
Put it this way: they know Martinez better than anybody in baseball, they need a starting pitcher and they let him go easily without a bidding war. You do the calculus. (Did you notice how quickly the Red Sox announced he was gone, without the Mets even acknowledging they had a deal?)
John Smoltz
He's always been a starter at heart, and wants nothing more than another shot at dictating postseason games, rather than hoping his teammates get a lead to him in the ninth. And considering GM John Schuerholz met extensively with Oakland GM Billy Beane Monday to talk about Tim Hudson, the Braves could be back in the business of dominant, deep starting pitching.
Doug Melvin
The Brewers GM turned a waiver claim (Scott Podsednik) and a released player (Dan Kolb) into the best pitching prospect in the Braves system (Jose Capellan) and a legit middle-of-the-order hitter (Carlos Lee). On such margins must low-revenue clubs thrive.
Matt Clement
Said one agent, "One club told me they had him [earmarked] for three years, $18 million at the start of the winter." By waiting on a market that blew up for second-tier pitchers, Clement will double those dollars.
Old guys
Two years for 41-year-old David Wells? Two years for 40-year-old Steve Finley, who turned down three years from the Giants, who gave three years to a 38-year-old shortstop, Omar Vizquel? A possible two-year extension for 41-year-old Randy Johnson? Seven million dollars for 39-year-old Leiter? Three years for 35-year-old catcher Damian Miller and 34-year-old catcher Mike Matheny? Another year for 46-year-old Julio Franco? You go, gramps.
Matt Mantei
The reliever called the Cubs and offered to pitch for them for the minimum salary, $312,000. The Cubs inexplicably had to think about it. In the meantime, the Red Sox invited him to Boston, flew him in first class, decorated his hotel room with world championship Red Sox pennants and balloons and a bucket of locally brewed beer on ice. They also flew in manager Terry Francona to meet him. Mantei immediately signed for $750,000.
Losers
New York Mets
Well, yes, it's that Pedro guy again. It's a typical Met move: overpaying for the worst years of a star's career (Bobby Bonilla, Vince Coleman, Roberto Alomar, Mo Vaughn, etc.). Let's see if I've got this straight: the Mets' plan -- as best as anyone could tell that they actually had one -- was to get younger and more athletic and clean up clubhouse issues, so they gave a four-year deal to a 33-year-old pitcher whose lack of regard for team discipline is notorious. Martinez completely missed one postseason workout by many hours, and when he did show up, he was 90 minutes late for the time he thought it began. In other words, he was late for being late.
Make no mistake, the Red Sox were tired of his act, wary of his durability and have been prepared for months to live without him. Every eye is dry today on Yawkey Way. No other team in baseball wanted him. When I asked Arizona GM Joe Garagiola where Martinez was on his radar after the D'backs spent $33 million on Russ Ortiz, Garagiola said, "Not even on it."
The Mets' biggest problem is that they are paying him to be a No. 1 pitcher when he is a guy who needs an extra day of rest in between starts and just threw more innings in one year than he ever did in his life. (He was 7-6 with a 4.17 ERA in the second half while making sure to stay in the rotation during his walk year.) It's unlikely over the next four years, especially the next one, that he can go to the mound as often and pitch as deep into games as consistently as you expect from an ace at that kind of money.
Willie Randolph
You're a rookie manager with a bad team and the GM just handed the keys to the kingdom to a baseball diva. Now you've got to deal with Pedro's dwarf buddy in the clubhouse, the trips home, the late arrivals, the early departures and all things uniquely Pedro. Questions? Call Jimy Williams to see how it works out.
New York Yankees
Carl Pavano was a nice signing. But they committed too many years and dollars to Jaret Wright, a guy who never has pitched 200 innings, they still don't have a left-handed starter, they still have to pay another club more than $10 million so that Brown never throws another pitch for them, they still have to push Jason Giambi and his $82 million into a severance package, they still have to deal with the wacky Diamondbacks to get Johnson and, contrary to what you may have heard, they are not only choice for Johnson as he seeks to escape the Debit-backs. Oh, and did I mention the Yankees are nuts if they think Tony Womack is a leadoff hitter who deserves to get more plate appearances than anybody on the team?
The Lost Generation of Pitchers
The free-agent market was deep in second-tier pitchers because 30-ish aces virtually don't exist. Only 11 pitchers last year won 15 games with an ERA below 4.00 while throwing 200 innings. Here's the breakdown by age:
The New Generation, 28-and-under (six): Pavano, Roy Oswalt, Jason Marquis, Johan Santana, Mark Buehrle, Carlos Zambrano.
The Old Generation, 38-and-older (three): Curt Schilling, Johnson, Roger Clemens.
The Lost Generation, 29-to-37 (two): Jason Schmidt, Martinez.
Arizona Diamondbacks
They're said to still owe MLB $50 million, but yet threw money around like confetti -- for an impact hitter in third baseman Troy Glaus who may or may not be recovered from shoulder problems (see: Shawn Green, Ryan Klesko) and a serviceable starting pitcher in Ortiz. They think they can contend next season after losing 111 games. You can't make this stuff up.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci covers baseball for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com.
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