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Pedro at the plate Is Martinez afraid to face the music?Posted: Wednesday June 11, 2003 3:50 PM
Click here to send a question to Tom Verducci's Mailbag. Is it a coincidence that Pedro Martinez shuts it down whenever interleague play rolls around? Ah, yes, the mailbag never ceases to raise provocative questions. Now, I believe having to bat doesn't change the pitching philosophy of intimidators one bit. Roger Clemens once considered pitching for the Astros. Would he have forgotten about pitching inside if he had to bat regularly? Did Nolan Ryan become a sweetheart on the mound when he signed with the Astros? I say, once a cowboy, always a cowboy, but apparently others wonder . . . Interleague play is here and so is Pedro Martinez's annual trip to the disabled list. For the past five seasons, when Pedro has been faced with the possibility of actually having to bat, he seems to acquire some kind of nagging injury. This year, it's a back strain. I would like to think this is just a coincidence, not a recurring theme. If it's not a coincidence, I'd be upset if I was a Red Sox fan. I have tickets for the June 22 Sox-Phillies game at the Vet. Do you think Pedro will be all better by then?
I take it as only a coincidence. Martinez did play in the NL for years, and, if anything, was known more then for moving hitters off the plate than now. As you know, Pedro is back with the Red Sox and healthy. In fact, he's scheduled to make his first start since coming off the DL Wednesday night against the Cardinals. One interesting note: With Pedro's return, the Sox are now relying on him, Byung-Hyun Kim and Casey Fossum as starting pitchers, all of whom are small-framed and will be suspect as far as holding up over the course of 200 innings or more this season. What are the chances that the Red Sox pull a John Smoltz and turn Pedro Martinez into a closer? I know it sounds absurd given Pedro's astronomical salary and Boston's surprisingly weak rotation, but given Martinez's injury-prone nature and the Red Sox's weak bullpen, you could make a decent case for the move. With Pedro's electrifying stuff, I don't think there's any doubt he'd become one of the best stoppers in the game.
I agree that Pedro could be lights out as a closer, but there's no way the Red Sox would pay a guy $17.5 million a year to pitch 65 innings. Martinez is more valuable making his 30 or so starts. I'll take a stud starter over a stud closer any day. Wouldn't the "right" thing for Sammy Sosa to have done been to not appeal his eight-game suspension and just accept the punishment? It's kinda like saying, "What I did was bad, but not that bad, so how 'bout taking a few games off?" I know every player appeals his suspensions, but it just seems as if Sosa could have earned back so much more respect if he hadn't tried to get out of the punishment. Your thoughts?
It's Sammy's right, if he thinks the punishment is too severe, to appeal. However, look at it this way: On Wednesday, the suspension was knocked down by one game --- the other corkers got seven games on the low side and Major League Baseball doesn't want to lower the bar. Now, ask yourself this: Was it worth it for Sammy to have fought for one game? Or would he have gotten more respect for having stood up and said, "I did the crime, I'll do my time"? Yes, I agree that accepting the penalty with humility and contrition is better than fighting to get one game back for good behavior. But let's not forget, too, the influence of the players' association here. How can we keep Pete Rose out of baseball and the Hall of Fame for his "mistake," yet here we are being nice to someone (Sammy Sosa) who actually cheated during a game? Was what Sosa did really an accident? Was it really a coincidence that the one time he used an illegal bat, it broke? Ask the mathematicians about the odds of this happening and see what they say! Punish Sammy about the same as the others who have been punished for cheating, but let's get Pete back into baseball.
Chill, my friend. There is no connection whatsoever between Rose and Sosa. It's crystal clear. There is a baseball rule that says if you bet on games involving your own team you are banned for life. There are multiple precedents that say if you get caught corking your bat (accidental or not) you are suspended seven to 10 games. End of story. What has happened to Shawn Green? In the 84 games prior to last year's All-Star game, he had 26 HR and 68 RBIs, and was making a case to be the NL MVP. In 133 games since that time, he has 22 HR and 74 RBIs.
I just think Green has been dragged down by that Dodgers lineup. That is, L.A. has so little thunder elsewhere in its batting order and puts so few runners on base that Green is under enormous pressure to hit and to hit with power. It could be that he's let that pressure affect him, or he simply isn't seeing the pitches he might otherwise see, or, more likely, he's not getting the situational at-bats to produce as he would in, say, the Toronto lineup. You know he still has a monster streak in him this year, though. Woody Williams is 8-1 with a 2.33 ERA. Is he officially among the top pitchers today? Will he start the All-Star game? And why in the world is no one talking about this guy?
Williams still isn't in that elite group of aces. I submit you have to win more than 15 games in a season at least once in your life to be afforded that respect. The only thing holding back Williams is that he's never put together two great halves in the same season, whether because of injury or ineffectiveness. His efficiency since he came to the Cardinals is amazing -- when he's out there. But I think people are now waiting to see him do it over 33 starts. With Wade Miller and Roy Oswalt looking like they're back to their usual form, do the Astros now have the inside track on the NL Central title, especially given Corkgate and Sosa's suspension?
I still like the Cardinals, but the NL Central is going to be a three-team dogfight down to the last week of the regular season. The way Houston manager Jimy Williams yanks pitchers, I'd say the Astros' chances will come down to their excellent bullpen, and whether it continues to hold up so well over the second half. The Cubs are scary because of their power pitching. Sammy's suspension will hurt them, though not as much as it might have in years past. With the best home record in baseball, an easy interleague schedule, Shawn Chacon perfect at Coors Field and Preston Wilson looking like an MVP candidate, do the Rockies have what it takes to make a run for the wild card?
No, I don't see the Rockies running with the Central clubs, or the Dodgers, Phillies and Expos, all of whom will be wild-card contenders. I think Colorado will finish the year a little better than .500, which is a good step forward, but not enough for the wild card. How do you explain the late-life rebirth of Jamie Moyer? He was a fluff-throwing journeyman in the first part of his career, and has developed into a consistent, durable starter who just keeps getting better with age. He's even striking out people this year.
I had a long chat with Moyer the other day and he's really come to understand pitching, especially changing speeds at a higher level. He adds and subtracts off his fastball as well as anybody, and he subtracts and subtracts (slow, slower and slowest) off that change. I've always had a theory that just as pitcher begins to have enough innings and experience to really understand their craft, their bodies have had enough and can't work like they used to. Moyer, at 40, has kept himself in great shape and is physically able to get the most out of what he knows. The Pirates have been surprisingly competitive this season. Brian Giles has come back strong after being injured at the beginning of the season. Could you see the Pirates making a move for, say, Carlos Beltran to help protect Giles in the lineup? I'm still not sold on Aramis Ramirez.
I, too, think that Ramirez can be maddening in his inconsistency, but I wouldn't give up on him yet. I don't like the idea of trading for Beltran just to turn around and trade him again months later because he's a free agent after next year. If you can sign him, great, but I don't think the Pirates have the coin to satisfy Beltran and his agent, Scott Boras. Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci covers baseball for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Click here to send a question to his Mailbag.
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