Pedro's WBC Performance Opens Eyes

Mets General Manager Omar MInaya decided to throw depth at the fifth spot in the pitching rotation instead of Pedro Martinez. Thus far through spring training it stands as a decision he may regret.

On Sunday the two frontrunners for the job, Tim Redding and Freddy Garcia, got knocked around good. Redding has been nursing a shoulder injury and got his first extended action of the spring. It was far from inspiring, but a forgiveable offense in his first opportunity to get the rust off. Redding has the most guaranteed money coming to him.

Garcia on the other hand, couldn't afford to look ineffective against a lineup of collegiate amateurs from the University of MIchigan. Garcie was shelled by the St. Louis Cardinals and now the by Wolverines. There's no word on whether the Mets will schedule a high school scrimmage to help get his confidence up.

Meanwhile, the future first ballot Hall of Famer those guys replaced has shown signs of life in the World Baseball Classic. This dispatch from David Carroll at TSN after the Dominican Republic lost to the Netherlands:

Aside from the upset, the one other major thing coming out of that game, Pedro Martinez can still pitch.

The veteran free agent and three-time Cy Young winner looked awesome over three innings of relief against the Netherlands. He surrendered only one hit and struck out four over his stint.

Of his 40 pitches, 32 were strikes and his change was as befuddling as ever.

Of course the big issue with Martinez is how much money he requires. His numbers from last year warrant little more than a minimal offer, but he's Pedro, and he's on record as saying he wants to pitch for "anybody that would give him respect". But what is respect worth in today's environment? The pool of players who signed for less than they thought they deserved includes just about every free agent not signed by the Yankees. 

Looking at player comparisons, it may be that "respect" is worth $5 million. That's the ball park figure for three pitchers who share a similar profile to Pedro: John Smoltz, Brad Penny, and Andy Pettitte. They're all veterans, they've all been All Stars; most likely you won't get a complete season from them, but they could be great for a stretch when you need it most. And for that you pay $5 million in 2009. Show Pedro those names and offer him five, and he and his agent would be hard-pressed to argue it as disrespectful. The ball would be in his court.

The Mets, however, are not in position to make an offer like that because $5 million also happens to be just a little more than the cost of Redding($2.25M), Garcia($1.5M), and Livan($1M) combined. Omar chose those three over the theoretical 1-2 punch of impressive rookie Jon Niese and the veteran Pedro. He'll need Redding et. al to turn it on in the next month if he doesn't want to open the season kicking himself for signing washed up veterans to replace the former "brand" of the franchise and a promising prospect.

Patrice Evans also blogs at The Assimilated Negro.

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us