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It just feels wrong. Martinez looks like a fading star, and I'd rather see us put the resources and effort into Carl Pavano or a trade for Zito or something of that ilk. We should sign Leiter if we are looking for a 30s stop gap front end SP with durability issues. Then take the 30 million savings and get some OF bats.

we are being used, I'll be surprised if he signs with the METS.

I'll go further:

Signing Pedro could have some logic ...IF...If he is one of 4-5 monster additions this off year that make this a "win now" squad. If he is "it", the main off season signing and we field a 2005 team depending on year-long healthy performances from Reyes, Piazza and Floyd for our offense, Pedro is just another in a long string of declining, big bucks signings inappropriate to a rebuilding team. If, say for arguments sake, We signed Pedro, then re-signed Leiter (or Clement), then traded Trachsel and Piazza and Floyd, traded for Helton, then signed Maggs, Drew, Hidalgo, blah, blah, blah, okay, we are going to go for it in 2005. But the way things are going, I'm afraid in about two years we will be counting the days until Pedro's contract ends as we have for so many aging, declining additions to our old and non-contending NY Mets team.

re pedro :here we go again ,sign post up ahead you're entering the Mo zone

Im just as skeptical as the next guy with high-priced 33 year old free agents. The Mets had a team that took them to the World Series (over-achievers or not) and grew into a Yankee-esque ballclub without an upside. Its funny how the Red Sox and Yankees go for him and its a big deal. But if the Mets do, its terrible. Fact is we live in NY. There will never be a complete rebuilding process because big markets teams never really do. They try year after year to retool and keep their best combonation. Pedro Martinez on a staff with Glavine (old but gets the job done) Benson (with run support and new pitching theories could win 15) Traschel (competitor and loves Shea) and Zambrano (devastating when healthy can control kicks in) is a great way to keep an offense that doesn't really score to often in some sort of contention. This could be a bad dream for some New York fans, but for others like myself, Its Omar Minaya trying to bring a decent team to the field so fans will come to the ballpark and boost team support as the enter the following season under their new television contract

Good point, Chris. Pedro is most definitely in a decline. His decline started much higher than most pitchers, and he certainly has farther to fall than most. His declining velocity and potential for injury are my biggest concerns.

The Red Sox have ostensibly offered him three guaranteed years, which is all the Mets have done. The Red Sox are brilliantly run, so they must think Pedro is worth three years if they offered it. The Mets have also offered him those three years with a vesting option (if he pitches 600 innings over those years) for a fourth year. If he stays healthy enough to pitch that many innings, he could probably be counted on to do the same in the fourth year, and reasonably well too.

Many believe that Pedro is using the Mets to get a better deal out of the Sox. It wouldn't surprise me if that were the case, though you can be sure that Omar Minaya's intentions are real. My feeling is that he would benefit greatly from pitching in the NL in one of the league's most homerun-unfriendly ballparks.

I still don't know what to make of Pedro.

Yes, he's in decline, but he still managed to put up a ace-like performance last season. I tend to believe that his performance will level off for two reasons:

1 - It would be near impossible to keep up the performance level he has supplied in the previous 5 seasons. Compared to the rest of his league, you are talking about all-time numbers. A bump to some sense of normalcy was inevitable.
2 - I do believe that getting away from the Yankees and Orioles (along with DH's) would help his performance.

Looking at his split trends (02-04), he's been dominant vs. just about every AL team minus the Yanks and Birds - who've hit progressively better off of him for the past 3 years. During that same 3-year period he has pretty much dominated every other AL team. Hey, when you face a team 3-6 times a year for 7 years running it can happen.

Just for fun, here are Pedro's 04 numbers if you remove the Yanks and Birds from his stats:
GS: 25
IP-: 166.2
H-: 137
BB: 44
K-: 183
HR: 15
WHIP: 1.09 (vs. 1.17)
ERA-: 3.02 (vs. 3.90)
K/9--: 9.88 (vs. 9.45)
K/BB-: 4.16 (vs. 3.72)
IP/GS: 6.67 (vs. 6.58)
HR/9-: 0.81 (vs. 1.08)
OppBA: .223 (vs. .238)

I do have questions about his durability and Aug/Sept desire, but he still goes deep into ballgames (regularly going 6.2 IP) and in the playoffs the TV gun had him hitting 97mph with Varitek's glove making a nice "pop" sound.

He wouldn't be my ideal FA signing (Clement), but if we gave him a 3/$40m deal I would be pleasantly intrigued. I would NOT give him the guaranteed 4th though.

At the worst, I like the message Minaya sent by getting right to the front of the Pedro race. "Here's a premier FA. Well we want him, we offer the richest contract on the table." It contradicts the Met offers of the past few years.

YOu could make the case the the Sox are brilliantly run, or you could also make the case that they have been lucky.

Schilling and Foulke and Ortiz were great additions

But if the Sox werent outbid on Contreras, they would have never landed Schilling, as Contreras was their first choice. Secondly, they put the World Series MVP on waivers before the season, what if someone picked him up? Thirdly they tried to trade Lowe before the deadline to acquire Esteban Loaiza, but the Yankees made a better offer. Fourthly, if the sox acquired AROd, there is no way he would have fit in. I think he would have hurt the team.

So if you look at it that way, then the Sox misfortunes have actually contributed more to their success than their first options.

Larry Lucchino is also a scum bag. He tends to leak false information to the media about players after they are no longer part of the organization.

Does pedro realize he's now in the NL. His famous beanball is now straight done the alley. Think that little rat wants the opposiing pitcher throwing high and inside his strike zone. Can I be the first to predict Pedro at 7 and 12 with a 4.0 ERA. I know he's pitching in the inferior NL, but that's the best he'll do. Hasta La Vista Pedro, we don't miss you or your midget friend one second. Please do all you can to subpena the hall to keep our hat of your inflated fat, ignorant head.

The Red Sox nation

Don't waste your time bad-mouthing Pedro here. Bitter Red Sox fans can peddle their diatribes at SoSH if they want, but I have no use for them.