Was Pedro Worth It?
By Mike Silva ~ December 2nd, 2008. Filed under: Mike Silva.
Yesterday, Bob Klapisch questioned the impact of Pedro Martinez over at his column at ESPN. His premise was to contradict the theory, spouted by yours truly, that Pedro Martinez off the field value was worth the $53 million dollar contract. He points out that Scott Boras offering Carlos Beltran to the Yankees at a discount, blowing Game 7 to the Cardinals, and two September collapses give you reasons to doubt Pedro’s value on and off the field. He believes the turnaround is more to do with the “Wilpon family’s willingness to outbid the market for star player”.
The four years of Pedro Martinez certainly didn’t give you $53 million in “on the field” performance, but I still think his signing was so important. The Mets were coming off a dreadful 2004, traded Scott Kazmir, and were on the verge of being completely irrelevant. Pedro made them matter again. Young players, like Fernando Martinez, wanted to sign with the Mets. He set the tone for the Omar Minaya era. Before Pedro the Mets hadn’t signed the “big” free agent since Bobby Bonilla in 1991. It is almost like the “high and inside” fastball that sends a message a hitter. Inherently it doesn’t provide value, but it sets up the rest of the at-bat. The Mets didn’t plan on him being just that “iconic symbol”, but that is what he turned out to be.
I believe Pedro was worth the investment for his 2005 season that set the foundation of the Mets playing, and acting, like a big market team. The collapses and Game 7 are such larger issues that you can’t even start with Pedro. You need to move on now, but lets not kick him on the way out. The Pedro Martinez era was disappointing, but not worthless. What do you think? Let us know below.
