According to a source, the Yankees—along with three other teams—will look at Pedro Martinez throw in the Dominican Republic on Friday.
The Tampa Rays, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Angels are the other teams planning to watch Martinez throw. On Wednesday, Martinez said he had spoken with the Cubs and Rays and “there’s a good chance I’ll be signing soon, but there still isn’t anything firm.”
I have no idea why the Yankees would be looking at another starting pitcher, let alone one of the most hated players of the franchise. Do I even have to refresh everyone’s memory of “who’s your daddy?” or Alfonso Soriano and Derek Jeter being sent to the hospital in the same game? These are just the moral reasons why he shouldn’t be a Yankee. What about the medical reasons?
Pedro hasn’t pitched close to a full season since 2005 — his first season with the Mets. I don’t know if that is just the luck of the Mets, or if Pedro is just too frail. Either way, he’s averaging 16 starts per season for the past three years. He’s almost 38 years old and his best years are clearly behind him.
How about his statistical problems? He was awful in 2008 with a 5.61 ERA, and still way too high in 2006 with a 4.48 ERA.
The only thing this guy is pitching for is his 100th loss, as he currently is sitting at 99. He’s 86 wins shy of 300 and 883 Ks shy of 4,000. He already has a spot reserved in the Hall of Fame, so I really have no clue what he is thinking.
Here are a few reactions to the idea of Pedro as a Yankee from some of my twitter followers:
mincontro: if he can still pitch, yes!!
section59mike: No, I've seen enough has been, injured players fail at pitching for the Yankees
FootballGeek: NO to pedro
tommyreyes: not in a million years!
ryan_kantor: and no, we don't want Pedro! Wang will work out, if not HUghes will be fine. Tomko and Kennedy are also viable options.
There you have it.
