|
|
|
In the latest edition of 1st Person with SNY, Pedro Martinez and Johan Santana explain what it means to be a mentor.
To watch Martinez and Santana, click here: 
In the segment, Martinez says:
“The first thing I try to do is get them loose, I try to make them feel comfortable. I don’t mislead anybody, and I make them feel like they can approach me at any time…In some sense, that’s just the way I am, I like to exchange with every body and, you know, have fun out there.”
…we’ll never know, but i can’t help but wonder how last season would have played out had pedro been with the club all year long…by the end, when things really got out of hand, and he returned, his presence may have been too little too late…had he been there from day one, his attitude, energy and desire to win may have been enough to keep things on track…but, like i said, i guess we’ll never know…
I always thought Pedro and perhaps Floyd were missing ingredients last year. Then when Pedro came back, and the team collapsed instead of going on a roll, I was very surprised that he didn’t have more of an impact. I hope it’s as Matt suggests — that a full year of Pedro will make a difference. Maybe when he did come back at the end of 2007, he felt he couldn’t be the leader he wanted to be because he hadn’t been with the team most of the year.
Santana will be valuable not only because he can mentor the younger pitchers, but he has a very confident attitude which I think will rub off on the rest of them.