Quote: Pedro is Trickology

August 22, 2008 at 9:57 am · 33 comments

by Matthew Cerrone

Last night against the Braves, Pedro Martinez pitched in to the eighth inning for the first time this season, while letting up four runs and seven hits.

Jerry Manuel, regarding Martinez, while speaking to reporters before last night’s win:

“I think Pedro has the gift of instincts, probably the greatest instincts of any pitcher in our era…Knowing how, when and what to do outweighs talent at times, but eventually talent catches up…When Bobby Cox had Greg Maddux, he’d throw 80-something pitches and go pretty deep – but then he didn’t want to send him through the lineup another time.  Pedro is getting there. At some point, where does his trickology go from there?”

Since returning from the disabled list on August 1, Martinez has a 3.16 ERA in five starts, during which the Mets are 2–3.

He has pitched at least seven innings in each of last two starts.

{ 33 comments }

hbean August 22, 2008 at 10:01 am

Pedro wont come up with the 12-15 wins I was personally predicting on the season, but if he can be this solid for the rest of the year, we’ll be in good shape!

Nate W. August 22, 2008 at 11:14 am

There is a nice, light article on the Cyclones website about Brooklyn’s Pedro P. Martinez (no relation) coming to Shea and meeting Pedro.

http://www.brooklyncyclones.com/news/topstories/index.html?article_id=553

Jaded1983 August 22, 2008 at 10:06 am

ugh, another long thought out post that isnt showing up.

CitizenSnips August 22, 2008 at 10:24 am

You too? I dunno if it’s the censor or what but I can do short posts just not ones I actually spend time typing.

Jaded1983 August 22, 2008 at 10:28 am

yea exactly! i take great care to not use any foul language or anything (especially since this is a sports blog and little kids can be reading)

i wrote out a whole post about signing ollie and resigning pedro while also signing pavano to a minor league deal etc etc but its not showing up…ugh

atlantasnumber1metsfan August 22, 2008 at 10:29 am

I was actually thinking about this the other day.
I think signing Pavano to a minor league contract, or even an incentive laden major league contract would be a great idea….Although lets see what he does tomorrow, he might completely implode…

Jaded1983 August 22, 2008 at 10:32 am

good point. my rational in my vanishing post was signing pedro as the 5th starter for a year or two. sign pavano to a minor league deal to see how he holds up. if pedro gets injured you can bring up a veteran to take his spot, or if he is a bust you still have niese and parnell too. just a thought, but hey, why not?

Gina August 22, 2008 at 10:35 am

Eh that makes us too dependent on injury prone players IMO. I’d rather spend the money for a guy like Garland, especially with Maine’s struggles, we need someone who can consistently go 6-7 innings.

CitizenSnips August 22, 2008 at 10:37 am

Garland/Burnett would be an interesting option. I don’t really want Sabathia for a) the money that he’s going to demand and b) the Brewers are ruining his arm.

Gina August 22, 2008 at 10:44 am

I agree about Sabathia, and I feel the same way about K-rod, even if he is young, too big of injury risks for the money they’ll be asking for.

Gina August 22, 2008 at 10:45 am

Also Burnett has an option, and from what I understand it’s likely the Jays will pick it up.

Jaded1983 August 22, 2008 at 11:02 am

i know he is injury prone, but signing him to a minor league deal is a great idea. if he gets hurt, or doesnt perform, then so what?

he knows the best he is looking at next year is a minor year deal or a 1yr major league contract at the league minimum. what if he is next years kyle lohse? what if he isnt? cant hurt to try right? heck, you could even potentially throw him in the pen!

Gina August 22, 2008 at 11:13 am

He’s not the only injury risk Pedro is as well, and at this point Maine is sort of a mystery. So why spend money on adding more question marks when we can go out and get a more sure thing, even if we pick up Delgado’s option we have like 35+ million coming off the books. There’s really no excuse for us to put be back into a position where we’re having to rely on retreads and waiting for guys who are on and off the injury list. And where our bullpen is worn out by July because our starters come out of games so early. Bringing back basically the same rotation, which is what we’d be doing except I guess you could say we’d be replacing El Duque with Pavano, would be doing just that.

Deadpanwalking August 22, 2008 at 11:55 am

I had a post banish comparing Delgado to David Milch. I wonder why it disappeared? I did use the slightly more vulgar word for donkey. Would that have caused it?

metphan August 22, 2008 at 10:14 am

I think we need to check the facts on Delgados contract. I’m pretty sure it’s 16 million with a 4 million buyout, meaning effective cost of 12 million.

NYMetsGrrl94 August 22, 2008 at 10:15 am

the marlins are paying 4 million so that would leave the mets with 8 million

Jaded1983 August 22, 2008 at 10:15 am

marlins pay 4mm of that

The Slider August 22, 2008 at 10:16 am

If he continues to hit like this, I’m on board. Also, what are our other options?

Gina August 22, 2008 at 10:24 am

It’s only 16 if he reaches certain incentives, which there’s like 0% chance he will, it’s 12 million otherwise, with the same 4 million buyout. Also the Marlins are paying 4 million this year not next.

Nate W. August 22, 2008 at 11:17 am

hey someone who did thier homework!

A for you, D- for the rest… :P

NewYMets August 22, 2008 at 10:14 am

Trickology… nice

The Slider August 22, 2008 at 10:15 am

In Pedro We Trust.

The man is a maestro out on the mound. If Beltran had not been playing center field almost on the warning track (he was playing “shallow” on that play according to Gary Cohen), he would have caught that blood single off the end of Escobar’s bat and Pedro would have only given up three runs in 7 innings.

bittergreen August 22, 2008 at 10:18 am

If the Mets make the playoffs who is our starting 3 for the Wildcard?

Johan is a lock for game 1.

Maine is most likely to sit in the bullpen.

Do you pitch Pedro ahead of Pelf or Ollie? And does Johan come back for a game 4?

And I’d almost rather match up against the Cubbies in the playoffs then the possibility of seeing Sabathia/Sheets/Suppan/Sabathia/Sheets in a 5 game series?

grotesmask August 22, 2008 at 10:21 am

No, you want Pedro to be the fourth.

NewYMets August 22, 2008 at 10:31 am

Can we not play this game until we’re a little bit further ahead in the standings?

Hasn’t anyone learned a lesson from last year, when we all started putting together the post-season rotation in june?

BaltimoreMets August 22, 2008 at 10:34 am

I don’t think I would be excited to see any combination of Sabathia/Sheets, Zambrano/Harden, or Webb/Haren four times over a 5-game series.

jamie August 22, 2008 at 12:00 pm

for sure…there’s gonna be some crazy good pitching in the playoffs (esp if we make it).

Nate W. August 22, 2008 at 11:21 am

Its too early to do this but…
If things started today you would skip Maine and Pedro, and they havent been that bad its just the other three have been so good.

Pedro would be the best at handling a long layoff and then pitching twice in the NLCS, and Maine would be a great long man unless he can get it back up to 6-7 innings a start.

Pelfrey running out of steam could be a factor when they actually have to pick the rotation.

Gina August 22, 2008 at 11:23 am

I think at this point we’re almost guaranteed to play the “loser” of the NL Central, if we make the play-offs unless one of the west teams just takes off.

thingshappen August 22, 2008 at 1:44 pm

As of now it is my opinion that the top thre should be Santana, Perez, and Pelf.
And then a toss up between Main and Pedro who would be the 4th starter.
And of course the other guy stays in the pen.,

grotesmask August 22, 2008 at 10:18 am

let’s face it, Pedro cannot always dominate, but rarely will he get shelled. Last night was an excellent example of him being good enough to keep us in the game even while blowing a two-run lead.

From time to time, he’ll give us a masterful performance if he stays healthy.

Put it this way: if we make the playoffs, I can think of few pitchers I’d rather have in there.

Get ‘em Pedro!

thingshappen August 22, 2008 at 1:51 pm

Yes I do agree that Pedro still may improve from here on in (he is still not fully recovered) to be as close to what he original was.

Actually I do feel that he will show us that he will be worth while staying with the club for another year or two.

And I am sure he will not demand a top salary to be on the team. I feel that he loves his life playing for the Mets, and would like to continue it for a few more years.

jamie August 22, 2008 at 12:04 pm

I was thinking sometime in the fourth inning or so last night what a genuine pleasure it is to watch pedro pitch. The man’s an artist. I really hope he stays healthy, and has another 500 innings left in him in a Mets uni.

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