Charlie Klein
From the team that has brought the sporting world the ugliest mascot in MLB comes another equally bad move, with the Philadelphia Phillies signing Pedro Martinez to a one year, one million dollar contract on July 16, 2009.
The best part about this signing is that Pedro is not even ready to start immediately after signing with the team. The Phillies placed Martinez on the 15-day disabled list following his medical. It really does not make too much sense why Pedro would be hurt considering he has not been up to much these past few months. When he gives up four homeruns in his first start at Citizen's Bank, do not be too surprised.
The motives for the move are understandable. The team with the most losses in MLB history has a serious lack of depth in terms of starting pitching, one which Phillies GM Ruben Amaro needed to address. That being said, is a 37 year-old Martinez the answer? The survey says.... NO!
Many people in the baseball world are singing the praises of the Phillies for taking a flyer on Pedro. And yet as Peter Pasquarelli said on ESPN Radio this morning there has to be a reason why none of the other teams in baseball were fighting for Pedro's signature. It's not as if the Phillies know something the rest of the teams do not. They are simply the most desperate and made the lazy move of signing Martinez.
Martinez is not the same pitcher he was when he played for the Red Sox and not the hurler he was during the first few years he spent with the New York Mets. His fastball does not clock in over 90 mph and he has had issues with his control. As a No. 5 starter he will not be bad, but he will not be the needed improvement for the Philadelphia Phillies rotation that Amaro needs to make.
There are plenty of other teams that could use another starting pitcher, including Martinez's former team in Flushing. The fact that the Mets did not even consider re-signing St. Pedro should be proof enough. The Mets really could use anyone who can throw over 80 mph, Danny Almonte, where are you now?
The Phillies are the same team that have only won two World Series in 126 years after all. And I do not expect them to make it three this year.
once again we have an illegitimate hater... if you knew your history, you would know that the philadelphia phillies have the same amount of championships as all three of your FAVORITE teams combined. So they have 10k plus losses. big deal. fact is the mets have two championships, nationals have none, and the seattle mariners have zero. so the score is 2-2... and the phillies have one in my lifetime, 2008.. what a great feeling. when you are 20 years old and the mets won their last series in 1986, and you have known suck-cess your whole life, there really isn't much to talk about. And PED-BLOW doesn't even make sense or come out of the mouth right..Blow-han is much better...phils aren't looking for pedro to be a savior like the mets were, paying him top dollar. ithe only reason they acted as though he had shoulder stiffness to put him on the dl is so they could save the spot on the roster until he is ready to return. its not like they signed him to a 4-year, $53 million contract to which they will have to eat a whole bunch of cash...that was some other inept organization that thinks that any player who hails from a latino country is the next roberto clemente. and i bet that if a couple of teams would've feigned interest in pedro earlier in the season, the mets would have been sure to sign him to ridiculous contract.
ReplyDeleteha ha ha. this is why I was telling you to write for the blog! even though I obviously disagree.
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