Evan needed a quick fill-in post for today, so here it is.
Last night, a friend of mine and I sat down to watch Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS (one of the five or six best postseason games ever played, at least in my opinion) and wound up having a decent-sized conversation about Pedro Martinez; his brilliance, first of all, and then his new contract. For the record, Pedro posted a 2.82 ERA and a 148 ERA+ last season for the Mets, going 15-8 with 208 K’s and 47 walks in 217 innings. He made slightly under $11 million in 2005, the first year of a backloaded contract that will eventually pay him $53 million over 4 years (an AAV of $13.25). He is 34 years old, with injury concerns; nevertheless, only once in his career as a starter has he failed to throw 185 or more innings, and he’s thrown at least 210 in 7 of his last 10 seasons.
After the championship season of 2004, the Red Sox decided to avoid giving Pedro the 4th guaranteed year that Minaya offered him. Had they done so, there’s no way to know where Martinez would be now, or how his last year would have progressed. In subsequent offseasons, pitchers like Carl Pavano, Kevin Millwood, and AJ Burnett have received contracts quite close in value to Pedro’s.
So, given all that, and knowing what you know now, I offer the following as a discussion topic:
Should we have resigned Pedro Martinez at the cost of 4 years, $53 million?
Enjoy.
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