Have Fun With That Yap

CNNSI is carrying an AP story about an interview Pedro Martinez did with the Boston Herald.  To sum up what they’ve titled “Burning Bridges”, Martinez criticizes Red Sox management, specifically calls General Manager Theo Epstein “arrogant”, says he’s better than Curt Schilling and he said he’d like the Mets to sign Jason Varitek and move Mike Piazza somewhere else.

Here’s the Boston Herald article: Pedro pitches his side—Ace explains move to NY Mets

This is going to be fun because if/when the Mets are a losing team again Pedro is going to start to run his mouth, and he won’t be treated any nicer in Queens than he is in the Bronx.

One has to wonder: where’s all the “he won’t be the same in the National League” junk we heard when Clemens went to the Astros?  I realize, of course, Martinez has pitched in the NL before, but he’s been plunking more batters for the Red Sox.  Since 1998, when Martinez went Boston, only two players have hit more batters.  Tim Wakefield and Kerry Wood have each hit 78 batters, 1 more than Martinez (Clemens has 36 in the same time frame if you’re curious).  But one thing Wakefield and Wood, and even Clemens, have in common - they all have more walks and wild pitches than Martinez.  That and you just watch him throughout the year and it’s not hard to tell - he hits more batters on purpose.  Now, I’m not judging that as a good or a bad thing.  Some think you should never, ever purposely hit a guy; others call it old school depending on the situation.  You can say Martinez throws at someone at the appropriate time - but that’s not the point here - it’s simply that Clemens, having less than half of hit batters as Martinez since Martinez as been in the AL, was given heat that he wouldn’t pitch the same way in the NL - where is that for Martinez?  IMO, Clemens didn’t change his approach at all, and I don’t think Martinez will either, I’m just pointing out one of the differences in media reactions about each pitcher changing leagues.

Posted by David M Singer on Dec 17, 2004 at 05:12 PM

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