Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Pedro Won't Start Contract Talks
"Pedro Martinez, who's four-year, $53 million deal expires at the end of this season, told the New York Daily News on Tuesday that he will not initiate contract talks with the Mets until the season is over. However, he would be willing to talk if the team expressed interest. "If they approach me, that's fine. But I'm very content," Martinez said. "I'm very satisfied with the way they have treated me here. They have my respect regardless of whether they offer me (an extension) or not, or I have to go somewhere else." General manager Omar Minaya seems to be taking a wait-and-see approach to the situation, saying "Let's see how the year goes. As the year goes along we'll make an evaluation. It's only fair after he only pitched a month last year."
To me the Mets HAVE to re-sign Pedro for at least one more year. As of this moment the only players who could be part of the rotation next year are Johan Santana, John Maine, and Mike Pelfrey. El Duque, Oliver Perez, and Pedro are all free agents. Pedro is only 36 and should still have 2-4 more good years left in him. As we saw before the injury and at the end of last year Pedro does not have to throw 97 mph to get outs. He has shown he knows how to pitch and should come back to the Mets for 2 years at $8-1 1 million per.
