There are players you follow as a fan, players you only get to know from a distance. Some may come of as one dimensional through no fault of their own — they are after all solely and perhaps obsessively devoted to their craft with a single minded devotion. They almost have to be this way in order to succeed at the highest level. It’s a function of the remarkable demands that a baseball career can put on a young player … there’s really not much time for extra currriculars.
There are exceptions, players who have managed to cultivate interests outside of the game. Bronson Aroyo and R.A. Dickey certainly fit this profile. Pedro Martinez is another … A player who was more than just a pitcher. A competitor whose intellect informed his considerable physical talents, converging to make him a weapon like no other.
Mets fans were lucky enough to have him on their team for several seasons. Pedro was the key acquisition in a resurgence that propelled the Mets to within one pitch of the World Series in 2006. He gave the Mets legitimacy that compelled several other free agents to sign.
I was always a fan of Pedro the pitcher, but I had my doubts about Pedro the person considering he had a certain reputation — most notably his high and tight tendencies … Pedro was also the guy who threw Don Zimmer to the ground. People who didn’t know Pedro saw a young athlete throw and old man to the ground. People who knew better understood Pedro was put in an impossible position. It is interesting now to read about just how much he regretted that incident, still you have to consider, what was he to do? The guy did after all charge him.
Pedro was nothing like the person I believed him to be. Turns out he was not only intelligent, but witty and insightful and very funny. He also exuded some surprising trait, he came off as a very kind person and he above all seemed to be profoundly honorable. Almost hard to imagine him as the ruthless and exacting ace, surgically slicing up a hitter’s weaknesses, retiring one major league batter after another with a knack for getting into the opposition’s head. He was nothing like this off the mound and I think that was what a lot of people didn’t understand.
The Mets were so very close to winning it all in 2006. The perception persists that the 2006 Mets were the best team in baseball. The one piece missing down the stretch and in the playoffs was a legitimate ace and the Mets missed Pedro more than anyone else.
This morning Tyler Kepner of the New York Times reviewed Martinz’s new book, “Pedro.” There are some, lets say surprising excerpts. There was an exchange between Pedro and Jeff Wilpon in 2005 over a toe injury. Apparently Pedro felt he was too hurt to pitch, Willie Randolph, the Mets Manager, planned to shut him down for the year, but Jeff Wilpon intervened.
“’While I’m the boss here, you’re going to have to do what I say,’ Wilpon said, according to Martinez, who gave in and pitched.
He lost the game, which drew 25,093 fans, and said the injury prolonged the toe problem. Other parts of his body broke down the next season, and Martinez was inactive for the Mets’ run to Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series.”
“I couldn’t help but think about how when I was healthy in 2005, our team wasn’t that good,” Martinez writes. “But as my health declined, I was urged to pitch a meaningless game at the end of 2005 that wound up shortening my recovery time for 2006 and led me to a hospital where doctors performed a three-hour arthroscopic procedure to repair my shoulder.”
In a statement through a spokesman, Wilpon denied that he told Martinez to pitch hurt.
“Pedro was always a great competitor and deserving of being in the Hall of Fame,” the statement said. “This particular excerpt in the book is false as those kinds of decisions have always been put in the hands of our baseball people.”
Martinez said in the interview that he did not blame Wilpon.
“When you’re going to get hurt, you’re going to get hurt,” he said. “I don’t have anybody to blame but probably myself for not listening to my body. I think I was brave to pitch games, but I think I took it to extremes that day.”
“I was paid to pitch, so I went and did that,” he said. “I did it whenever you asked me, whenever I could. I wanted to do it for as long as I could, and that was my limit.”
There’s not much else to say here.
I think that regardless of Jeff’s denials (it’s getting old and the damage control apparatus keeps getting more transparent with every spin-cycle), there are a couple of things it’s fair to conclude.
There is almost no reason for Pedro to make this claim had it not actually happened … A pitcher’s mechanics can be thrown off by the smallest of issues and a foot issue can certainly alter a windup. Even in the event the above exchange with Jeff Wilpon didn’t occur, Pedro clearly must have no love lost towards the owner’s son, knowing precisely how this would further erode an already beyond repair reputation. Either way, it keeps getting harder and harder to come to Jeff’s defense.
I said it when Sandy Alderson was hired, I said it during the Steve Kettmann interview, and I say it again. Regardless of Alderson’s ability as a General Manager, his greatest contribution to the Mets may very well be his ability to effectively intercede between baseball operations and Jeff Wilpon.
Through whatever clout or military bearing or natural leadership and authority or MLB connections this man has at his disposal, he is not someone I imagine Jeff Wilpon barking orders at … I think Sandy has successfully put some space (probably through his connections to Bud Selig) between Jeff Wilpon and the Mets’ decision making apparatus and therein lies the greatest hope this organization has had since the Wilpon’s took over sole control of the Mets.
It’s frightening to think, even with what looks like a promising future and a restocked farm system, what could happen when and if Alderson moves on. You get the sense that Jeff Wilpon will eventually take the reins from his dad, and when he does we all have to wonder what will happen. People do change, people mellow with age and sometimes experience helps … but this particular executive has shown repeatedly that he is not only incompetent, but remarkably lacking in foresight and judgment.
Is it all a big lie? Is Jeff really just a misunderstood owner who has always had nothing but good intentions? Anything is possible … but with every allegation, with every leak and every indiscretion, with every report reaffirming the perception that Jeff Wilpon has a knack for making a mess of things, it gets harder to come to his defense, and, just as importantly, it gets harder for the Mets to overcome the perception among colleagues and players and fans, that they are run by a flawed and ineffective ownership group.
