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November 26, 2008 Latest Mets News Joe Janish

Mets May Re-Sign Pedro

During an interview on XM Radio earlier today, Omar Minaya acknowledged that there were “discussions” with Pedro Martinez and that there is a possibility the Mets will bring Pedro back in 2009.

At the same time, Minaya was non-committal, and somewhat evasive. From his comments, it sounds like the plan is to explore many / all other starting pitching options before talks with Pedro get serious.

In other words, don’t expect to see Pedro sign with the Mets until later in the offseason. Whether Martinez will wait and see is another story — I imagine he can get a big-league deal with someone like the Nationals if he wants to pitch. But I get the feeling he would prefer to pitch for a team that has a chance to be a contender — in which case he may have to accept an incentive-laden, minor-league deal.

Personally, I’m just happy the Mets are considering Pedro, even if it is as a last resort.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. Timo November 26, 2008 at 2:27 pm
    I would take this deal. The free agent market is no that great. It’s filled with alot of “OLD” players. I much rather sign this old player because he’ll give us some spunk in the club house.
  2. joe November 26, 2008 at 2:31 pm
    Agreed. The Mets are already void of any personality in the clubhouse. Pedro is engaging, quotable, great with the press, a fan favorite, is a winner, owns a World Series ring, and is a great teammate.

    Aren’t the Mets trying to GET, rather than let go, these type of players?

  3. sincekindergarten November 28, 2008 at 3:53 pm
    One more thing, Joe–Pedro is a mentor. Remember that he talked to Mike Pelfrey on a plane trip from SF to SD, and Big Pelf almost immediately started throwing with more confidence. He would have talked to Ollie, too, on the same trip, but Ollie was immersed in his PSP or GameBoy or whatever handheld game system he had. Ollie’s talk had to wait until Ollie stunk up the joint his next start.

    Just as I said that David Weathers would be a great acquisition for Omar based on his mentoring possibilities to young guys like Joe Smith, Bobby Parnell, and Eddie Kunz, the things that Pedro could bring to the table for Big Pelf’s continued development, plus John Maine and (maybe) Jon Niese, would make him easily worth bringing back.

  4. joe November 29, 2008 at 12:10 am
    Good point, SK. I think I’ve written one or two posts extolling the virtues of Pedro’s “off the field” contributions, but it’s always worth repeating.

    As much as I like Dan Warthen, I like having Pedro around as a “second pitching coach”.