Pedro's surgery cuts both ways
For all the lamentations and vitriol over losing Pedro Martínez, and all the back-and-forth over who was right and who was wrong in allowing one of the greatest pitchers in Red Sox history to leave, in the end, the Sox were right.
Sox doctors knew what the Mets doctors knew: Martínez's rotator cuff was hanging by a thread. From the moment he left the Sox and signed a lucrative four-year deal with the Mets, there was a tick, tick, tick emanating from Martínez's right shoulder.
Yesterday the news came that Martínez will undergo surgery this week, and, obviously, miss the Mets' playoff run.
Based on the timetables of pitchers who have faced similar rehabilitation, it should take a full calendar year for the righthander to return. Martínez will likely not pitch for the Mets in '07.
The Mets are giving an eight-month timetable for his return, which would make him available around the All-Star break, but that appears to be very optimistic, according to a team source.
``I feel for him," said Sox catcher Jason Varitek. ``That's not what he was looking for. He works so hard to stay in shape. That's a shame. I hope he comes back strong."
``Our thoughts are with Pedro. We wish him a speedy recovery," said Sox general manager Theo Epstein.
Two years ago, barely two months after the World Series victory, the team's thoughts were also with Pedro, but for different reasons. He was a free agent looking for a long-term deal. The Sox didn't give it to him and Martínez left and signed a four-year, $53 million deal with the Mets.
The problem with the decision made by the Sox is that they didn't replace him well. They signed David Wells and Matt Clement, both of whom have had physical maladies.
The problem with the Mets' decision to sign him at all is that they hoped for an initial splash, which they got. But now that they have their best team in years, their top pitcher is out of the playoffs and most of next season.
Why would the Mets, based on all of the medical evidence, go the extra mile with Martínez? Did they feel there would be divine intervention or they could ``manage" his shoulder woes? Or did they feel they could get him through the playoffs this year, then deal with a potential rotator cuff injury? We'll probably never know. But we do know all the fears the Sox expressed over Martínez's shoulder have been realized.
The Mets likely will put their spin on it. But the fact is, according to those in the Red Sox organization who would know, Martínez's shoulder could have gone at any time.
``In my conversation with Pedro, he just said to me that he felt something different in his shoulder that last game," Mets general manager Omar Minaya said. ``I never heard that before then."
Mets doctors David Altchek and Struan Coleman and former Red Sox doctor William Morgan will perform the procedure at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan this week.
Morgan was sought for a second opinion by Martínez after the Mets' doctors made their finding Friday. ``We had an exam of the legs [for a torn tendon in his left calf], and later on we had an exam of the shoulder," Minaya said. ``You can go rehab it, but it was fairly clear that the best course of action was to get surgery done on this."
Besides the calf issues, he also had right toe discomfort and he had a problem with his hip this season. But did the injuries alter his delivery to the point where his shoulder was injured?
``I'm not telling you this is what happened with Pedro," Minaya said, ``but a lot of times when guys have problems with their lower halves -- and Pedro has had a year with a toe and other things -- sometimes guys compensate. Is this that case that happened with Pedro? I don't know."
Even former Mets assistant general manager Jim Duquette, now the executive vice president of the Orioles, recalled members of team management holding their breath after Martínez's shoulder exam before his signing.
``We high-fived, hugged, whatever, because we were all excited," Duquette recalled during the 2005 season. ``But it was all contingent upon the physical. You heard all these whispers, `Well, he's got a tear,' or whatever. Obviously, we were a little concerned."
The other issue is whether Martínez, 35 next month, might retire. ``There's no doubt he's disappointed," Minaya said.
It explains why Martínez was crying in the dugout two starts ago. It explains why he had nothing on his pitches and was a shadow of himself in pitching 2 2/3 innings vs. Atlanta last Wednesday. The Mets will have to put their faith in Orlando Hernandez, Tom Glavine, and Steve Trachsel and hope their lineup can outbash the opponent in the playoffs.
Martínez slapped the Sox around pretty well in the days after he signed with the Mets. He thought the Sox were exaggerating the condition of his shoulder. He vowed he'd find someone to give him the length of contract he wanted and he did.
The way he pitched at times the past two years, the Sox seemed to have egg on their face. He went 15-8 with a 2.82 ERA in 31 starts in '05, and was 9-8 with a career-worst 4.48 ERA this year in 23 starts. Now the Mets owe him another $27 million through the '08 season. And who knows what type of pitcher he'll be when he does return.
One Sox official was saddened by the news: ``That's too bad. Pedro is still very much loved by the people here who knew him and played with him. We certainly didn't want anything to happen to Pedro, but to be honest, we're not surprised. We knew there'd be a chance that his shoulder wouldn't hold up for more than a year. I think it actually held up longer than we thought. But probably not as long as the Mets thought."
Who knows, maybe there were Sox officials giving each other high-fives all around Yawkey Way last night. Other than the return last night of Manny Ramírez, there isn't much for Sox brass to get excited about it. They have had the equivalent of a shutout. Virtually every move they made this season turned out horribly.
But when it came to a purely medical decision on Martínez, give them credit. They hit a grand slam. And the Mets are left to explain what's next .
