R.I.P. Pedro Martinez 1997-2004
f somebody came up to me 1.5 years ago and told me that Pedro Martinez and Nomar Garciaparra would be playing for National League teams you'd have given me a mighty good chuckle. These two guys were the Boston Red Sox. It's beyond strange and a brave new world with them gone, the curse gone, and a WS championship finally underneath our belts again.
I trust Theo, however, this winter has been as cold as it could get, excluding of course, the fact that we just won the World Series. I'll write more on that in my next entry though. For now, I want to focus on the late great Pedro Martinez.
I was arguing on a message board yesterday about Pedro's standing during his tenure as Boston Red Sox. And folks, as bold as this may sound, I have him being the best pitcher in our long franchise history. This is way open to debate and the comparison of different eras is always a hard battle to fight. Plus, a lot of Sox fans like to take shots at our former stars when they're on their way out the door. It's easy to do that. It's easy to say how he was a diva, a distraction, over the hill, etc. However, anyone can look at the negatives in a person, fogetting the good is a bad and dangerous trait.
All I know is his "off year" last season was still better then most MLB pitchers. The newest buzz thing to say about Pedro is he's a "6-inning" pitcher. Please, chew on these 2004 facts. 6th in the AL in innings pitched at (217.0), 8th in the AL in games started (33), & 2nd in the AL with strikeouts (227). That makes for more then 1 strikeout per inning. Hmmmmm...I don't get it. I understand he's not 1999 Pedro (we'll get to him), but he's in a transition period, and he will be a good pitcher 3 years down the road. Again people, my opinion, those numbers are impressive though.
Now back to my absurd assumption that Petey is the best pitcher in franchise history. In the late 90's early 00's no one in the league was even close to being in his class. It was the most impressive stretch by any pitcher arguably ever. Walter Johnson may be valid, and Nolan had a long beautiful career, however, his pitching during that time was just magical. It was like watching Jordan, with him putting up immortal like performances.
Again, you can't compare time periods, but that's just what I'm going to do. Another thing to notice is that Pedro pitched in an era where most players were juiced up on steroids*, and he still dominated. His performance during the past 7 years for the Sox have been A+ material. Look at these stats I compiled on http://www.baseball-reference.com comparing him and other great Sox pitchers during their time with the Sox.
Cy Young 1901-1908 ERA 2.18 Games 304 Wins 192 Losses 112 Winning % 0.632
Smokin' Joe Wood 1908-1915 ERA 1.80 160 Games Wins 115 Losses 55 Winning % 0.719
Mel Parnell 1947-1956 ERA 3.50 288 Games Wins 123 Losses 75 Winning % 0.621
Louis Tiant 1971-1978 ERA 3.49 203 Games Wins 122 Losses 81 Winnng % 0.601
Bill Lee 1969-1978 ERA 3.88 162 Games WIns 94 Losses 68 Winning % 0.582
Pedro Martinez 1998-2004 ERA 2.50 154 Games Wins 117 Losses 37 Winning % 0.760
Pedro basically won 8/10 games he pitched for the Red Sox and held a real low ERA of .250 in this modern age of the longball*. Kick him all you want on the way out, but he deserves what he states most, respect. If you look at his numbers compared to his peers, you'll see again his dominance. He may not be 1999 dominant anymore, but he's still Pedro dominant.
Thanks for your time Petey, thanks for the W.S. Championship, and here's to drilling the Bambino in the ass.
