Sox bring back Pedro Martinez
The Red Sox did not bring a star pitcher to the front end of the rotation, but they did bring a star pitcher to serve as a coach and mentor. That pitcher is the great Pedro Martinez.
Martinez is treated like royalty in Boston and for good reason. He has a 117-37 record with the Sox and helped them en route to their 2004 World Series title. While his pitching days are over, he is playing a crucial role in shaping the Sox’ pitching staff.
For Pedro, coming back wasn’t just about missing baseball. He said he missed the Sox organization, and watching them suffer through last season was too painful to bear. So now he’s back and ready to help in any way he can.
“There’s nothing you can do from in front of your TV,” Martinez said. “Sometimes, the few games that I stopped to watch at Fenway, it was painful to see that the chemistry wasn’t there, that the team wasn’t doing what they were supposed to. I was trying to be optimistic about the team staying together all year. That never happened. I know that is one of the biggest reasons the team didn’t perform to the level everybody expected.”
Martinez has been assigned to watch over the development of Felix Doubront in addition to monitoring the entire pitching staff. Doubront shows great promise, but his immaturity and poor attitude tend to get the best of him. The hope with him is that Martinez can impart some of his wisdom to the young lefty and help him on his way to a long and successful career with the Sox.
Pedro has been friendly to the media, and as always he dropped a few humorous anecdotes for the books along with his professional opinion of the Sox.
Pedro hit 77 batters while with the Sox, and so now that his career is over the media wanted to know how may of those were intentional. Pedro didn’t miss a beat with his answer, claiming he intentionally hit 90 percent of them.
Pedro is a character, one of the idiots of 2004 who hopes to make a difference in 2013. While his playing days are over, he can still make an impact by teaching the young pitchers some of the things that made him so great. Just don’t expect him on the mound anytime soon.
“No, no, no. No chance.” Pedro said when jokingly asked whether he’d return as a player.
