Pedro Martinez Rejects Several Offers for Return, Enjoying Life at Home
Three-time Cy Young award winner and future Hall-of-Famer Pedro Martinez has been hearing offers for several weeks from teams in search of an ace. Martinez certainly has one of the most impressive resumes in baseball, and that has attracted many offers, but Martinez has said that while offers have been tempting, he does not plan to pitch in 2010.
"Very tempting," he said. "But I have already committed to my kids for the rest of the year and going on vacations, and made plans already with the family."
Martinez returned to action last year when he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in July and went 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA to close the season, and pitched two games in the World Series.
The 38-year-old showed last year that he still can pitch and can provide some help to a team in need of a pitcher down the stretch. Dodgers Manager Joe Torre, who knows Martinez very well, stated: "He knows his body. I think if he felt that he wanted to do it, and that he could do it, that he'd come back if something made sense for him."
Martinez admitted that he does miss pitching, but he is enjoying time at home in the Domenican Republic: “It feels real good to be able to be at home and get to hug mom every time you want, see her every time you want," he said. "To be able to go to the baseball field and see your kids playing is really something."
Martinez has had an unbelievable career as a member of five different teams. He began his career as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers before being traded to the Montreal Expos. He was considered too small to be a major league pitcher despite the early promise he showed.
He had several great years in Montreal but was inexplicably traded following a Cy Young award-winning season in 1997. He declared at the time that he would still like to finish his career in Montreal, but the team moving to Washington to become the Nationals in 2005 prevented that from happening.
The pitching ace then spent seven great seasons with the Red Sox, capping it off with a World Series championship in 2004.
He signed with the New York Mets following that season for four years before joining the Phillies in 2009. He is now enjoying his nice long vacation. He is happy with what he has been doing this year.
"I do miss competing, being out there - the atmosphere, I do miss it," he said. "Some other things I don't miss: the media and the pressure of just being asked to do, and being asked questions every day. And actually just the load, six months just working, not being able to stop, not being able to really do anything or behave like a normal person."
Martinez will certainly be considered for the Hall of Fame when he does officially retire. In his 18-year career, he has compiled a record of 219-100 along with a 2.93 ERA. He has also won the ERA title five times and three strikeout crowns on top of his three Cy Young awards: "I haven't really stopped to see what kind of numbers I have, but I think I have a chance, a legit chance," he said. "Some of the things I've done are really special."
Off the field, Pedro Martinez is like any normal man, as we saw in his days off from pitching on the bench throughout his career. Pedro on the mound and Pedro off the mound are two different sides of the man: "To me it was a great honour to have 60,000 people just chanting my name, in favour or against. It doesn't matter. I made a difference," he said. "I'm not a baseball player when I'm not pitching - I'm a goofball. I'm a normal man. I'll sit on any block."
That certainly wasn’t the case when Martinez would pitch: "That's business," he said. "I'm in a jungle, and I consider myself a lion. So I'm going to kill you if I'm hungry. And I was always hungry to win."
Pedro Martinez should not be ruled out from pitching in the majors again. He can help out a team missing one ingredient from winning a World Series and undeniably deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame.
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