Pedro Martinez

It seems to me that Pedro Martinez is a victim of his own success. So far this season Pedro has started three games and have averaged better than 6 innings in each start. Sure his ERA isn't that great (4.82 - 67th best in MLB) but does anyone doubt that by the end of the season Pedro's ERA won't be below 3.20? Pedro is in much better shape than the "Aces" of the two closest AL East competitors (Mike Mussina and Sidney Ponson) but somehow the concern for those two pitchers doesn't come close to the concern surrounding Pedro.

People hold the conflicting expectations that A.) Pedro should be unhittable each time he takes the mound and B.) Pedro is a fragile pitcher whose next start may be his last. People hold the idea that Pedro should be unhittable because since he's come to Boston he has been (for the most part). Pedro has been an incredible 102 - 29 in his six seasons with the Red Sox (a winning percentage of .779). However, Pedro missed much of 2001 with shoulder trouble and now he can't get into the high 90's with his fastball (even including 2001 when he missed most of the season - Pedro has averaged 16.8 wins and 4.7 losses for the Sox).

Can you imagine what the doomsaying scribes in Boston would be writing today if the situations of Pedro and Nomar Garciappara were reversed? Nomar has been out with an achilles injury. If Pedro had the same injury - all you would hear is how fragile the guy is and that the Red Sox should think twice about signing him (even though we are talking about arguably the best pitcher in the game and a first ballot Hall of Famer). Nomar missed a larger percentage of 2001 with his own injury and since returning - he too has yet to return to the incredible high of previous year's performances. Somehow though - Nomar remains the guy that "has" to be resigned instead of Pedro.