pedro martinez
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News Archive for November 2001
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November 12, 2001
Baseball Notes
Gordon Edes, Boston Globe
And if you haven’t read it already, check out, ”1918: Babe Ruth and the World Champion Boston Red Sox” by Allan Wood, which asks, among other tantalizing questions, whether the fix was in the year before the Black Sox scandal.
More of him
Will McDonough, Boston Globe
Pedro is getting bigger. This was the observation of the Red Sox medical team last week when they traveled to Florida to meet up with ace pitcher Pedro Martinez. Dr. Bill Morgan reportedly found that Martinez was 10 pounds heavier than when he left Boston last September with an ailing right (pitching) shoulder. Martinez was told he should get on a program to strengthen the muscle in the area around his damaged rotator cuff. By bulking up through his chest and back, he can use these muscles to take some of the strain away from the rotator cuff. … Also, he reportedly backed away from some of the harsh criticism he had for the Sox and team management, as published in a Dominican Republic paper recently.
Cone files for free agency
Mike Petraglia, redsox.com
Veteran right-hander David Cone filed for free agency on Tuesday. Cone posted a 9-7 record and 4.31 ERA in 25 starts for the Red Sox in 2001. Cone, who will turn 39 on Jan. 2, becomes the 10th Red Sox player to file for free agency.
November 9, 2001
Selig becomes the death of the party
Frank Fitzpatrick, Philadelphia Inquirer
Bud Selig stood at a podium and proved that his sense of timing was worse than his haircut. In typically ham-handed fashion, baseball’s commissioner smothered the lingering good feelings from the World Series by immediately putting the spotlight back on the game’s economic and labor troubles…. Worst of all, on the verge of major negotiations for a new collective-bargaining agreement, Selig and the owners acted unilaterally, even though the players’ association will have to sign off on any contraction plan.
Union Blocks Plate as Owners Move Toward Contraction
Murray Chass, New York Times
In an attempt to speed up the road to contraction, management lawyers yesterday presented the union with their ideas for the distribution of players from the two teams Major League Baseball wants to eliminate. The union, however, is trying to set up a roadblock, filing a grievance to halt contraction.
Links to newspaper articles on contraction and stadium financing are at Baseball Primer’s Clutch Hits.
Staff Balloting Roundup, Baseball Prospectus — As many of our readers were submitting their ballots for the Internet Baseball Awards, 13 Baseball Prospectus staffers went into the polling booths themselves, voicing their opinions on who should win the major baseball awards this year. Here are the results:
MVP — Barry Bonds & Jason Giambi
Cy Young — Randy Johnson & Mike Mussina
Rookies of the Year — Albert Pujols & Ichiro Suzuki
Managers of the Year — Jim Tracy & Lou Piniella
November 8, 2001
Talk, but no action: Pedro needs to start leading by example
Gerry Callahan, Boston Herald
[T]he truth is, there are some questions swirling around Pedro now, and they aren’t all concerning his health. … Pedro is the key to anything and everything, the Sox’ best player, their most important player, their only chance of returning to contention. … There is no refuting the charge that he played a role in the plot to ruin the 2001 Red Sox season and discredit his manager, Joe Kerrigan.
[the plot to ruin the 2001 season — ?!?!?]
Character lacking in Red Sox
Ron Chimelis, Springfield Union-News
How important is character to a baseball team? Quite a bit, evidently. The Diamondbacks and Yankees were loaded with it. … The 2001 Boston Red Sox didn’t win with a [Mark] Grace, they lost with disgrace. Now Pedro Martinez, whose heart and character rank second to none, says he’ll leave if the bickering doesn’t stop. This is no bluff. Martinez’ contract has two years left, and it’s hard to see him sitting out. But it’s easy to see him bolting at the first chance for the relative sanity of say, New York City.
A Suicide Squeeze Play
Thomas Boswell, Washington Post
Sometimes baseball’s owners deliberately confront the players’ union, even when it is unnecessary and counterproductive. … Sometimes baseball’s leaders try to extort new ballparks, built with public money, by threatening to abandon towns that have supported the sport for many years. … Sometimes they choose the moments when baseball is most popular to behave in their greediest and most arrogant manner. Sometimes the commissioner of the sport is sent out before the public to make statements that so misrepresent the facts that the phrase “more lies” leaps to the minds of longtime fans. And sometimes, like yesterday, they do it all at once.
Tell the Commissioner What you Think about Contraction
baseballprimer.com
I want to put together a resource page on how to contact the owners of every major league team by e-mail and by phone. It would be great to get thousands of folks to call about contraction.
November 7, 2001
Bastard
Joe Sheehan, baseballprospectus.com
Bud Selig is a sniveling weasel. … Bud Selig is untrustworthy. … Bud Selig is an extortionist. … Bud Selig is stupid. … Bud Selig is small-minded. … I said last week that Bud Selig could do more damage to baseball than anyone since Chick Gandil. I may have underestimated him.
President of the Liars’ Club
Don Malcolm, baseballprimer.com
… Budzilla is loose again. You know, that guy from Milwaukee, the one who canceled the World Series in 1994, who lied to Congress about teams going bankrupt without a salary cap.
Fed-up Pedro fires purpose pitch
Michael Silverman, Boston Herald
Pedro Martinez has had enough of the infighting and finger-pointing that characterized the 2001 Red Sox. If it continues, Martinez will have had enough of the Red Sox. … Martinez said he would not be agreeable to signing an extension to his current contract – which expires after the 2003 season, with the Red Sox holding an option for 2004 – if the disruptive shenanigans linger. “No, I wouldn’t want to stay. I’ve always said it: I’m fine economically, I just need to win. I don’t want to emphasize money until I’m a free agent, that hasn’t changed since Day 1. But we’re never going to win if we continue to do all of what happened this year.”
Rehabbing Martinez gets OK in checkup
Bob Hohler, Boston Globe
Fresh from warning he will bolt the Red Sox if the chaos in the clubhouse continues, Pedro Martinez yesterday kept his word to visit the team’s training facility in Fort Myers, Fla., for a checkup on his healing rotator cuff. … Martinez, who turned 30 last month, did not meet with manager Joe Kerrigan or team executives. But he is expected to make his next scheduled visit to Fort Myers in December and, if all’s well, receive clearance to begin throwing in preparation for spring training.
Pedro checks in at Fort Myers
Mike Petraglia, redsox.com
Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez flew from his home in the Dominican Republic Monday to the team’s minor league complex in Fort Myers, Fla. for a scheduled check on his right shoulder. “There was nothing unusual or unexpected,” team spokesman Kevin Shea told redsox.com. “Everything was fine. This was the first of his scheduled medical check-ins. It was not a full medical exam, but rather part of his off-season program that the club announced at the end of the season.”
GM must fix mound of problems
Tony Massarotti, Boston Herald
With the baseball offseason having officially begun, Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette has clearly identified the team’s priority entering the winter months. “We want to sign a pitcher,” said Duquette. But wanting and succeeding are two different things.
Elimination game — The stakes are high as baseball owners vote to drop 2 teams
Bob Hohler, Boston Globe
In a jarring postscript to an electrifying World Series, Major League Baseball owners yesterday took a giant step toward changing the face of the national pastime by voting overwhelmingly to jettison two of the game’s weakest teams before next season. The development marks the first time baseball has shrunk its ranks in 102 years.
Union rips contraction — Fehr calls move ‘inconsistent with the law’
Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune
The battle over a new labor agreement hasn’t even begun, but the owners’ plan to eliminate two major-league franchises already has set off shock waves in the offices of the players association. “This decision has been made unilaterally, without any attempt to negotiate with the players, apparently without any serious consideration of other options, including relocation, and seemingly with little concern for the interests of the fans,” union head Donald Fehr said. “We consider this action to be inconsistent with the law, our contract and, perhaps most important, the long-term welfare of the sport.”
Only way one to describe the owners: They are clueless, cartoonish clowns
Dan LeBatard, Miami Herald
These baseball owners are so laughably clueless, so absurdly incompetent, so cartoonishly greedy and stupid, that, upon arriving in Chicago for their meetings Tuesday, they all should have tumbled out of the same crammed, purple Volkswagen — or Nate Newton’s van.
November 6, 2001
Pedro To Sox: Make Changes
Associated Press
Pedro Martinez says he’ll stay with the Red Sox only if the team makes some changes. “I don’t want gossip or last season’s bickering. There will be some changes in Boston or there will be no Pedro Martinez,” the Dominican righthander said in Santo Domingo before heading to Fort Myers, Fla., for a checkup Monday on his injured shoulder. “I want to win and everyone knows that. We have a team with enough quality . . . but injuries and other things I hope will disappear affected us.”
Red Sox minor leaguers doing well in AFL
Mike Petraglia, redsox.com
The Grand Canyon Rafters finished October with a 14-12 mark, a half-game behind Peoria (15-12) in the Western Division of the Arizona Fall League.
Six Red Sox players are assigned to the Rafters. Third baseman Freddy Sanchez, an 11th round draft pick in June 2000, was hitting .382, with a homer and eight RBIs through 19 games. Sanchez also has a .468 slugging percentage to go along with 26 hits and 17 runs scored. Through October, he was third on the team in average, hits and runs scored.
On the hill, lefties Terrance Hill was 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA in seven relief appearances. Hill also recorded 12 strikeouts without walking a batter in 11.1 innings. Rolando Viera was 1-0 with a 1.45 ERA in eight appearances, including one start. In 18.1 innings, Viera has allowed only 14 hits and three earned runs while striking out 10 and walking seven.
Lamont follows Jimy to Houston
Tony Massarotti, Boston Herald
Nine Red Sox players filed for free agency on the first eligible day. Among the group were catcher Joe Oliver, infielder John Valentin, reliever Rod Beck and outfielders Dante Bichette, Darren Lewis and Troy O’Leary. Pitchers Bret Saberhagen, Hideo Nomo and Hipolito Pichardo also filed for free agency, the latter an interesting case given that he allegedly retired this past season. At that time, Pichardo’s agent indicated that the pitcher was retiring only because he was unhappy with his role in Boston. Pichardo’s existence in the free agent class only supports that contention. Saberhagen’s decision to file is merely a formality. The pitcher said during the year that he would retire at the end of the season …
Yankees: Next year starts now
Dan Graziano, Newark Star-Ledger
Luis Gonzalez’s blooper had barely tickled the outfield grass Sunday night, and George Steinbrenner already was steamed. The Yankees owner, furious at his team’s loss in Game 7 of the World Series, was stomping around the visitors’ clubhouse, barking at representatives from Major League Baseball and Fox-TV for setting up a victory celebration before there was a victory to celebrate. “I don’t want to have anything to do with you ever again!” Steinbrenner shouted at no one in particular, expressing the preposterous belief that the presence of Kevin Kennedy and Jeanne Zelasko somehow jinxed the Yankees’ chances.
November 5, 2001
Game Seven
Joe Sheehan, baseballprospectus.com
Just remember something as this World Series moves into the history books: the Diamondbacks had to beat the Yankees six times, and they had to do so because Bob Brenly kept making the wrong decision at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. What Brenly did over the last nine days shouldn’t be whitewashed because he happened to have two amazing pitchers on his side … You know what’s even worse, for me as a Yankee fan, than tonight’s loss? Waking up to find that there’s no game tonight. Or tomorrow. Or the next night. I already miss baseball.
New York — 000 000 110 — 2 6 3
Arizona — 000 001 002 — 3 11 0
Does Selig have a conflict? Will Brewers benefit?
Jay Weiner, Minneapolis Star Tribune
The Milwaukee Brewers franchise, partially owned by baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and operated by his daughter, stands to benefit if the Minnesota Twins or other major league teams are eliminated, some industry analysts say. Among the possible benefits to the Brewers: doubling the number of households that can watch games on cable TV; getting a high pick in any dispersal draft triggered by the elimination of teams, and, over time, pocketing more revenue-sharing dollars in the absence of the Twins, Montreal Expos or other franchises.
November 2, 2001
Report: Pedro hints changes must be made
Gordon Edes, Boston Globe
Earlier this summer, when Pedro Martinez returned to the Dominican Republic to rest his ailing shoulder, he complained of the paparazzi treatment he receives from the local media there, and said much of what is written about him is not grounded in fact. That said, comments attributed to Martinez in an Associated Press story out of his native Santo Domingo had the ring of credibility.
”I don’t want gossip, nor the small wars of the past season. There will be some changes in Boston or there won’t be Pedro Martinez,” Martinez is quoted as saying. ”I want to win and everyone knows it. We have a team with the quality to win, but we were affected by injuries and some other things, which I expect will disappear,” said Martinez, who added that he plans to go to the team’s training facility in Fort Myers, Fla., next week to have his right shoulder examined.
Williams lands with the Astros– Ex-Sox skipper given 3-year deal
Gordon Edes, Boston Globe
Eleven weeks after he was fired by the Red Sox, Jimy Williams became the first manager hired in the offseason as the Houston Astros yesterday gave him a three-year contract to manage a team that has won four National League Central Division titles in the last five seasons.
Many Jimy Williams stories in the Houston Chronicle’s sports section.
The Daily Prospectus: Game Four
Joe Sheehan, baseballprospectus.com
He deserved to lose. I’ve spent most of the evening exchanging e-mails with my BP colleagues, e-mails with subject lines like “Silliness” and “Bob Brenly is an idiot.” … [W]e have the idiotic, reflexive, counterproductive, self-immolative overuse of the sacrifice bunt. Brenly bunted the Diamondbacks out of three innings, each decision dumber than the last … “Must … use … sacrifice … must … waste … outs…” … It got worse.
Arizona — 000 100 020 0 – 3 6 0
New York — 001 000 002 1 – 4 7 0
The Daily Prospectus: Game Five
Joe Sheehan, baseballprospectus.com
In the entire history of the World Series, just 11 teams have even tied games in which they trailed by more than one run in the ninth inning. Just four of those teams won the game in which they came back: the 1911 Giants (Game 5), the 1929 A’s (Game 5), the 1939 Yankees (Game 4), and the 1985 Cardinals (Game 2). In the last 22 hours, the Yankees extended that list by half. How do you write about an achievement like that, beyond repeating the word, “Wow,” a couple hundred times?
Arizona — 000 020 000 000 – 2 8 0
New York — 000 000 002 001 – 3 9 1
Brenly bristles at Game 4 second-guessing
Mark Gonzales, Arizona Republic
Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly took exception to the second-guessing that was paraded throughout the New York tabloids and on electronic media outlets throughout the country. “First of all, I made it a point to never second-guess. If you cannot point something out ahead of time, it becomes the lowest form of journalism as far as I’m concerned to come in after the fact and say what should have happened. I tried to never do that when I was up in the broadcast booth.”
Back-to-back nightmares may haunt Kim for years to come
Pedro Gomez, Arizona Republic
This was far more than a nightmare for Byung-Hyun Kim. This was a cruel joke filled with so much malice that the perpetrator would be in line for a life sentence, which is exactly what Kim will have for the remainder of his days.
Kim picture of devastation after double whammy
Jim Caple, espn.com
It’s one thing to blow a save in the World Series. It’s another thing to blow saves on consecutive nights in the World Series. It’s yet another to blow saves on consecutive nights in the World Series at Yankee Stadium. And it’s still yet another to do all that when you are 22 years old, the only player from your country to ever play in the World Series and correspondents follow you every day of the season to file reports across the ocean to Korea.
Report: Only Pohlad can keep Twins afloat
espn.com
Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has accumulated enough votes to buy out the Minnesota Twins’ franchise, baseball officials told the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Thursday. The officials told the newspaper it is extremely likely that the Twins and Montreal Expos will cease to exist if MLB reduces the number of teams from 30 to 28.
November 1, 2001
The Other Big Story This Week
Gary Huckabay, baseballprospectus.com
The contraction drums are beating. Just recently, you may have seen this trial balloon:
Contraction would begin to reverse the damage done by two dumb and dumber expansions that cost nearsighted owners many times more than the relatively few pennies they pocketed. — Peter Gammons, Oct. 26, 2001.
This is really a two-part statement, so let’s look at it in those two parts.
[In that same column, Gammons wrote that Arizona is losing approximately $50 million this year; Joe Sheehan of BP muses on that one here.]
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