Just a couple weeks ago we were laughing at the Mets for the way they were treating Pedro...allowing him to pitch as much as he wants, even in his first Spring Training start. We made the (very safe) prediction that they'd realize the error of their ways eventually. But I never imagined that'd happen before the season even began.
Before, they were defending allowing him to throw 3 innings (60 pitches!) in his first outing. Now, only 8 innings later, we're hearing stuff like:
Minaya: "We said, 'Look, why take a chance?'"
Pedro: "Right now, we just don't want to take any chances of making it worse or having to be in jeopardy for Opening Day. Opening Day, without a doubt, if I play it careful right now, it's going to be there."
Either someone's talked some sense into them, or they got a bit of a scare and they're a little more worried about it than they're letting on. Not to mention a teammate (anonymously) told a NYDN reporter Pedro "couldn't even stand up straight" at one point.
And then there's this, also from the Daily News:
Earlier in the day, the Mets were in near-crisis mode over a situation that seemingly could have been easily defused. Minaya held an afternoon Q&A with reporters and discussed reliever Mike DeJean's calf injury. He then suggested going into Randolph's office to get other injury updates.
"What do you mean updates?" Randolph said.
Pressed, the manager said matter-of-factly: "Pedro is going to miss a start, you know about that, right? Oh, you don't know about that?"
Martinez then refused to comment through team spokesman Jay Horwitz. He later relented after behind-the-scenes arm-twisting from an influential team official.
Awesome.
I defintely had a chuckle when I read that stuff this AM. I mean we are a couple idiot fans and we have a bit more common sense than some executives in MLB.
ReplyDeleteI had even meant to write earlier that the Mets appeared to be making some more mistakes with Pedro when a couple of weeks back, his scheduled starts got rained out (I think) two days in a row. Instead of just sending him to a bullpen and having him get his work in, they pushed his start both times. And I think he did a full warm up in at least one of them.
And the comnmunication between Minaya and Randolph is priceless.
Guys,
ReplyDeleteEvan from Fire Brand here. I'd like to talk to you over e-mail. Could you shoot me an email at evanATmostvaluablenetwork.com? Thanks.