It's unanimous! We Hate Pedro!

I'm still waiting for the first writer to rip John Olerud for sitting out the last four games of the ALCS. Why isn't Olerud a warrior? Paul O'Neill would have played.

Anyway, John Harper leads the anti-Pedro charge with this incredibly nonsensical article.

Here are some annotated lowlights:


"Business is business, and all that, but shouldn't the current crazed state of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry count for something with the players? It did for Andy Pettitte, who admitted he couldn't have looked his old Yankee teammates in the eye if he had taken the Red Sox up on their offer for him last winter."

Mr. Pinstripe Pride had no problem turning down $42 mill and jumping ship for Houston. But that's, you know, a different way of expressing loyalty.


"Even Yankee fans would have more respect for Martinez if he said he couldn't switch sides now, not after all these teams have been through the last two years."

Speak for yourself. I respect winning.


"It's more than fair, considering that Pedro is little more than a six-inning pitcher anymore, as his post-100 pitch meltdowns the last couple of years are by now as much a part of the Boston culture as Paul Revere's ride. Or that his history of arm injuries over the years says he'll break down at some point before his next contract runs out."

Is he still talking about Andy Pettitte?

Seriously, you take that chance with just about any pitcher. It's quite likely that Pedro would break down at some point. Duh. Like Kevin Brown, Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson, Eric Milton, Jon Lieber, or practically every pitcher in MLB.

Also, just examine the facts. Pedro threw 217 innings last year and came through like a champ in the playoffs.

His legendary "post-100 pitch meltdowns" includes one legendary post-100 pitch meltdown, in another game where Pedro pitched like a champ, at Yankee Stadium, Game Seven of the 2003 ALCS (we all remember that game, don't we?).

Now, revisionist history aside (Pedro "melted down" in Game Seven? Please.), I think it's fair to say that Joe Torre would handle Pedro Martinez a little differently. You know, the same Joe Torre who never allows his starters to finish a game and whose bullpen set every record for "appearances" that you can think of.


"People who know Pedro believe he is really just trying to jack up his price with the Red Sox by meeting with the Yankees. But either way it's a less than honorable way of doing business."

Heaven Forfend. Less-than-honorable negotiation tactics in major league baseball. John Harper blanches at the thought.


You know what? This is dumb. I could criticize just about every sentence in Harper's stupid article.

If you don't want Pedro on the Yankees, at least make a decent argument that has something to do with baseball.

Think of Boston's starting rotation without Pedro, without Lowe, with Schilling on the DL. Yankees sign Unit and Pedro, maybe they lose Vazquez and Brown in the process (Boston can have 'em for all I care). But the Yankees refuse to do this because Pedro is a prima donna and he sometimes doesn't talk to the press? Then John Harper has the nerve to call George Steinbrenner an obsessive idiot?

Let me be the alternative voice of the True Yankee Fan. I don't care about personalities and clubhouse chemistry and whether or not a player talks to the press. If you pitch well, you are my hero. I am not inviting you to a tea party, I am watching you on the TV screen. When you play well, I am happy. When you play poorly, I hate you.

Now, shut the heck up, sign Pedro, and win the World Series.