Word.

Harvey Araton of the New York Times somewhat restores my faith that sportswriters can also be good writers.

If the link doesn't work, here are some highlights of his remarks regarding Pedro leaving the Sox:

"So people ask: how much does this idiosyncratic ingrate need?

When these deals go down, this is typically what "the deserting player" is accused of. No matter where he goes, what he says, greed is the stated motivation. There is too much of the one-sided version of the story going around, especially in Boston, now that Martínez has said he is on his way to Shea Stadium, pending agreement on a thorough physical examination the Mets had better make sure he has.

...

As a franchise that is too often broad-stroked as the epitome of throwback quaintness, the Red Sox are just getting a taste here of the same bottom-line medicine they have been spooning out.

In the mythologized sports world we wish could still exist, if it ever did, Martínez would remain in Boston with all the others who undid 86 years' worth of October disillusionment ...It just does not work that way, in any sport, on any team, least of all the Boston Red Sox under the calculating leadership of Larry Lucchino and Theo Epstein. Loyalty? Where is it for Derek Lowe, who has averaged 17 victories for them over the last three years, who saved Game 5 of the division series against Oakland in 2003, who won Game 7 against the Yankees last October and closed out the Cardinals in the World Series?

To this point, the Red Sox have offered Lowe arbitration or an escort to the Rhode Island border, cast him as an unwanted party boy, and turned around to hand a fat contract to the bloated and the injury prone bar-hopper David Wells, age 41. Loyalty? This time last year, the Red Sox put Martínez's good friend Manny Ramirez on waivers, and plotted to unload Nomar Garciaparra, finally dealing him last summer to the Cubs.

Loyalty? The other day, the word out of Boston was that the Red Sox were firing Bill Morgan, their 2004 postseason most valuable physician, whose improvisational suturing of Curt Schilling's right ankle kept the World Series dream from rupturing altogether.

In Garciaparra's case, he was in his final contract year, so the Red Sox jettisoned a popular player who all along maintained that he did not wish to leave. Similarly, I remember being in Fort Myers, Fla., last spring, when Martínez sat down with reporters and deflected the question of his expiring contract and management's unwillingness to extend it."

The only comment I would add is that, while it surely does not work that way, in any sport, on any team, it also does not work that way in any human endeavor. There might be some human endeavors which reward loyalty over bottom-line performance, I just can't think of any off the top of my head.

I guess I have another comment: Free agency rules. Free agency saved this damn sport. Free agency is the best thing to ever happen to baseball. Loyalty never existed in the first place, it was faux loyalty that was a by-product of the shameful reserve clause.

What did people do in the Hot Stove League before free agency, anyway? "Do ya think the Yankees will trade Mickey Mantle?" "Nope." "Do ya think the Yankees will trade Yogi Berra?" "Nope." "That is good, because I like Mickey and Yogi."

I mean, I sort of understand the emotional connections fans can form with players, cities can form with players ... sort of. In the long run, I think fans are more interested in winning than in loyalty to any particular player.

But the Pedro Martinez off-season saga is a very beautiful thing. The tension that developed between the Red Sox, Yankees, and Mets. The fourth-year trump card the Mets were willing to play. If you want a player as good as Pedro Martinez, you should be willing to pay. It is only fair that Pedro makes more money than, say, Kris Benson. He'll proably win more games and potentially generate more revenue for the Mets than a lot of other pitchers. Everybody is looking out for themselves.

Oh, and to all the Sox fans who are calling Pedro greedy? We'll see if Varitek signs for $1 less than Jorge Posada.