It seems like every other day I hear rumblings about where former Cy Young Award winner Pedro Martinez is going to land. On the ESPN crawl last night, I noticed that the Los Angeles Angels have "no interest" in the right-hander, who is working out in the Dominican Republic.
Martinez has made headlines in Chicago, as there have been reports that the Cubs are interested. The defending AL champion Tampa Bay Rays are also in the mix.
Eventually, Pedro is going to sign somewhere, but I'd be surprised if he and his 85 mph fastball make any impact on the pennant race. I certainly haven't attended any scouting sessions in the Dominican, but I'm skeptical of Martinez for two reasons:
1. It's June 23, and he still doesn't have a team. There are so many contenders and borderline contenders out there that need pitching, you would think that someone would have aggressively courted Martinez and signed him by now -- if he still had the stuff to win.
2. Neither Boston nor New York seem interested. Typically, whenever you have a player of Martinez's stature out there for anybody to grab, Boston and New York engage in World War III to land that player. The indifference of those two teams suggests Martinez is done.
In fact, the Cubs and Rays might be better off signing that guy from Napoleon Dynamite to pitch for them. Certainly, he'll come cheaper.
I watched Pedro in his three years with the Mets. He had a solid first year, but then he got hurt the last two years, and that was basically the end of his career. He is done as a result of pitching too many innings with the Red Sox when he was at his best not to mention age has caught up to him.
There is a reason why he is not working.
The only reasons why teams are even watching his workout is just to do their due diligence and nothing more.
BTW, what does it say about the state of baseball when most teams are so mediocre this season. The AL Central, AL West, NL East, and the NL Central are bad, and there is only one great team in the NL West. It's one thing to see teams be in the state of flux in April with guys getting more work in, but geez.