From Ken Rosenthal:
One team that could emerge as a player for Martinez — if he is indeed willing to pitch for a lesser club — is Washington.
Martinez would be a draw for the Nats, who are 3-11 and struggling to build a fan base. He is well-acquainted with Nationals manager Manny Acta, who managed the Dominican Republic in the first WBC. He also could help the Nationals restore their image in the Dominican.
The Nationals have said that former general manager Jim Bowden and special assistant Jose Rijo are subjects of a baseball investigation in the Dominican regarding the skimming of bonus money from amateur signees.
The Nats also were involved in an age- and name-changing scandal involving a Dominican prospect, and shut down their academy in the Dominican while restructuring their Latin American operations, according to ESPN.com.
I know, I know — youth, youth, youth, but could Martinez help teach these young guys how to pitch? Could he draw any fans? Could he eat innings? Could he, would he close if needed? What do you guys think?
Entries (RSS)
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I like the idea. I think he would be someone the young rotation could lean on. He’s been there and done that you know? Plus it couldn’t hurt to have him on our team. I mean what’s the worst it would do? We sign him for a year and he eats up some innings, or works out of the bullpen. I’m in favor of it.
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Who gets pulled from the rotation to make room?
I have nothing against it, provided the cost isn’t ridiculous. Where does he fit?
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:23 pm
I’d pull Cabrera…or maybe let Pedro close…? Maybe? Just thinking out loud.
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Pedro, closer? that would be awesome. one has to wonder how his body would adjust.
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:29 pm
i should have also said: jettison Cabrera in a heartbeat if he wants to start!
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Pedro is no closer. He’s a diva starter. Yank Cabrerra. I can’t believe he would want to be a part of this mess.
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:16 pm
If they sign Pedro, I wouldn’t mind seeing Cabrera in the bullpen. Maybe he just doesn’t have the attention span to throw accurately for 5 innings. If he gets his fastball back up to the 94-95 range he could be a good late inning guy.
Pedro would be good to have as a mentor for some of these younger guys. St. Claire has been great, but I just don’t think he has time to work miracles with an entire pitching staff that is as young as ours.
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Boooo!! Not a Pedro fan. I know that he was once an Expo and all, but he is a diva, as ridgely mentioned, and don’t know what type of mentor he would be to the young pitchers. Everyone seems to be down on DCab and I have been very surprised how well he has done over 3 games (compared to what we’ve seen him do in Baltimore). DCab has better numbers through 3 games than Olsen so why would you pull Cabrera instead of Olsen? Just curious.
I just saw that the Nats put up an article that says that they are not interested in Pedro. Whew. Sounds like he wants $5M for one year. Not gonna happen.
http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090423&content_id=4403968&vkey=news_was&fext=.jsp&c_id=was
April 24th, 2009 at 6:17 am
This report describes Rizzo’s interest as “mild”.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090423&content_id=4401144&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
I personally would love to see it happen. And yes, I think he would be a major upgrade over Daniel Cabrera.
April 24th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Cheryl-
good point about Olsen. His first two starts were terrible, but he seems to be coming around. I think it could be a tight race between him and Cabrera as to who the first starter yanked from the rotation could be (barring injuries of course.)
Personally, I just think DCab could have a pretty solid career as a reliever. I just feel like he’s has his chances as a starter, but maybe another month or two could show improvement.
April 27th, 2009 at 5:57 am
I’d have to give Martinez a thumbs-down. He’d put butts in the seats, but so did Jaromir Jagr.
(Yeah, two different sports, but the diva factor is the same…as is the price tag.)
May 15th, 2009 at 8:55 am
As a Mets fan, I can tell you that Pedro was a disappointment last year, especially down the stretch. Problem is that he has to rely more on off speed stuff now, and that doesn’t work as well without a good fastball (which he’s lost). And his influence on the younger pitchers will be negligible if they know he’s just there for a paycheck and a last trip around the league.
As for attendance, fine, they’d sell an extra 5,000 seats for his first few starts, but that will fade quickly if they are still in last place. The Nats need to show the fans that they have a coherent strategy for building a winning club — bringing in another veteran retread (who also happens to be old) doesn’t send that message.
And don’t overestimate what he’d do for the younger guys — Cabrera is hopeless, there is no way that the Orioles would have cut him loose if it were otherwise. Putting him in the bullpen would be its own blooper reel.