One Tough Dominican? One Coddled Ballplayer!

[nymr83]

alot of new stuff to respond to so lets get started....

="metsmarathon"]if pitching in winterball was bad, and tantamount to asking for injury, whysoever would teams allow their pitching prospects, who often make the majors with fairly tight pitch counts in their young years due to concerns of overstressing fragile arms, pitch in winterball? why would they do such a thing?

because these pitchers are unproven and it is more important to find out "what you have" with them than it is to increase their chances of staying healthy. pedro is known commodity and regardless of whether you agree with me that winter ball is a bad idea for him i doubt i can find anyone who thinks its a good idea for him

]What are the contract ramifications is he hurts himself?

]None

indeed, another great reason not to let him do anything that could get him hurt.

also, for however much i am opposed to him pitching in an international tournament during spring training i am 10x more opposed to him pitching in winter ball in january, a time when he should be resting, resting, resting, and resting as that will DEFINETALY cause him to throw more innings in 2006 than he otherwise would have since it is in addition to, not in replacement of, spring training.
more innings is, if not very bad, at least not good.

.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Do we REALLY think Petey's going to treat representing his country on a world stage like a Spring Training start? Of course not. He's probably going to try and be in shape for it, which means he will almost certainly have thrown more innings by the time the season starts than he would have in Spring Training.

I think it's a bad idea, but as others have noted, he's not exactly made of porcelin. He threw 244 innings in 2004 once you include the post-season and 215 in 2003. So it's not like the 217 he threw this year should be hurting him THAT badly--his main problem at the end was his foot, not his arm.

Still, I'd rather give him more time. The upside is that if he stays healthy through the process, he'll most likely get off to another fast start (2.79 ERA, 0.72 WHIP, 10.52 K/9 between April & May 2005).

I'd rather have him be dominant in August & September, when we're in our final push for the post-season, but if he holds up as well as he did in 2005 (2.96 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 7.12 K/9), I won't complain too much.

[Guest Edgy DC]

MLB wants this tournament to be as good as it can be. I don't think MLB would be happy for the Mets to interfere with Pedro playing.

I don't think teams have had much success stopping players from playing in the winter leagues. I think that when they do dissuade a veteran from participating, it's through a gentleman's agreement, rather than a contractual one.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I'm certain they will get together and come to some kind of compromise all parties can live with.

There's entirely too much bullshit in this thread, by the way, with people referring to studies they cannot produce; presuming to be doctors, pitching coaches, trainers and/or lecturers; unfunny asides, and would be more at home elsewhere.

[Elster88]

I only see one post where it was said "It has been shown..." and no one here got to see what was shown. The rest is mostly speculation, with the main theme making sense: If a guy does more in the offseason, he will not be able to perform as well once the season starts.

Then it has to be decided exactly how much more work will he be doing, and is it the same as regular offseason workouts, and blah, blah, blah, about stuff no one can prove one way or the other.

I stand by my position. Pitching in competitive games is going to require more work than whatever Pedro normally does from November through March. And he already said he was tired well before the season ended. I'd prefer he didn't pitch for another team. That's my tough luck.
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This post had the designation 137) Del Unser

[Guest old original jb]

There are a lot of things to complain about regarding the Mets.
Pedro is not one of them.

If he thinks he can play winter ball and still pitch well this season, I'm inclined to believe him.

I just think he can probably make a better call on this one than I can.

[Guest KC]

Jeez, last time I admit to posting dumb stuff on the internet, and trying to
do it less, and then do it in thread only to have it called unfunny asides.

[metirish]

]Concern for Pedro BY DAVID LENNON STAFF CORRESPONDENT October 27, 2005 HOUSTON -- Pedro Martinez, introduced last night as a member of the Latino Legends team, says he has plans to pitch for the Licey Tigers in his native Dominican Republic, as well as represent his country in the World Baseball Classic. But Martinez also has damaged cartilage in his right big toe, and that seems to be an unresolved issue for the Mets' $53-million righthander. Martinez pitched with the injured toe for most of the season, and was shut down after his five-inning start against the Marlins on Sept. 22. Martinez believes that rest and rehabilitation should take care of the problem, provided that he wears better protective footwear on the mound. But there is still discomfort, and that could put his extracurricular plans on hold. "They told me to rest it for a month and see how it goes from there," Martinez said before last night's Game 4 of the World Series. "Just walking around, I can tell that it's not as good as I'd like it to be. But it's not getting worse." Asked if the toe might need surgery, he replied, "I'm assuming not." Martinez's friend, Manny Ramirez, also was selected to the Legends team, but the Red Sox leftfielder - and Mets' obsession - did not attend yesterday's event. Earlier this month, it was reported that Ramirez's agent said his client would not welcome a trade to the Mets, but Martinez grinned at the suggestion. "Manny's his own man," Martinez said. "It's none of my business to criticize what they do. If Manny comes over, welcome. If he doesn't, well, we'll just go on with whatever we have."

[Guest silverdsl]

So what does the toe problem mean for Pedro pitching for the DR?

If I were a Met fan I'd be concerned about him pitching over the winter but I'm just a worry-wart about that kind of thing that a player might get injured and be out during the regular season. But if the Mets haven't expressed any concerns about it then all parties probably think that he can handle it. Pitching for his country probably means a great deal to Pedro and I can't fault him for wanting to do it.

[Elster88]

silverdsl wrote: If I were a Met fan I'd be concerned about him pitching over the winter but I'm just a worry-wart about that kind of thing that a player might get injured and be out during the regular season. But if the Mets haven't expressed any concerns about it then all parties probably think that he can handle it.

There is a (to me) surprising lack of concern 'round these parts. I'm guessing that any objections that the Mets have are being kept in-house.

[Guest Mark Healey]

I don't much like the World Baseball Classic either, but I'm not sure you can tell anyone not to take part...

Personally, I'd like to see kids like Blake McGinley get a chance to pitch against that kind of talent, amd maybe , just maybe, get a chance to make the big team ahead of Danny Graves, Mr. Funk and Tim Haky-sak...