Pedro Says He Tried To Give Back His Mets Contract When Jeff Wilpon Forced Him To Pitch Injured

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The end of the 2005 season was ugly for Pedro Martinez. The Hall of Fame right-hander was in his first season with the Mets, and he was hurt. He didn’t want to pitch, but he did anyway because he was forced to, allegedly, by Mets COO Jeff Wilpon. All of this — and much, much more — is explained in “Pedro,” Martinez’s new book. According to The New York Times, Martinez writes that Wilpon made the ace pitch a meaningless September game despite the fact that he was dealing with a toe injury. Manager Willie Randolph had already told Martinez that he was finished for the season, according to the newspaper, but Wilpon told the eight-time All-Star that he wanted him out there to face Dontrelle Willis so the organization could sell more tickets. “While I’m the boss here, you’re going to have to do what I say,” Wilpon told Martinez, the pitcher writes. The Times reported that in the book, Martinez writes that he offered to return his contract, but ultimately agreed to pitch. He was limited to 23 starts the following season. “I couldn’t help but think about how when I was healthy in 2005, our team wasn’t that good,” Martinez writes in his book, according to the newspaper. “But as my health declined, I was urged to pitch a meaningless game at the end of 2005 that wound up shortening my recovery time for 2006 and led me to a hospital where doctors performed a three-hour arthroscopic procedure to repair my shoulder.” Martinez was inactive for the Mets in the 2006 National League Championship Series, where they fell to the Cardinals in seven games. The Times reports that Wilpon denied the claim in a statement. “Pedro was always a great competitor and deserving of being in the Hall of Fame,” Wilpon said. “This particular excerpt in the book is false, as those kinds of decisions have always been put in the hands of our baseball people.” Despite that alarming story, the Times reports that Martinez said he very much enjoyed his four-year tenure in Queens and doesn’t have any hard feelings toward the organization. “When you’re going to get hurt, you’re going to get hurt,” Martinez told the newspaper. “I don’t have anybody to blame but probably myself for not listening to my body. I think I was brave to pitch games, but I think I took it to extremes that day.”

Couple things about this story before we just dive into it and say “Fuck Jeff Wilpon.” Dont worry, we will absolutely get to “Fuck Jeff Wilpon,” but I just want to get there the right way.

This story is probably most likely exaggerated. Pedro is selling his new book – fucking awesomely/appropriately titled “Pedro,” which I will read the shit out of – and you know things need to be exaggerated and extrapolated in order to make it an entertaining read. I’m sure there was a dispute of some sort regarding his shut down date, and Pedro angrily threw out this idea that he would give all the money back, and ultimately took the mound which was probably not a smart idea. But I dont think it was fireworks like the headline and article suggests.

As a matter of fact, in almost every single other situation, I would say this is complete hyperbole and didnt go down like this at all. But with Jeff Wilpon you can take it to the bank that this is like 90% true. I guarantee Jeff Wilpon was like “We signed you to sell tickets, now get out there and sell.” The Wilpons loved to throw around the term “meaningful games in September” and for them, meaning = chance to sell tickets. So even though it was September and the team was out of the race…even though Pedro was an aging star who needed to be carefully managed to maximize the life and value of his final contract…even though the manager had already decided he was done, the Wilpons wanted him out there for some sort of completely insignificant walk up ticket sales. Again I’m sure there’s 2 sides to every story and the Pedro version might be a little different, but the meat and potatoes of this tale are absolutely credible. The Wilpons put their newly acquired ace in jeopardy for the future, when it was clear he should have been shut down, for no other reason than to try to make a few thousand bucks.

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So, Fuck Jeff Wilpon. And long live Pedro Martinez. Its probably a bit ridiculous to think it was that one start that ruined Pedro for 2006 and ultimately that team’s chance at a World Series. He was going to get hurt eventually. But I’m going to choose to blame Jeff Wilpon for everything as I always do.

PS – Hes on with Francesa, in studio, for the first time ever, right now. Sure to address the topic.

PPS – Go ahead and watch my interview with him because its probably the best interview ever. Not because of me but just because hearing Pedro discuss his top 10 moments like that was incredible.