Pedro Martinez (pictured here in a 2009 SPx Flashback Fabrics card) has been arguably the greatest peak pitcher of his era. His 1999 and 2000 seasons are insanely great (291 ERA+, 0.737 WHIP in 2000, that's almost impossible), and he sustained excellence through 2006, when the first major injuries struck.
The Phillies won't be gumming up behind the wunderkind of 1997-2004, in which at the peak, his appearances were a drop-everything and watch event. For example, remember the relief appearance against Cleveland in the 1999 Division Series? Incredible.
He probably won't even be the Pedro of 2005-2006. There is potential, however, for him to return to the Pedro of August 2008, and that could be good enough. Even in his decline phase, his K/9 and K/BB ratios have remained strong. His WHIP increase is entirely due to an increase in H/9. He won't be too much worse than Moyer and he'll be better than Rodrigo Lopez for the rest of the season.
For the rest of the season, I expect an ERA of around 4.40, a WHIP of around 1.40, and a smattering of quality starts. As with all pitchers, he'll need the Phillies bats to wake up and score more than 3 runs.
I will be watching in anticipation tonight.
3 comments:
Ha, I just posted about this too, also featuring a favorite older Pedro card of mine! I can't say I particularly like the guy, but there'd no denying he was fun to watch in his prime.
I picked Pedro up for my roto team tonight. I hope he doesn't implode. Either way I'll be glad to see him pitch again.
I love it when a plan comes together.
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