I can't say I'm surprised. While he was once an incredible pitcher, he's also got a big head and seems to think he's worth a lot more than his recent talent would indicate. I'm glad Boston didn't go overboard trying to keep him.

[link|http://www.bostondirtdogs.com/|The Boston Dirt Dogs] has an interesting snippet:

Pedro is very good, but I believe the word is, one of the Red Sox front office guys said, if they had the three-year $40.5 million contract with the 252 oerks, said to me "this contract is going to cause us more anxiety than anything, there's no way to get a penny of insurance... if you look at Pedro's baserunners per nine innings, hits per nine innings, strikeout to walk ratios, they've all gone south dramatically in the last five years, strikeouts per nine innings pitched too. Those are indicators that the stuff is not there. He had a 5.00 ERA when he pitched in a normal rotation on four days rest. Tom Verducci admired what Pedro did in the post-season, pointing out that his three good starts were on 7-8-and-7 days rest. And then when he pitched on four days rest, he didn't pitch well.

I really worry for Omar Minaya that this could be a terrible deal. And I'll tell you why I object to Fern Cuza. I think the right thing is to do the best thing for your client. And the best thing for your client whose already made $92 million and is guaranteed $133 million dollars. He's allowed to do basically what he wants to do. People leave him alone. Nobody made a big stink about his not oing to the sixth game of the Yankees series, which I still think is perposterous. But in New York, well over half the media view him as a complete and utter mercenary who grovels to get one extra dollar. Pedro does not take kindly to any criticism. He's going to get killed in New York. And with the franchise run by a PR guy from New York named Stu Sucherman, cause he has the final say on every decision made because he's Fred Wilpon's PR hack, I just think he's in for big trouble. I think he could be miserable, or it's obvious there's a chance he's gonna break down. This has all the earmarks of a disaster and an ugly way for his career to end." -- Peter Gammons

I don't begrudge Pedro trying to get a guaranteed 4 year contract, or for trying to get as much money as he can. But he can't simultaneously claim that he really wanted to stay in Boston.

I think Peter's take is right on the money.

I hope the Sox will keep Lowe.

[edit, edit2:] Linked to a slightly different, longer article by Peter Gammons on [link|http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/gammons/story?id=1946349|ESPN].

Cheers,
Scott.