Sox, Martinez meet; Mantei joins team

December 09, 2004|Globe Staff

Pedro Martinez told close friends he was "very happy" after meeting at the airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, yesterday morning with Red Sox principal owner John W. Henry and CEO Larry Lucchino, and publicly, at least, the Sox brass pronounced a similar measure of satisfaction with their exchange with the free agent righthander.

Meanwhile, Sox general manager Theo Epstein last night took a step toward filling the void left by the departure of Scott Williamson by coming to terms with former Arizona Diamondbacks closer Matt Mantei on a guaranteed, one-year, $750,000 deal that could be worth $2.5 million if Mantei satisfies health and performance clauses. Mantei, 31, who has had major elbow and shoulder surgeries and has been on the disabled list all but one year since 1995, began last season as the Diamondbacks' closer, lost his job, then underwent shoulder surgery in June and missed the rest of the season.

Martinez's teammate, David Ortiz, who later saw Henry and Lucchino at ceremonies marking the first anniversary of the team's academy for Dominican players, dismissed the possibility that Martinez would choose to sign with the New York Mets, the team that has most ardently wooed Martinez to this stage, offering him a guaranteed three-year deal for $38 million million, with a vesting option for a fourth year, making the total package worth $50 million.

"He ain't going to no Mets," Ortiz said of Martinez, who after meeting with Henry and Lucchino in a tented area at the airport was scheduled to fly to Florida for his sister's wedding. Martinez's agent, Fernando Cuza, also attended the meeting, and last night did not return messages. But one industry source with direct knowledge of Martinez's talks with teams said last night, "The Mets have more interest in Pedro than Pedro has in the Mets."

Did the Sox sweeten their offer to Martinez yesterday? The owners would not say, and another industry source maintained that nothing had changed. The Sox have offered Martinez a two-year deal for $25.5 million, with a vesting option for a third year that pushes the deal to $37.5 million.

"We had a very positive meeting," said Lucchino. "We brought the World Series trophy and Pedro shared it with some members of his family. We also gave him some World Series photos as a gift to him.

"We met for 45 minutes to an hour. We don't want to get into the specifics. We need to confer with Theo."

Martinez, who had an entourage of about 20 family members, posed with the trophy with relatives. Then the meeting began, with just four chairs, for the owners, Martinez, and Cuza.

"Pedro dubbed it his outdoor office," said Lucchino.

Martinez told them friends in the Dominican Republic have encouraged him to stay with the Red Sox.