Pedro was introduced to Met Nation in a bizarre press conference at Shea Stadium yesterday that was sure to give New York's newest ace the Big Apple headlines all to himself . . . until, of course, it was reported later last night that the Yankees were close to acquiring Randy Johnson. Typical. Having passed his physical Wednesday, with the ink drying on his new $53 million, four-year contract, Pedro patiently answered all the questions from the fourth estate. It got a little rough at times, and Mets general manager Omar Minaya had to interrupt to assure Pedro not all New Yorkers think he's a "punk."
We learned a lot. We learned Minaya is a man of his word. Pedro said that a couple of times. The inference was, one can only surmise, that John W. Henry, Larry Lucchino, and Theo Epstein are not men of their word. Remember that Pedro called them liars in May.
That must have been part of the negativity. Along with the media, of course.
"For years in Boston, we had to fight you guys, we had to fight the negativity that was in Boston," Pedro said.
When a reporter asked if Pedro left a good team to go to a bad team simply for money, Pedro reminded us, "I was a millionaire since I was 24 years old. First of all, to let you know, when I got to Boston, I was already making millions . . . So you didn't pick up a bum from the street, just to let you know. I made enough. It was more of a commitment from this team than it was money."
And Red Sox management?
"I gave Boston every opportunity to actually get me, not only in this free agent year, but for three years before," he said. "I've been trying to let Boston keep me for the rest of my career and Boston wouldn't pull the trigger. I went beyond my effort to actually give Boston every opportunity to keep me. Why did they have to wait until the last minute or so? Do I have to sit and wait for anyone else to decide where my future's gonna be? Would you? Then I didn't see the reason why I should wait.
