Pedro wants to pitch beyond 2008

According to the New York Post.... Pedro Martinez's agent, Fernando Cuza, said Martinez wants to play beyond 2008. Martinez is due to make $11.5 million this year, the final season of his four-year Mets pact. "As long as he's able to pitch without the discomfort and the pain, he's going to want to play for a long time," Cuza said. "He enjoys the game."

... and hopefully in 2008, he can be a mentor for John Maine and Mike Pelfrey, while Johan Santana can teach Oliver Perez some of his tricks. If Pedro Martinez wants to pitch for a while, we should sign him to an extension. I'm pretty sure that he can be a good influence on our younger pitchers. Keep in mind that younger Latin free-agents, ala Fernando Martinez, signed with the Mets because of Pedro's presence on this team. We can't afford to lose that attraction.

If Pedro were to leave via Free-agency at the end of 2008, our rotation would like this...

Johan Santana
John Maine
Mike Pelfrey
?
?

That is assuming that Oliver Perez leaves via Free-agency too. I'm sure that one of Perez and Pedro, if not both, will want to return to the Mets after this season is over.

Todays links

I was reading around and I saw a few interesting things that I thought I'd share with you.

Chris Roberson was traded to the Orioles from the Phillies in exchange for cash considerations. I think this just clears up the logjam that was the Phillies outfield.. now they dont have to worry about having 5 outfielders on their 25 man roster.

MLBTR has a post up about next years Free Agent class.. as of right now, it seems to be a good one. I think we might have to worry about Oliver Perez bolting after the season unless we sign him to an extension.. but why would he want to leave? He revitalized his career with the Mets and I think he owes it to the Mets and their fans to sign a discounted extension.

At SI.com, they rate the Milledge trade as the 3rd most lop sided trade of the off-season. Man, I really wish the Mets had hung on to Milledge, I was looking forward to seeing some young guys getting some regular playing time for the Mets.

Sorry that I have not been posting regularly.. Mets 4 Life will be back to normal in a very short time.