Who’s Your Daddy?

By Taryn “The Coop” Cooper
Posted Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Back in the 2004 off-season, Carlos Beltran was the name most of my Yankee fan friends were throwing at me. “No way he signs with the Mets. No way!” And I agreed. I seriously thought Beltran would stay with the Astros. (And am still shocked the Astros fans still hate him to this day … my theory is, they needed another “Killer B” to replace Bagwell or Biggio when they retired, ha ha).

But Pedro Martinez? Oh puh-leeze. His name never came on the radar of most Mets fans. Why is that? Hmmm, how about he was Mr. Red Sock (well, sharing that title with Manny and Papi over in Beantown)? But also … why would he want to leave a team that just won one of the most exhausting yet memorable World Series in a lifetime? Not to mention, the Red Sox were one of the “cursed” teams of the major league baseball world. This World Series meant something to the fans, to MLB as a whole, and yes, to the team that brought them there.

But Pedro to the Mets? Most of us scoffed at the idea. When David Ortiz said, “Pedro ain't goin’ to no Mets,” I had to kind of agree with him. What was enticing enough for him to leave a World Series champion to a team that had finished in last place and was the laughing stock of the baseball world?

Enter Omar Minaya. Minaya’s theory about seducing Pedro was this: Why spend more money on the club’s “ace” right now (Al Leiter) and not spend extra dollars in getting the best pitcher in the market, arguably one of the best in baseball?

It was a no-brainer. But the fans were rendered speechless after the signing was announced. Pedro Martinez? On our team? I was shocked, not to mention disbelieving until I saw him in Mets colors in a press conference. Yankee fans, of course, scoffed once again, “Who’s Your Daddy?”

Fast forward to Sunday, September 9, 2007. Pedro Martinez makes his second start of the 2007 season (yes, you read that right) against the Houston Astros (funny how we keep coming full circle against the Astros, right?). While far from the dominating Petey he normally is, since this was his second start coming back from major surgery that sidelined him for the postseason in 2006 and most of 2007 … against a floundering Astros team’s ace … this was a plus. But in the Spirit of Pedro, it gives the Mets that extra little something, that validity his signing gave the team in 2004.

And exactly the reason Omar Minaya brought Pedro Martinez to the Mets in a blockbuster, unprecedented deal in 2004.

Pedro Martinez changed the face of this organization. One day, the Mets were idiots with bad management and with the cloud of Black Friday looming over the team even in the off-season; in one signing, the bad trades of the past were almost (almost) forgiven.

Pedro brought with him a legitimacy that was unparalleled. Although some people scoffed at his four-year deal with the Mets, even more so when he went down in a stretch when the team really needed him last year, Pedro’s signing was well worth the dollars and years put behind it.

Without Pedro, I don’t think we’d have Carlos Beltran. And say what you want about him — and as you all know on the Flushing University campus, I have not been nice about him! — Carlos Beltran also changed the face of this organization. Essentially, the changing of the guard of Mike Piazza’s Mets to Beltran’s and the young homegrown blood of David Wright and Jose Reyes “New” Mets.

Pedro was also giving unsolicited advice. When he noticed Tom Glavine was tipping his pitches in 2005 (when most Mets fans, after two lackluster years, had pretty much written him off), Glavine went on a tear and has basically been dominant once again.

The young guys tend to play better around Pedro. In Pedro’s first game back against the Cincinnati Reds, the TV cameras saw him dancing with (in no particular order) Oliver Perez, Lastings Milledge, Marlon Anderson, and a few other team members.

Gold’s Pure Food Products endorsed Pedro Martinez bobblehead night. When SNY asked the president of Gold’s to ask why they chose to endorse Pedro’s bobblehead, his answer was simple, “Gold’s makes your meals better. Pedro makes the Mets better.”

Hey, it convinced me.

Pedro Martinez became a target of New York's Yankee-centered media when he made the comment, “The Yankees are my daddy.” Chants of “Who’s Your Dad-dy? Clap, clap, clapclapclap” were commonplace in Yankeeland.

Pedro moving to the Mets, to the NL, leaving the Red Sox, certainly has one team and one person saying Who’s your daddy? The answer being: Pedro. And the team being: the Mets!