Phillies

Top 25 Players To Ever Play a Game for the Phillies: No. 5, Pedro Martinez

Tim Kelly Sports Editor

Published28 Jan 2018

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By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor

Six players in MLB history have won the Cy Young Award in both leagues, two of which appear on SportsTalkPhilly.com's countdown of the 25 greatest players to ever appear in a game for the Philadelphia Phillies. The first, the late Roy Halladay, checked in at No. 8. The second, Pedro Martinez, checks in at No. 5.

If one thinks of Sandy Koufax as the epitome of a dominant left-handed pitcher, Martinez would have a good case to be his right-handed counterpart.

Between 1996 and 2005, while pitching with the Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox and New York Mets, Martinez posted one of the most dominant 10-year stretches in baseball history. While pitching over 2,000 innings, Martinez posted a 2.60 ERA, made seven All-Star teams and won three Cy Young Awards. Oh yeah, he also helped pitch the 2004 Boston Red Sox to a World Series title, the franchise's first championship in 86 years.

Peak Pedro didn't play for the Phillies, but the 2009 Phillies, who were the defending World Series champions, got an effective version of Martinez nonetheless. Martinez, who had been pretty ineffective for the Mets in 2008, didn't sign with the Phillies until halfway through July. With Cole Hamels suffering from a season-long World Series hangover, first-year general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. bolstered the team's rotation in July by taking a chance on Martinez, and acquiring defending American League Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee from the Cleveland Indians. He hit both moves out of the park.

While Lee gave the Phillies a legitimate No. 1 option, Martinez gave the Phillies a veteran back-end-of-the-rotation option with a wealth of playoff experience. It took Martinez until August to pitch at the major league level for the Phillies, but in nine regular season starts, Martinez went 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA. He wasn't a star, but he was an improvement over Jamie Moyer, who he replaced in the rotation, and helped the Phillies to their third consecutive National League East title.

Martinez didn't pitch in the Phillies four-game NLDS victory over the Colorado Rockies, but returned in Game 2 of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Martinez, who Charlie Manuel purposely waited to start at warm-weather Chavez Ravine, turned back the clock in his first start of the 2009 postseason. Martinez allowed just two hits across seven innings, setting the Phillies up to take a 2-0 lead back to Citizens Bank Park.

Unfortunately, the Phillies couldn't pull through, as the Dodgers won the game 2-1. Fortunately for Martinez and the Phillies, it was the last game the team would lose in the National League playoffs, as the Phillies won the next three games, punching a ticket to the World Series.

In the World Series, Martinez ran out of gas. Facing his long-time nemisis, the New York Yankees, Martinez posted an 0-2 record with a 6.30 ERA in two starts. While Martinez struggled in a six-game World Series defeat, he had helped the Phillies to reach the game's biggest stage for the second consecutive season. His one year with the Phillies turned out to be an appropriate finish to a legendary career.

Martinez was – and for that matter, as an analyst for TBS, remains – unique. Legendary Boston Red Sox left fielder Ted Williams says that his goal for the day, and his for his lifetime, was to have people say "There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived." Martinez, who eventually was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame as a member of the Red Sox, had his own twist on that quote; "I don't want to die and hear everybody say, 'Oh, there goes one of the best players ever. If you're going to give me props, just give them to me right now.'"

Like Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and Mike Mussina – three Hall of Fame caliber pitchers that pitched during the same period as Martinez, Pedro was his own guy. Like the other three, his style worked for him. Unlike the other three, Martinez was a first-ballot Hall of Famer, after pitching a majority of his career during the most pitching unfriendly era in the history of the sport.

Career Accomplishments

Baseball Hall of Famer
Eight All-Star game appearances (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006)
Three-time Cy Young Award winner (1997, 1999, 2000)
Led MLB in ERA five times (1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003)
Led American League in strikeouts three times (1999, 2000, 2002)
Pitching Triple Crown (1999)
One of six players in MLB history to win Cy Young Award in both leagues

*Awards were not factored into the formula

Career-Defining Moment

This may not sit well with some, given that Martinez had a historic career, but the most memorable moment of Martinez's career isn't a positive one. It did, in many regards, define the most memorable part of his career, however.

2003 marked the 85th anniversary of the last World Series title that the Boston Red Sox won. It had been since 1986, the Bill Buckner series, since the Red Sox had even appeared in the World Series. Meanwhile, the Yankees had appeared in five World Series since 1996, winning four of them. In Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, however, it appeared that the Red Sox were going to discard of the Yankees, en route to potentially discarding the "Curse of the Bambino."

Martinez, who finished third in American League Cy Young voting despite posting a 2.21 FIP, entered the eighth inning with a 5-2 lead. Baseball Reference says that the Red Sox entered the bottom of the eighth with a 91 percent win probability. Of course, the remaining nine percent still leaned against the Red Sox.

After Nick Johnson flew out to open the inning, Derek Jeter doubled to right field. The criminally underrated Bernie Williams followed that up with an RBI single, cutting the Red Sox lead to 5-3. This prompted a now infamous mound visit from Red Sox manager Grady Little. Rather than pulling Martinez, Little left him in the game, a decision that would ultimately cost him his job.

Martinez, who wasn't a workhorse in the mold of Roy Halladay or Justin Verlander, had thrown 115 pitches. He was out of energy, which showed in the next at-bat when he allowed a ground-rule double to Hideki Matsui. Still, Little elected to leave Martinez in the game, which failed him when a bloop single from Jorge Posada plated Williams and Matsui in the next at-bat, tying the game at five.

By now, you know how the story ended. The game remained tied until the bottom of the 11th, when new Yankees manager Aaron Boone hit a titanic walk-off home run to send the Yankees to the World Series, and extend the Red Sox pain.

This wasn't the last chapter of the Pedro-Yankees rivalry. It predated the "call them my daddies" quote. It predated Pedro and the Red Sox coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS a year later. And there was even a brief return of the Pedro-Yankees rivalry in 2009. Regardless of who won, the Pedro-Yankees rivalry is part of what made baseball so fun during the early-2000s.

Reasoning for ranking

Martinez has a career bWAR of 84, the fourth highest of any player to ever play for the Phillies. Martinez had 13 seasons with a bWAR of two or higher, nine seasons with a bWAR of five or higher and four seasons with a bWAR of eight or higher. Martinez totaled 60 points from his bWAR alone.

Martinez then earned one point for his 2.93 career ERA, which is 147th in MLB history. His 2.91 FIP is 108th best in baseball history, earning him one point for being in the top 200. He earned two points for his 219 wins, which are 79th in MLB history, putting himself inside the top 100 all-time. Martinez netted five points for his 1.054 WHIP, which is seventh in baseball history. He was also in the top 10 in baseball history in H/9 and K/9, giving him 10 more points.

In total, Martinez earned 79 points, which was the third highest total of any player to play for the Phillies since 1945 – those considered for this countdown. As explained at the bottom of this post, historical columnist Matt Albertson and I reserved the right to adjust the countdown as we felt appropriate. Neither of us felt he was the third best player to ever play for the Phillies, though I had to be talked out of putting him at No. 4.

Previous Entries

Explanation of scientific formula

The player rankings formula combines both traditional and advanced statistics/metrics and assigns a point total to each category.

First, single-season WAR is a primary factor in our rankings. According to Baseball Reference's WAR calculations, 2+ WAR is considered a starter, 5+ WAR is All-Star caliber, and 8+ WAR is MVP level. We totaled the number of seasons that a player performed at a 2+ WAR, 5+ WAR, and 8+ WAR level and assigned a set point value for each category, (+1), (+3), and (+5) respectively. For example, in 1980, Mike Schmidt complied an 8.8 WAR. This was counted as a 2+ WAR season, a 5+ WAR season, and an 8+ WAR season. So, for 1980 alone, Mike Schmidt earned nine points for WAR.

Next, we assigned point values for being among the top 25, top 50, top 100, and top 200 all-time in particular statistical categories, such as batting average, hits, doubles, triples, RBI, home runs, and OPS for hitters; and ERA, wins, and WHIP, FIP, BB/9, H/9, and K/9 for pitchers.

Finally, all statistical categories were totaled up using our point based system and ranked accordingly, with historical columnist Matt Albertson and managing editor Tim Kelly reserving the right to move players up the list, within reason, based on an "importance" factor. A player will score higher in this subjective category if his acquisition corresponded with a great team career or if they contributed to the club's rebuild or playoff run. A player will score lower if their career didn't correspond with a particularly good season(s) or with a playoff run. It will also be low if this player was traded by the club and became one of the best players in the game after the trade, thus negatively effecting the club's performance or extending a rebuild. An explanation of why a player is ranked in a certain spot will be provided, as will an overall score breakdown.