| Pedro tells Sox to keep his ring.
Martinez still angry at former team
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FOXSports.com
Posted: 1 day ago
So much for leaving on good terms.
He's smiling here, but when it comes to his former team, Pedro Martinez isn't in a laughing mood. (LM Otero / Associated Press)
According to a report in the Boston Herald, the acrimony Pedro Martinez holds toward his former employers has reached the point where Martinez may not accept the World Series ring he helped the Boston Red Sox win last year.
"If they want to keep the (World Series) ring, that's fine,'' he told the paper. "I just know I contributed to that team to win, and I'm proud of it. They can never erase what I did in Boston. Most important, I had a job in Boston for seven years, and I appreciate that. And that's the most important thing. I had a job, and I did what I had to do in my job. Every time I could pitch, I did. Hurting, or not hurting.''
"It's his ring," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said. "He earned it."
Martinez may have earned it, but he may not want it.
The source of Martinez's discontent? His belief that the Red Sox downplayed his abilities and contributions when he left the team during the off-season to sign as a free agent with the New York Mets.
"Because I didn't let Theo (Epstein) or the Red Sox decide my life, my future, I'm a bad man now,'' Martinez said. "Judging from what I've seen, and what I've read and what I've heard, that's how I'm being portrayed.
"I did my job. I think I did that all seven years I was there. Everyone seems to have forgotten about that. A lot of the fans probably remember, but they're selling me as a negative. I'm not saying all the fans. But some have forgotten.'' |