More on the Pedro negotiations, by Bob Hohler:
At the very least, Martinez almost certainly needed to sense some willingness by the Sox to improve their initial offer if he were to maintain faith in the negotiations. And the Sox needed to determine whether they could afford to reasonably satisfy Martinez’s expectations, particularly if he believed his meeting with Steinbrenner improved his bargaining position.
I thought this was actually a fair recap of the delicate balance of the negotations, rather than the “Pedro is betraying us” tone.