When I saw the title of this NY Times article - Mets Top Red Sox in Offer to Martínez (registration required) - I was worried that the Mets had really gone to 4 years/$50 million. But the Mets’ offer is 3/$38, with a vesting option, which isn’t that far from the Sox’s 2/$25.5 with an easily-attained 3rd year. I think this is the point in the negotiations where Theo et al guarantee the 3rd year. At least, the Pedro fan in me hopes so.
Meanwhile, from the same article, it looks like the Yankees have dissed Pedro:
By contrast, the Yankees’ principal owner, George Steinbrenner, met with Martínez on Nov. 16 in Tampa, Fla., and has still not offered him a contract… Steinbrenner could always change his mind, but as of now, he appears willing to let Martínez relocate to Queens instead of the Bronx.
Instead, Steinbrenner and the Yankees seem more focused on acquiring Randy Johnson from Arizona.
So that meeting in Tampa was only so much dry humping… the real bidding has started (a post on auction theory will follow soon). Incidentally, if Pedro really ends up in the NL, I don’t doubt that he’ll have a Cy Young season.