So Pedro’s been criticising the way the Sox organisation negotiated with him. Maybe it’s classless behaviour, but I have a fondness for players who speak their minds and wear their hearts on their sleeves rather than those who sound like PR flacks.
It really sounds like Pedro feels that by his definition the Sox didn’t respect him. And ultimately, like it or not, if the Sox wanted to re-sign him they needed to go by his, not their own, definition of respect. It still strikes me that in the negotiations there weren’t any non-baseball moves that gave the sense that the Sox were dealing with Pedro as a person - sending a huge gift to his sister’s wedding, that sort of thing… unlike, say, taking Foulke to watch hockey (note to self: be thankful that the NHL lockout occurred this year, not last!) or breaking bread with the Schillings. They flew to the DR, yes, but they flew there to negotiate with Pedro and bring the trophy to the Academy - all baseball-related events.
Fact is, Pedro is a proud, passionate man, and as someone said, what’s happened is kind of like a divorce - people say things in the heat of the moment that they don’t mean, except that in this case it’s written in the press and magnified forever. Give it a few months, let it cool off, and we’ll see how the dust settles.