The Boston Red Sox were in the market for a pitching coach after firing Juan Nieves on Thursday, but one name that wasn’t receptive to the position is new MLB Network analyst Pedro Martinez. Martinez simply didn’t seem to be very keen on the workload that a major league coach has to deal with on an every day basis.
“They have never approached me with that mentality,” said Martinez. “It’s a job that does not come to my interest. I think being a pitching coach is a lot more than you guys know. Being a pitching coach is more than being a player, it’s more than being on time, it’s more than being at the field at 2:30 or maybe at 2.
“I don’t think I would want to be in a field 162 games — a little bit more — like I did as a player. So I don’t think it would be in my lines to do that. Even though I could help the team at any time they need me.”
That’s fair enough. Martinez has no formal coaching experience, and jumping into a pressure cooker of a job in Boston probably wouldn’t end well for him. Besides, Pedro is thriving in his new role as an analyst for MLB Network – baseball fans across the country would be in a much worse place if he ended up leaving TV so soon.
Boston eventually hired Carl Willis, the pitching coach for the AAA Columbus Clippers (Indians affiliate), for the open job.
