The Red Sox and Pedro Martinez' agent will talk contract this week, but the team concerned with their star pitcher's decreased velocity this spring.

01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, March 23, 2004

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- As the start of the regular season draws near, so does the deadline for the Red Sox to reach agreement with their Fab Four -- free agents-to-be Nomar Garciaparra, Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek.

The club has said repeatedly that, out of fear that distractions could set in, it will not negotiate contract extensions once the season gets under way. That leaves just over a week-and-a-half for the Sox to negotiate new deals for its stars. After that, the Sox will wait until after the season to continue talks.

Fernando Cuza, the agent for Pedro Martinez, is scheduled to visit with CEO Larry Lucchino today at City of Palms Park, where the Sox will host the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Cuza was part of a parade of agents who met with members of the front office two weeks ago, but little progress was made. According to sources, the Sox have made only one concrete proposal -- to Garciaparra -- to date.

That could change today with Cuza's arrival, though Cuza maintains a home in nearby Sarasota and could easily return before the Red Sox leave Florida on April 1.

But unless significant progress is made today, it seems unlikely there would be a foundation for future talks, causing the issue to be tabled until November.

Some concern about Martinez exists within the organization. Martinez has been pain-free all spring, but some in management are asking why Martinez has yet to top 90 mph on radar guns in three Grapefruit League outings. There's also some fear that his lower arm angle, which his close friend, David Segui of the Baltimore Orioles, pointed out to him after an at-bat 10 days ago, is indicative of some soreness in the shoulder.

Martinez has some fraying of the rotator cuff, first discovered in the latter half of the 2001 season, but has repeatedly stated this spring that his shoulder is strong and pain-free.

That, in itself, is good news, but for ownership it also raises a troubling question: If Martinez is indeed fully healthy, why doesn't his pitching reflect that?

One theory is that Martinez has deliberately held back from throwing as hard as he's capable of this spring because the Sox have not been more aggressive in their efforts to sign him. It's as though Martinez has asked himself: Why should I cut it loose and risk injury when they haven't made a commitment to me?

At the same time, Red Sox management could be asking the same question from their perspective: Why should we commit to him if he won't -- or can't -- throw harder than he's thrown?

Of the four premium free agents, Martinez must be viewed as the biggest physical risk. Lowe has been remarkable injury-free over his career, and though Varitek required surgery on his elbow in 2001, he has recovered nicely, posting a career-best season a year ago.

Even Garciaparra, who missed most of the 2001 season with a wrist injury, has proven himself to be mostly healthy since, a current nagging case of tendinitis in the heel notwithstanding.

But Martinez is more problematic. Substantially smaller in stature than most power pitchers, his durability is a question mark. The Sox must monitor his workload more than most pitchers, giving him an additional day of rest when possible and carefully tracking his pitch count.

Before the Sox can grant Martinez an extension, they need some assurance that he can still be a dominant front-of-the-rotation pitcher at age 35, or the final year of a three-year contract extension.

Unlike a year ago when he regularly and publicly pushed the Red Sox to exercise the 2004 option on his contract -- they did so a week into the season, seven months before they were required to do so -- he has said little about his uncertain future this spring.

"To be perfectly honest, it doesn't matter to me," he said yesterday of his status.

After sending signals in a press conference last fall that he understood he would have to accept a reduction in salary in a new deal, he has been reluctant to address the issue specifically this spring.

"When my agent has a deal for me to sign, he'll tell me," he said. "Otherwise, I'm not worrying about it."

Cuza was said to be close to finalizing a three-year contract extension for New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera yesterday before coming to Fort Myers to speak about Martinez.