All good things must come to an end
Martinez was limited to 18 games in an injury shortened 2001 season, preventing his stretch of dominance from extending to a third consecutive year. His sore shoulder was later revealed to be a partial tear to his rotator cuff and GM Dan Duquette’s insistence that Pedro was healthy enough to pitch created a riff between the team and their ace.
He bounced back with consecutive ERA titles in 2002 and 2003 but couldn’t quite reach his pre-injury peak. Martinez finished second and third respectively on the Cy Young ballot those seasons but was barely on the MVP radar. He was still among the greatest pitchers in the game but his past workload was starting to take a toll and he fell short of 200 innings in each of those seasons.
Further signs of his skill eroding were evident in 2004 but Martinez was still a vital part of the team that reversed an 86 year curse by winning the World Series. He left the Red Sox as a free agent after that championship season but wasn’t the same dominant pitcher after leaving Boston.
Martinez had an outstanding Hall of Fame career and his best seasons were with the Red Sox. His ’99 campaign is the best that I’ve ever seen by a pitcher and his performance the following season is certainly in the conversation.