Yanks Among Four Teams That Will Scout Pedro

From Ken Rosenthal:

The Cubs and Rays are not the only teams in contact with free-agent right-hander Pedro Martinez.

Those clubs, plus the Yankees and Angels, will watch Martinez throw on Friday in the Dominican Republic, according to major-league sources.

However, each of those teams is downplaying its interest in signing Martinez, at least to a major-league contract.

One executive said his club is sending scouts to watch Martinez only as a courtesy to the pitcher's agent, Fernando Cuza.

Most teams currently have scouts in the Dominican checking on amateur talent, and some of those scouts are in a convenient position to look at Martinez.

Martinez, 37, is seeking about $3 million — a pro-rated portion of his original $5 million request — to pitch the rest of the season, one source said.

The interest in Martinez almost certainly would rise if he were willing to sign a minor-league contract. But he has strongly indicated that he will not lower his price.

Meanwhile, none of the four teams that will watch Martinez on Friday considers starting pitching to be its greatest area of need.
...

The Yankees, too, would benefit more from the addition of a reliever. They believe Chien-Ming Wang made progress in his start against the Nationals on Wednesday night, and currently have an extra starter, righty Phil Hughes, pitching out of the bullpen.

Gordon Edes has a similar story as well, and we discusses the possibility of adding Pedro in one of the guests posts here.

Like the article above states, the Yankees do not need Pedro as a starting pitcher. And even if he would be willing to sign on to be a reliever, at this point I really am starting to like the bullpen the Yankees have finally put together. With Bruney back, Aceves, Coke, Hughes and Robertson throwing the ball well, and Mo there to close to the door the Yankees pen isn't in such dire need for help these days. So unless he's willing to take a minor league deal without any guarantees on playing time I don't think he's a fit for this team.

There are the obvious concerns about his health, and his ability to get outs in the AL East - he wasn't exactly Sandy Koufax with the Mets.

If the Yankees still looked like their bullpen was a major issue then I'd consider it, just because you could always catch lightning in a bottle. And that's only if Pedro was willing to relieve and sign a minor league deal, but being that he wants to start, and wants $3 million to do so, I think the Yankees have to pass.