Ramon May Join Bro In Boston

As a rookie in 1993, Pedro Martinez joined his older brother Ramon with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Soon, Ramon might be hooking up with Pedro on the Red Sox.

Boston general manager Dan Duquette said Monday that he began discussions to bring Ramon to the Red Sox several months ago. And Pedro, who talked with his brother Saturday, said Ramon "was pretty positive about maybe signing here."

In 11 seasons with the Dodgers, Ramon had a .615 winning percentage and 3.45 ERA. Then he underwent shoulder surgery after 15 starts last year and became a free agent. He's already throwing off a mound in the Dominican Republic and could help the Red Sox in the second half of the season, Duquette said.

If they sign him.

Duquette said three or four other teams have shown interest in Ramon, but the Red Sox have something none of them can offer.

"To the extent that Ramon wants to pitch with his brother, he's got to come here," Duquette said with a laugh. "That and several million dollars will sign the pitcher."

He said he went to the Dominican Republic two weeks ago to check on Ramon's recovery.

"He's progressing and he was in good shape prior to the surgery, so we are proceeding on the basis that he's eventually going to come back and be a decent major league pitcher," Duquette said.

"We've had discussions all winter," he added. "I think there's a general understanding that Ramon does have some interest in pitching on the same team with his brother again."

In 1993, Pedro went 10-5 with Los Angeles, while Ramon was 10-12.

But in the five seasons since then, Ramon is 61-28 and is coming off a career-best 2.83 ERA. And Pedro won the Cy Young award with Montreal in 1997 and was 19-7 with a 2.89 ERA with Boston last year.

"He's always been the No. 1 starter for the Dodgers since 1990," Pedro said, "so I guess I'd say we'll have two number one starters on one team. That would be a great acquisition."

Asked if he were confident Ramon would sign with Boston, Duquette said, "we're still working towards it."

Before he became Red Sox manager in 1997, Jimy Williams was a coach with Atlanta and watched the Braves face Ramon.

"He seemed to be in control of himself out there," Williams said. "He had composure on that mound, didn't get rattled."

In his last five seasons, Ramon was 12-7, 17-7, 15-6, 10-5 and 7-3 with ERAs of 3.97, 3.66, 3.42, 3.64 and 2.83.

Pedro, 27, would love to play with his 30-year-old brother.

"It would feel great. It would bring back a lot of memories about a lot of good moments that we had when we were in L.A.," Pedro said. as a teammate.

While both have been very successful, their personalities are different.

"He's not a very outspoken person. He's very shy," Pedro said. "He's a cold-blooded man. I'm a little bit of a jumpy guy, aggressive. He's very poised and very quiet."

And he's not the only Martinez brother the Red Sox might be interested in signing. Jesus, a 24-year-old lefty, was 7-6 with a 6.85 ERA last season as a starter for Cincinnati's top farm team in Indianapolis, then underwent rotator cuff surgery.

Pedro said Jesus has other offers and might have a better chance to pitch on a less settled staff than Boston's, which is stocked with reliable veterans. Duquette said he saw Jesus throw a couple of weeks ago, but he wouldn't necessarily be part of a package deal with Ramon.

"They're independent," Duquette said, "but the brothers do have an interest in pitching together on the same ballclub. We've had discussions in regard to Jesus as well. He is available."

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