After reading Jay Jaffe tonight, I'm curious. I've long thought that Pedro's pitching counts signalled something; that perhaps Boston wasn't going to baby Pedro's arm any longer, wringing out whatever value they could within reason, perhaps challenging him to push by challenging his pride and fragile ego. It's not a bad plan and "when to abuse your pitcher" is a whole chapter in STP.

Now, with Theo picking up Pedro's option too early and serious concerns about a Red Sox lineup with two head cases and Nomar taking up a good chunk of payroll, could Pedro get dealt? He's 10-5 and may have a no-trade somewhere in his contract, but I can see situations where it's possible to talk him into a deal. If the Sox aren't competitive next year, if they "don't show him the love" he thinks he deserves, or just announce they're not going to be able to resign him, a la Miggy "31" Tejada this season, a deal to a contender might work. It was a great strategy for the Mariners when dealing with Randy Johnson in a similar situation, netting three good players that have contributed over the years - clearly much more than Johnson did for the Astros. I don't have the foggiest idea who might take Pedro, but there are few teams that down the stretch might not think long and hard about bringing in someone like Pedro, even the lesser Pedro we'll see next year. There are probably even situations that would move Pedro in the off-season, but I can't come up with any.