Pedro Martinez opened his mouth about the Blue Jays and Toronto fans opened fire.
The Hall of Fame pitcher has been vocal about the Blue Jays all season. Earlier in the summer, Martinez posted that Toronto “doesn’t look like it has what it takes” and said the team was missing something beyond pitching. The Jays were sitting at 21-27 at the time, 12 games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East, and looked nothing like the team that had gone to the World Series the year before.
Now Martinez is getting roasted for his latest round of commentary. In his most recent take, the former Red Sox ace tried to soften the message by saying Toronto is “coming up again” and can give the Yankees a scare with a little help. Blue Jays fans were not buying it.
The problem is not the accuracy. Martinez is not wrong that Toronto has looked broken for stretches. The team has been decimated by injuries. Bo Bichette missed weeks, Alejandro Kirk has been in and out of the lineup, and the rotation has never been fully healthy. Max Scherzer, one of the offseason bets, is a walking argument for why signing 40-year-old pitchers is dangerous.
The problem is who is saying it. Pedro Martinez built his career punishing the Blue Jays in the AL East. He has always had a strained relationship with the Toronto fan base going back to his Boston days. When he takes shots at the Jays now, even in the guise of analysis, fans hear the same guy who used to celebrate strikeouts at their expense.
Martinez has a valuable platform. He works TBS, he posts constantly on X, and his baseball opinions carry the weight of a first-ballot Hall of Famer. When he says the Blue Jays need more, front offices around the league listen. That is exactly why fans are pushing back so hard. They know it lands.
The Blue Jays have quietly stabilized. Their post-All-Star break record is much better than the first half suggested. The addition of Jameson Taillon at the deadline gave the rotation a real second option behind Kevin Gausman. If they get healthy in September, the wild card is still on the table.
None of that changes the perception that Toronto is a team that lost its identity somewhere between last October and this July. The clubhouse has answered questions about chemistry, about leadership, and about the manager. That is not a good sign for a team with real talent.
Martinez’s real point was fair. The Blue Jays need more. They need more from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who has posted a career-worst OPS. They need more from a bullpen that has coughed up leads all summer. They need more from a manager who has become a lightning rod for criticism.
Toronto’s response has to happen on the field. September starts with a pivotal series against the Yankees in the Bronx, and a good week there quiets a lot of the noise, including Pedro’s.
Until then, expect more takes. And more Toronto fans letting Pedro hear about it.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
