Pedro approaching milestone

Tony DeMarco at MSNBC writes about Pedro Martinez and the strikeout milestone:

When Martinez takes the Shea Stadium mound on Wednesday against the San Diego Padres, he will be just 17 strikeouts shy of 3,000. Career win No. 200 came April 17 against the Atlanta Braves — impressive career bookends for certain.

Martinez’s place on the all-time strikeout list is even loftier. He already is in 14th place, with nothing but Hall of Famers current and future in front of him. In fact, Bob Gibson and Ferguson Jenkins are just another productive year away.

Depending on where you want to go with Martinez’s career projection, No. 5 Bert Blyleven at 3,701 is on the conservative side, the 4,000 barrier — which only four pitchers have crossed — is a less-likelier occurrence, and passing the eventual totals of Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson would be the limit, as nobody is getting to Nolan Ryan’s 5,714.

Yes, in Martinez’s case, it’s where he’s going, not necessarily where he is right now. Especially when his accomplishments are being overshadowed by four other still-active future Hall of Famers who are far closer to the end of the line.