Martinez Watch: Good Luck Pedro

David Lennon at On The Mets Beat, writes about Pedro Martinez and his first bullpen session tomorrow:

Tomorrow's a big day for Pedro watchers with the three-time Cy Young winner scheduled to throw off a mound in Port St. Lucie for the first time since his rotator-cuff surgery. The Mets have been smart with Martinez by completely cutting him out of their plans until August. That way, there's no rush to bring him back and no pressure on Pedro to hurry his rehab. Instead, Martinez has stuck to a plodding pace of conditioning and throwing exercises to build up arm strength.

While it may seem too early to get excited about tomorrow's morning session at the minor-league complex, there's plenty that can be learned from finally getting on a mound. Remember, it was back in spring training that Duaner Sanchez had to cut short his first mound session and later discovered he had a small fracture of a bone in his shoulder.

Throwing from a mound puts a much different strain on the arm and shoulder, which is why the Mets' medical staff has waited for so long with Martinez. The intent was to make sure that Martinez's surgically-repaired shoulder is strong enough to handle it, and based on his visit with the Mets last month, it appears that he should be OK. But neither the Mets nor Martinez will know for sure until tomorrow, and perhaps even Wednesday, when they see how he rebounds the following day.