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Of course they will give him the ring. First, they had something like 500 made and they are giving them to practically everyone associated with the team last season, from the broadcasters and the team physician on down. Second, he pitched well for much of the season, and earned his ring. Third, they are a classy organization overall and try to do the right thing for their players and former players.
As far as Pedro's comments they were out of line, but not unexpected for the prima donna that he was. Pedro got away with a great deal as a Red Sox player, from leaving early from games to showing up late to spring training and yet the organization was always exceptionally supportive of him no matter what. The fans also gave him an enormous amount of support and hardly ever gave him grief for anything.
As a player, Pedro had a great run with the Red Sox, and his '99 season was one of the best ever by a pitcher in the modern age, however, Pedro has become a slilghtly above average pitcher over the last couple years. His ERA's have risen dramatically, and he is no longer able to pitch effectively after 100 pitches. He also has had a history of breaking down physically, and needing to be treated gently.
This brings us to his comments. Pedro has a problem. He equates money with respect. The Red Sox went as far as they could sensibly as far as meeting pedro's needs. They signed him to his option year way earlier than they had to, just to make him happy. Then they offered him a three year guarenteed contract, which was one year longer than they originally intended to guarentee, again, to try to appease Pedro. Pedro got greedy, and found a GM with more money than fiscal responsibility and who was desperate to drag fans out of the Bronx and into Shea and willing to sign a pitcher with a questionable probability of completing his contract. He than proceeded to badmouth an organization who had pretty much done everything he had asked for seven years and made him a hundred million, while consistantly surrounding him with quality players that allowed him to consistantly be on a competetive team. He's a big bitch. He could have left town as a hero, with a pat on the back and a "sorry it didn't work out," but he had to be a big mouthed jerk. If you want an example of how he could have acted, look at Derek Lowe. He pitched great in the playoffs, after a mediocre regular season, and the Sox chose not to try to sign him for the kind of money he could have commanded elsewhere. He was a remarkably durable pitcher with no health issues and a lot of upside, but the Sox chose to go in a differnt direction. Derek had no hard feelings, and returned for the ring ceremony and appeared to really enjoy himself, and nearly all Sox fans wish him the best. Same goes for all the former 2004 players, Cabrera, Reese, Roberts etc. All except Pedro.
Sorry for the long diatribe. I could have summed it up in one sentence: Pedro is a prima donna bitch.
Oh yeah, as far as their treatment of Nomar, he was never the same after the Sox attempted to sign A-Rod, but they were still classy to acknowledge his contributions over the years, and gave him a ring and a full share.
As for the Sox putting their players health at risk, the procedure had an extremely low probability of long term damage, or they wouldn't have done it, and yes, Curt said he requested the opportunity to have it, the team never even asked him.
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"Religion is the one area of our discourse in which it is considered noble to pretend to be certain about things no human being could possibly be certain about"
--Sam Harris
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