Martinez

BOSTON -- Pedro Martinez said he has a minor tear in his rotator cuff and criticized Boston general manager Dan Duquette for saying he was healthy.

"What I don't appreciate is Duquette saying I'm healthy because then it is not true," Martinez said Tuesday before Boston's 8-5 loss to the Cleveland Indians. "I'm doing the best that I can to help the team, but I'm not 100 percent. ...

"I think Dan knows as much about medicine as I do, maybe less," he added. "That's why I'm surprised he said I'm healthy."

Martinez said Red Sox team physician Dr. Bill Morgan told him he has thinning of the rotator cuff, but that Anaheim team physician Dr. Lewis Yocum told him there was a minor tear.

Duquette told ESPN's Karl Ravech on Tuesday night that the organization would not force Martinez to pitch if it meant jeopardizing his long-term health.

"Pedro's the best judge of whether or not he's hurt, and we wouldn't ask him to pitch if he's hurt," team spokesman Kevin Shea said.

Shea said the differing diagnoses were "a matter of semantics."

Martinez said Wednesday he is feeling better and hopes to pitch again this season. The three-time Cy Young Award winner threw in the outfield while the Red Sox took batting practice before playing Cleveland. His next scheduled start is Friday at Yankee Stadium.

"I'm hoping I pitch Friday," he said. "If not I'll pitch Saturday, Sunday or Monday."

Morgan did an MRI in which dye injected into the shoulder showed no leakage, indicating there wasn't a tear. Shea said Yocum concurred with the original diagnosis.

"Once I heard tear, I freaked out a little bit," Martinez said.

Martinez spoke calmly for 15 minutes. He said the decision Sunday night to reassign pitching coach John Cumberland, who had served as pitching coach under new manager Joe Kerrigan "wasn't fair."

Martinez didn't echo Nomar Garciaparra, who said Sunday night after learning of Cumberland's dismissal, "That's why no one wants to ... play here." But the star pitcher did express concern.

"When Nomar says something, believe me, you have a problem," Martinez said, "because Nomar is not the type of guy that's going to be saying anything."

The Red Sox were in playoff contention before firing manager Jimy Williams on Aug. 16. Kerrigan, who had never managed in professional baseball, had led the Red Sox to a 6-12 record and a nine-game losing streak, Boston's longest in seven years.

Boston has almost no chance to reach the playoffs, trailing the Yankees by 9½ games in the AL East and starting the night 8½ games behind the Oakland Athletics in the wild-card race.

Clubhouse dissension escalated with Cumberland's dismissal after Sunday night's 1-0 Yankees' victory in which Mike Mussina came within one strike of a perfect game before Carl Everett singled.

Cumberland, who spoke with several media outlets Tuesday, told the Boston Herald: "I didn't create the monster that's down there right now, and Jimy Williams didn't create it either. Dan Duquette created the monster."

Cumberland told the Boston Globe: "Duquette wanted to do an evaluation on me. I said, 'It's better to do an evaluation on yourself.' "

On Tuesday, the Red Sox announced that they had terminated Cumberland's contract for failing to report to the team's minor league base at Fort Myers, Fla., where he had been reassigned.

In his last outing Saturday, Martinez (7-2) allowed no runs and two hits in six innings, lowering his ERA to 2.22 in 17 starts. He didn't get the loss in New York's 2-1 win.

The next day, amid speculation that Martinez might be better off not pitching again this season with the team virtually out of contention, Duquette said Martinez was healthy and owed it to fans to pitch.

"I got hurt because of the fans, because I wanted to do it for the fans and for myself and my teammates," Martinez said. "It's not for Duquette who we pitch for. We pitch for the fans.

"He's the boss," Martinez added. "I'm going to try to pitch as much as I can and, if I can't, well, he can't force me to pitch."

Martinez is in the fourth year of a $75 million, six-year contract with a club option for 2004.

"If I'm hurting, I'm just going to shut it down," Martinez said. "If he wants to take my check, he can take it. When I came here I was a millionaire, and it's not going to make me any richer or whatever by forcing me to pitch."