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Pedro Martinez On Deflategate: Tom Brady Is A Really Juicy Mango

BOSTON (CBS) – Former Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez says stars like Tom Brady have to be able to tune out those who are throwing stones. When asked about the deflategate controversy, Martinez said he is being attacked because of his success.

"In the Dominican we say you don't throw rocks to the bad mangos, or the green mangos," Martinez said in an interview with WBZ-TV's Dan Roche.

"You go after the ripe ones. They're nice and sweet and yellow and those are the ones you go after. So I would say Brady is one of those ripe mangos, really juicy, and good, and he is going to get a lot of rocks thrown at him."

Tom-Brady
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

On Wednesday, the long-awaited Ted Wells report was made public, and determined that Patriots team employees likely deflated footballs and Brady was "at least generally aware" of the situation.

Martinez defended Brady's character.

"Every one of the Hall of Famers will have a teammate or someone say 'he's as good as a human being as he is a player,'" he said. "Brady is no exception. Hall of Famer for sure. If he retired today he is a Hall of Famer. Good looking, smart."

Related: Brady Says Super Bowl Not Tarnished

Martinez, who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer, spoke with Dan Roche about his new book "Pedro". Watch more from the interview Sunday night on Sports Final.

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