26
2009
Dan Warthen Sounds The Alarm On Oliver Perez
An article by 
Ben Shpigel of the NY Times reveals the mounting concern over the Mets’ $36 million dollar man, Oliver Perez.
Pitching coach Dan Warthen had some scathing remarks after seeing Oliver Perez fail to make it out of the fourth inning yesterday in a 10-6 loss to the Tigers.
The pitching coach Dan Warthen called him “out of shape” on Wednesday after Perez failed to get through the fourth inning of the Mets’ 10-6 loss to the Detroit Tigers. The assessment was more alarming than the performance.
Warthen said Perez, who is listed at 205 pounds, had gained weight since arriving in Florida six weeks ago, and he indicated that participating for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic had damaged Pérez’s preparation for the regular season.
All I heard yesterday was the usual rhetoric “it’s only spring” and “hell be ready” from the fan base, but wouldn’t the pitching coach be the true authority on the matter?
When Manager Jerry Manuel pulled Perez from the game on Wednesday, with two outs in the fourth, he had walked six, allowed six runs, including a three-run homer to Plácido Polanco, and had thrown a staggering 92 pitches.
“My worries have come to fruition,” Warthen said, “I think he’s not in shape. the arm is out of shape. He needs to start pushing himself a little more.”
The Mets’ uncertainty about Perez comes at a particularly poor time given John Maine’s struggles. Maine is scheduled to start Thursday against St. Louis, and the Mets cannot afford to have two linchpin starters emerging as problems 10 days before the season starts.
I said it before and I’ll say it again, the Mets rotation is not the slam dunk so many are making it out to be.
The rotation has more than its fair share of concerns even if you were to ignore the critical assessment of Perez by Warthen. The way that Maine’s comeback from shoulder surgery is being downplayed by the Mets is a bit worrisome. Tim Redding, who was originally pegged for the number five spot is already on the DL because of his own off season surgery complications. Pelfrey is being asked to shoulder a big load as the team’s number two starter, but I think Pelf will be fine.
Hopefully, Perez will take this criticism seriously enough to get his act together and earn that big fat contract he held us over a barrel for.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
Went to my first Mets game, a Mayors Trophy game at Shea, in '73. We beat the Yankees 8-4 and I was hooked. I marched in two Banner Day parades, and before the Grand Slam single, there was the "Hendu Can Do" grand slam - I was there. I've collected Mets memorabilia all my life and started Mets Merized Online to feed my addiction.
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I totally agree Joe and what pisses me off even more is the fact that he just got a new contract that in my eyes was to much and he is showing up to spring training out of shape. What the heck!
Is it really that surprising that they guy shows up to camp out of shape after signing a big contract??? It happens all the time.
Is Christian or Kay going to come on and say that Warthen and Manuel are crazy? Or that they don’t know anything? Or that it’s too early?
oh geez, here we go. Anyone see the Braves rotation this spring?
Juegens – 2.66
Lowe – 3.94
Kawakami – 1.23
Vasquez – 1.74
Hanson – 2.45
Combined 75 IP, 74K/22BB
If the guy needs more conditioning, hold him back in extended Spring Training, and let Jonathon Niese take his place. Let the people who actually work get some rewards.
Now, I’m sure there is contract issues with that suggestion, of which I plead ignorance. I choose to remain ignorant, though, as I’m a fan and not a manager.
It would be a good lesson though.
Here we go again with the 2008 Luis Castillo syndrome — sign a big contract and lay back and eat your way to mediocrity. Perez and Castillo are reasons why Omar should make the newly ‘rich’ players have their initial off-season monitored closely. This is a bad joke.
I think Ollie will come around, but why does it take two months into the season for him to be in competitive shape? To think that he convinced some baseball execs that he had matured, with his marriage and Santana as examples of positive influences in his life, leaves me wondering.
As my previous post indicates, I’m annoyed at Ollie. When Strawberry went to the Yankees with his celebrated problems — which obviously were far worse than the ‘slacker’ problems of Castillo and Ollie — he was monitored by an old timer. It helped Straw but in today’s world with the influence of the Scott Boris types, this kind of parenting may not be routinely possible.
Josh Hamilton also falls into this category of players who benefit from surveilling, albeit he is a player with more obvious need for it.
Still not worried… a little concerned yes, but definitely not worried.
Santana and Pelfrey make up for a lot of the things that could go wrong, and lets not sell Livan short either. Livan if nothing else, has always been a solid first half pitcher. (Mets should look for other options after the break)
Our Mets are still the class of the division, the Phillies might have a better offense, and the Braves pitching looks good right now, but the Mets ARE the most balanced team out of the three and have the best bullpen which puts them over the top.
Perez will have an ERA over 5.00 and will win no more than 9-10 games.
Am I shocked that Ollie is out of shape? No! But I sure am disgusted. If somebody gave me a 36 million dollar contract to pitch for a major league team, I’d damn well show up to camp in the best shape of my life. The sense of entitlement and arrogance of some of these guys is astounding. Let Ollie go pitch himself into shape in the minors when the season begins.
Very nice and Extremely Useful Info ! I agree 100 %..!
I Will Be waiting for your 2nd part of this article. Thanks !
http://earnonlineearn.blogspot.com/
i think its just Ollie being Ollie
and earn online, stop advertising idiot. theres no part two. are you a robot?
Why are we suprised? We knew what we got when we signed Perez. Perez is a very strong left arm attached to the mind of a 14 yr. old boy. Why should he work at his choice of occupation? SHrugs… All he has been doing all his life is waking up, grabbing a bowl of fruit loops and playing SEGA with MTV blaring in the background and when it’s time to “get to work” he grabs his glove as he runs out the door and starts tthrowing 94 mph moving, jumping fastballs with that odd arm angle of his. We knew what we got when the Mets signed him. Even with his immature, poor work ethic, gimme, gimme, gimme attitude he still wins 12-14 games every year for the next several years. Wy should he work at geting any better? In his mind He’s made it! He’s arrived! The only way Perez will improve is if he recognises that he needs too. Shrugs… Why should he?
No Mets4Life I’m going to say that YOU are crazy. How’s that? Yesterday was the first post I made in a long time, and I said, in simple terms since your reading comprehension is lacking, that I think Joe should lighten up on Pelfry for having ONE bad outing, since he’s been successful thusfar this season. THATS all.
I also went on to say that SP is ALWAYS a concern for any team even under the best circumstances.
Its funny how I get mentioned even when hardly around anymore.
Thanks for thinking of me……..
Leave Kay alone, she’s one of us.
Thanks HoJo – I haven’t been around because I had surgery, and NO I did not have a labatomy – lol
I come back to this childish – funny…….
LOL @ Hojo’s Mojo…..what a funny kid
There’s no excuse for a player making this kind of money to be out-of-shape and having to be called out like this. This should somehow violate his contract. It’s stunning the Mets actually went public with a criticism of their own player–especially in NYC. What the hell were those Mexican pudgeballs eating at the WBC? This is yet another reason the WBC should be played AFTER the season and not during Spring Training.