Oliver Perez is quickly becoming the new Luis Castillo. Last year, Mets fans and journalists routinely ridiculed Mets GM, Omar Minaya, for giving Castillo a lucrative four year deal that was worth $25 million.
This season Minaya is drawing similar criticism for the three year, $36 million deal that he gave to Perez. It’s hard to back Minaya up on this signing as Perez has been pretty much awful this season. However, count me in as one of those who were in favor of signing Perez over the other pitcher, Derek Lowe, whom the Mets coveted this past off-season.
On paper it seemed like the better route to go. Perez, who turns 28 today, is a full eight years younger than Lowe and was already familiar with pitching in the electric atmosphere in New York City.
However, the signing turned out to be anything but perfect for the Mets. While not on the disabled list, Ollie has proven to be vastly ineffective in his starts.
With the Mets falling further and further into irrelevance it is time to look to 2010 and build a winning ball club that is capable of competing well into October.
One of the key components to any winning team is a strong starting rotation. This year despite a couple of solid outings, Perez has not proven himself to be worthy of a spot in such a rotation. So the question still remains, what should the Mets do with Oliver Perez?
In my opinion there are three ways the Mets can handle the situation. One route they could choose to take is to outright release Perez following the season. I don’t see the Mets going this path as it isn’t practical at all. Perez still has two years and about $24 million left on his deal so I doubt very much that the Mets would just let him go without any compensation, especially given their lack of finances.
Another option would be to attempt to trade him. But in reality, the Mets would get very little in return if anything in return for Perez. They’d also have to pay at least part of his salary anyways to get rid of him. One possible swap of bad contracts that may actually benefit the Mets would be a trade for Juan Pierre.
In my opinion, Pierre would be a good fit in the Mets lineup and has a great deal of speed to complement Jose Reyes in the two hole. He also hit pretty well with the absence of Manny Ramirez early this year.
Like Perez, Pierre has two years remaining on his contract and is owed $18.5 million according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. I’d imagine if the Dodgers were interested in dealing Pierre for Perez, the Mets would have to kick in about $4 million to balance out the salaries.
As nice as this sounds I’m not so sure the Dodgers would be willing to give up a solid fourth outfielder, like Pierre, in exchange for an erratic starting pitcher.
The third and final route the Mets can take is to keep Perez and try to work with him on his consistency. I know it is easier said than done, but at this point the Mets are pretty much out of options.
Maybe without the pre-season interruption of the World Baseball Classic, Ollie will be more focused and ready to go in time for Opening Day than he was this year.
Rather than ignore the issue, the Mets should prepare themselves for Perez’s struggles by building up pitching depth, similarly to how the Yankees acquired Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin. While those guys may not be stars they helped keep the starting rotation from falling apart following a season-ending injury to Chien-Ming Wang.
The 2010 free agent pitching market includes a number of new faces that could help sure up the pitching staff and minimize the strain on the ball club caused by Perez’s struggles. These names include the likes of Brad Penny, Randy Wolf, Joel Pineiro and Jason Marquis, who is coming off a stellar year with the Rockies.
The team cannot rely on him to be anything more than a fifth starter until he can prove he can pitch on average six effective innings per start.
I’m sure come this time next year we will once again be revisiting the talks over whether or not Ollie stays or goes, but for now I’d say its pretty much a lock that he will be a New York Met in 2010.
here’s a novel idea. Ollie should give back the money! He could do this on a pro-rated basis. For every batter he walks, he gives back a million.
if that doesn’t cure his mixed up head – then, by my calculations, the mets would have their money back on or before 6 starts.
I also wanted to bring Ollie back for the same reasons you cited. What a disaster it’s turned out to be. You know what the worst part is? Going into next season, Oliver Perez becomes the third highest paid Met. More than Reyes, Wright, Francoeur, K-Rod and even Castillo. That’s a scary thought.
I love your theory on Perez for Pierre, but it might require us to kick in a b level prospect to make it worth their while. Although both are bad contracts, at least Pierre could step in and be a solid everyday player at any time. Oliver Perez is a big negative at this point.
Ollie,
“Don’t think. It can only hurt the ballclub.”
- Durham Bulls catcher Crash Davis
Ollie’s contract is actually worse than Castillo’s. Luis has actually earned his keep this year. The prospect for Ollie is that he will be a 3 yr parasite with this team. We have 2 more years of this boat anchor to look forward to. There will be no trading him; forget that. The Madoff victims are not going to accept writing off his contract.
The best thing we can use this for is to hang Omar and hold his feet to the fire for giving Ollie a free ride for the rest of his life. Fire Omar and get a real GM in here. Then sign a real pitcher and drop Ollie to #5 for the next 2 yrs. Then we wind up with: Santana, real guy (such as Halladay or Lackey), Pelfrey, Parnell, Ollie. Then after another 2 yrs its “hasta la vista Ollie” and we sign another real pitcher or possibly bring in Holt or Mejias. Hopefully by 2012, this team is healthy again.
MASK, ONCE MORE YOU’RE ASSUMING “WHAT IS TODAY” IS UNCHANGEABLE AND FOR ALL TOMORROW’S “IT WILL BE WHAT IT IS”. I KNOW YOU KNOW LHP DEVELOP SLOWER, NORMALLY & HISTORICALLY, I BELIEVE THAT LIKELY GETS (CK OUT LEITER’S EARLY CAREER) EXHAGGERATED WITH A LANGUAGE BARRIER. HAVE YOU EVER LISTENED TO OLLIE BEING INTERVIEWED? TO ME, IT’S OBVIOUS HIS COMMAND OF ENGLISH IS VENEER DEPTH ONLY & THERE IS OBVIOUSLY MUCH ROOM FOR IMPROVMENT. WHEN OLLIE PEREZ ONLY WALKS 2 OR LESS IN AN OUTING HE’S AS GOOD AS ANY NON-ACE OUT THERE. JUST AS YOU WERE READY TO EXECUTE OMAR OVER CASTILLO, I STILL BELIEVE THERE’S A POSSIBILITY IF NOT A PROBABILITY PEREZ’ 3 YR CONTRACT WILL BE VALIDATED IN COMPARISON TO LOWE’S 4 YR DEAL OVER FULL TERM. WILPONS DIDN’T BUYOUT ONTRACTS BEFORE MAIDOFF & BECAUSE THEY WOULDN’T DO IT POST MAIDOFF DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING. SEE KAZ MATSUI, ROBBY ALOMAR, BOBBY BONILLA AS WELL AS LACK OF CASH CONTRIBUTIONS IN BENITEZ,BURNITZ,VENTURA,ZEILLE TRANSACTIONS.
YOUR SETTLING FOR OBVIOUS IS ACCENTUATED BY YOUR LISTING LACKEY AS A PRIME TARGET. HERE’S SOME LACKEY INFO…
AGE 31, RHP, 251-118 CAREER RECORD, 9-7 2009 RECORD, 1.26 WHIP-’09
COMPARE TO THIS:
AGE 31, RHP, 92-78 CAREER, 13-8 2009 RECORD, 1.26WHIP-’09
THAT SECOND PITCHER IS JASON MARQUIS FROM S.I. & LIKELY MUCH LESS COSTLY WITH LESS COMPETITION.
GETTING BACK TO PEREZ, HIS LAST COUPLE OF STARTS WITH HIS NEW ‘PAUSED’ MECHANICS IT’S IMPERATIVE HE MAINTAIN THEM ALONG WITH A CATCHER WHO CAN NURSE HIM THROUGH WITH MINIMAL MOVEMENT BEHIND DISH. INCONSISTANT OLLIE IS CERTAINLY A #5 GRADE PITCHER. THIS IMPROVED VERSION LOOKS TO BE CAPABLE AS A #3 ESPECIALLY AGAINST HEAVILY L TILTED LINEUPS aka PJILLIES. I’M FOR KEEPING AN OPEN MIND RE. “OLLIE, THE MERCURIAL” I’D CERTAINLY LIKE TO SEE WHAT WARTHEN CAN DO WITH HIM IN A FULL ST SANS WBC. TO ME PELFREY & MAINE ARE THE MORE IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR WARTHEN. I’D CERTAINLY LIKE TO SEE A WIDE OPEN ST COMPETITION FOR THE ROTATION BETWEEN ALL NON-SANTANAS, PELFREY,NIEVES,MAINE,PEREZ,PARNELL,NEISE. LOSERS NOT NAMED PEREZ TO BE OFFERED MILB DEALS & KEPT WAREHOUSED IN BUFFALO AS APPROPRIATE.
Mets 62, Ollie is not so new a young player that we haven’t seen enough of him to be able to project the future. His improved aspect lasted all of 1 game. His follow-up outing reverted to the Ollie norm which is not up to a 3 yr $36mil contract. He is demonstrating that he is mediocre at best and not a star quality pitcher worthy of that contract. With 1 good outing this year, I am not willing to go long on Ollie. He has essentially frittered away 1 yr of his huge 3 yr contract. Other than 1 game, there is very little prognosis of anything better to come from him. With Omar bidding against himself for Ollie’s questionable services, Omar stands indicted. There clearly were better options available. My example of Halladay and Lackey were just examples. If you say Marquis was a better buy, that’s fine and I agree. As far as Warthen, goes he hasn’t shown ability to do much with anybody. Possibly some good effect on Parnell’s last outing. But that could be all Parnell on his own just as easily. So give Warthen time to work with Ollie? I don’t think so, his criticism of Ollie early on in ST seems to have alienated them from each other. I don’t think Ollie is smart enough to listen to Warthen after receiving that slap. Ollie looks to me more like the old Al Leiter struggling to stay in the Majors after his career was shot than the young Al Leiter on the way up. Unfortunately, we’re stuck with Ollie the boat anchor for the next 2 yrs. I don’t believe there is any way that outrageous contract will be vindicated and Omar needs to pay the piper for that. The rotation competition is fine, but to be able to restore this team to excellence, it will require new blood to be brought in over the next 2 years. Otherwise it’s mediocrity for the indefinite future for Mets fans. Ollie will get traded off for table scraps in 2 yrs. And any GM that allows Ollie to vacation with the WBC next spring needs to be canned on the spot.
MASK, FYI NO WBC UNTIL ’13, I BELIEVE. UNLESS IT’S CHANGED IT’S LIKE THE OLYMPICS 4 YR SCHED, OLLIE WILL BE LONG GONE BY THEN ACCORDING TO U. THE FIRST WBC SEEMED TO BEAR PRODIGOUS FRUIT IN OUR BEHALF PRIOR TO ’06 REATING AN IMPETUS FOR OUR PARTICIPANTS TO GET OFF TO FAST STARTS IN ’06 SEASON, THIS LAST ONE WAS , IN MY OPINION, DISASTROUS FOR US AS I BLAME IT FOR OLLIE & REYES’ ‘LOST’ SEASONS. REYES GOT OFF TO HIS WORST BASESTEALING START OF HIS YOUNG CAREER IN ’09(LEG INJURY FROM WBC?)HOPFULLY FRED WILL BE MORE CONSERVATIVE AS HE WAS WITH JOHAN, PLACING FIN’L RESTRICTIONS ON NAT’L TEAMS. I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU; BUT I STILL PREFER THAT OMAR DIDN’T GET MANIPULATED ON LOWE IN EXCESS OF 60M/4 YRS. SIBCE THAT WAS ATL BID, EXCEEDING IT WOULD BE NEEDED TO SECURE HIS SERVICES. REDIVULOUS, WHILE U MAY BE SURE OLLIE’S A BUST FOREVER, AT LEAST FOREVER LASTS ONLY 3 YRS NOT 4 & 24+M LESS. GARLAND? WOLF? CRIPPLED SHEETS? NOT SURER GAMBLES THAN OLLIE, THE DEVIL WE KNEW, HISTORICALLY GOOD Vs ATL & PHL. WOLF HAS RUMORED ISSUES AS DOES LOWE WITH HIS IMBIBING TO EXCESS SUPPOSEDLY. NOT SUCH GREAT ALTERNATIVES. IS THERE A BETTER WAY TO BUILD THIS CLUB THAN OMAR’S PATH? YES! CEWRTAINLY NEAR IMPOSSIBLE WITHIN WILPON CONSTRICTIONS/RESTRICTIONS. NO MATTER TYHE GM THE OWNERSHIP CALL THE TUNE & SETS THE PACE. OF THE 12 GMs HIRED BY THIS FRANCHISE, I RATE OMAR #2 BEHIND CASHEN. WEISS, DEVINE, MURPHY, SCHEFFING, McDONALD, CASHEN, HUNSICKER, HARAZIN, McILVANE, PHILLIPS, DUQUETTE, MINAYA. IS FAR FROM AN ILLUSTRIOUS LIST. LONGEST TENURE 11 YRS(CASHEN ’80-’90+1 WK IN’98) SHORTEST 9 MOS(SCHEFFING.1/70-10/70).
Besides the walks, ever since returning from the DL he hasnt been that bad. He strikes out hitters and really manages to get out when he needs them. Its just that because he walks so many pitchers, he is a 5 inning pitcher. The reality is Ollie aint going anywhere unless the mets kick in like 7 million each year of his salary, making him a 5 million dollar pitcher. Frankly I dont even know if this would be enough.
If Parnell and Niese Pan out (and thats a big IF), we could slide Ollie to the 5th spot where he would eb the highest paid 5th starting pitcher, but Hes staying.
LOL@ hopefully by 2012 this team will be healthy again. DAMN!
Honestly Pierre’s contract is horrible, and hes a 4th outfielder at best. Id rather have Ollie and his 5 innings 6 walks, 7 strikeouts, and 2 runs allowed.
Yeah, ain’t that a gas we have 2012 to look forward to. And we can do that only if 2010 is an improvement over this putrid season and 2011 is another step up. But there is just too much potential to get derailed along the way. This is far from a pretty situation we’re in.
We need to improve in many dimensions while our owners have achieved poverty status. Hopefully the sales at the Shake Shack keep up so the Coupons don’t have to resort to food stamps for their sustenance.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Just because crazy Ollie became a free agent, it didn’t mean that he all of the sudden became one of the top pitchers in baseball as Scott Bore-us would have you to believe.
I used to like Omar (until that infamous Rubin press conference). But he has made some ugly, embarrassing mistakes, like Orlando Hernandez, Moises Alou, Livan Hernandez, Louie Castillio, and of course signing that idiot Ollie, that outweigh the good signings.
Besides getting the top free agents and having Santana fall into his lap, the best thing Omar did was to lock up Wright and Reyes. Those contracts are bargings, especiall Reyes’ contract.
I remember the spin on signing the intelectually disabled Ollie was that he pitched well against the Phillies, Braves, and Yankees. The other spin was that he got married and has matured.
So what happened when he pitched against the Phillies….he flopped, on national TV at that.
Now we’re stuck with this flake Perez.
And if Perez’ knee was hurt….I got a Brooklyn bridge to sell you in Maryland.
The Nut job Oliver Perez WILL NEVER BE A TOP FLIGHT PITCHER.
All we can hope for is the the Mets can win inspite of Oliver Perez.
He is a boat anchor that this team needs to carry for the next 2 years even though we’re not afloat. Just this one miserable contract should be enough to justify cutting Omar loose.
I agree and one thing that really stinks…
The Mets were the ONLY team bidding on Perez. They had NO REASON to upgrade their original 2-year $20 million dollar deal, which was still overpriced in my opinion.
Scott Bore-Ass aka Satan, screwed us.