8
2011
Ollie Falters In Kissimmee
An article by Hojo's Mojo
Not a good day for Oliver Perez who was very hittable today in what will likely be his last start for the Mets.
Perez threw three innings in his third start of the spring against the Astros and allowed three runs on three hits with two walks and one strikeout. It could have been worse as Lucas Duda made a great play to save a run and third baseman Zach Lutz made a diving grab and clutch throw to stave off even more damage.
His outing even led to a visit to the mound from Terry Collins in the first inning after a two-run double by Carlos Lee.
Perez’s fastball improved from his last outing at 84-88 mph, but still not close to where the Mets want him to be.
Original Post 8:00 AM
Keeping true to their word, Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson will both make the two hour trek to Kissimmee, Fla., where Oliver Perez will make his final start of the spring against the Astros.
“When you have a conversation with a player, and you give him a program that you’re going to put down, you stand by that program,” the manager said. “Credibility is at stake here. I don’t think it’s fair to him not having me there. If I was trying to make a team and make a rotation and the manager wasn’t there, I would question that.”
According to ESPN, Collins admitted that he’s looking for one thing from Ollie; his velocity, then joked he wanted to see 98 mph.
The plan is for both Alderson and Collins to meet with Perez after his start.
Perez can see the writing on the wall, but continues to forge ahead.
“I feel good because I’ve been doing everything I can. I can’t do any more, and you have to understand that baseball is like this,” Perez said. “Sometimes you’re going to be on top. Sometimes you’re going to be low. Sometimes you’re going to be in the middle.”
Andy Martino of the Daily News concludes from all of this,
It is not likely that Collins or anyone else at Mets camp truly expects Perez to recover much velocity. And it is doubtful that anyone believes he can succeed without doing so. So while Perez is still here, and Tuesday the manager will arrange his schedule around him, the lost lefty will soon be nothing more than a memory.
It’s no secret that Perez prolonged the inevitable during his last start, a huge improvement from his atrocious first game.
I get the sense that they were trying to time this so he gets released after a bad start. That didn’t happen. But now they’ve added velocity as the deciding factor and not so much the results.
I read this as no matter what happens in the game today, if Perez isn’t throwing around 88-91 mph today, it could be the end of the line at Kissimmee.
About the Author: Rob Johnson
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 25 | 18 | .581 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 21 | .523 | 2.5 |
| Phillies | 21 | 23 | .477 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 17 | 24 | .415 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 12 | 32 | .273 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/19/2013
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booyakasha !
I’ll believe it when I see it.
Look, I am not at all a Ollie fan, and I would be surprised if there were many out there. I can however feel a little sympathy for the guy for atleast “Trying” to make the team and “Trying” to give the Mets something for their money. I certainly can not comment on the amount of effort he has been putting forth, since I have not been there to evalutae, but he could have just thrown in the towel and accepted the fact that he was going to get paid no matter what and just mailed in last weeks performance and accepted the release.
I am sure there is a little piece in all of us that would love for Ollie to succeed and become an asset for this team, for atleast the last remaining year of his contract. Whether he is capable of doing this is up to him, but I will be one of those Mets fans who is hoping this Make or Break scenario maybe scares Perez into finding what he has lost, his ability to pitch.
He showed us lightning in a bottle and the Mets were sold, that isn’t his fault, it is Mets management’s fault. You can hate him for not doing the right thing and accepting a demotion to AAA to improve his pitching, but for someone who was just “lightning in a bottle”, the oppurtunity to pitch in the majors may never come again, so if I were in his shoes, I might be reluctant to go down to the minors if it meant I might not ever play another major league game.
In some ways, Ollie has become the scapegoat for the Mets. Trust me, if Ollie pitched 10 wins last year, not much would have changed, in fact, we may have never seen what Dickey was capable of doing, and probably traded him or released Dickey instead.
The positive thing out of all of this mess is that it seems apparent that their are only 2 possible outcomes, both of which should be positives for the Mets and their fans.
1) Ollie fails to meet the expectations set for him and the Mets release him…
or
2) Ollie succeeds and the Mets get a productive season from him, then he becomes a free agent.
Either way, this will be Ollie’s last stint as a Met.
Your not alone Scotty,
I too feel sympathy for Perez.
It’s not his fault he got the contract he did and you can’t say it is his fault that his velocity went away.
I personally find it distasteful to see anyone take joy in another human being’s life being turned to crap and his career come crashing down around him but many around here will cheer every ball he throws just because they want to get rid of him and want him to fail.
It’s sad that they do and if the shoe was on the other foot I wonder how they would all feel if the world was pointing that same sentiment at them?
What if they had a city worth of people hoping they would be unemployed soon and publicly crash and burn.
But on that note Ollie didn’t really help himself here.
He should have taken that Minor League assignment last season and refused.
He will pay for that soon (regardless of how he pitches today) and unfortunatly people will have a party to celebrate a human beings life turn to crap.
I guess it makes them all feel better about their own crap life!
… But on that note Ollie didn’t really help himself here.
He should have taken that Minor League assignment last season and refused.
Yes, he should have.
His life hasn’t turned to crap. Even if he doesn’t pitch another day in the MLB, he’s had a career that was above average in length and compensation.
And really, I think he’ll find at least a year or two of work. I mean, look at Luis Ayala …
If he stays out of jail and doesn’t spend all of his cash, he’ll be fine.
I’m not quite sure his life would actually turn to crap. He did for 7-8 yrs what I’m sure everyone on this board has dreamed of. Plus he got paid, well I might add.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not rooting for the guy to go down in flames, but I do think his career with the Mets should be over.
Ollie’s case is interesting. Being I live in Pittsburgh, I’ve seen and read about him for quite sometime before he was a Met. He came to the Bucs like true lightning in a bottle, striking out everyone in sight. Then the coaches just had to mess with his delivery and he fell apart (just like they did w/ Zach Duke after he went 8-2 w/ a 1.80 ERA), got traded to the Mets and Petersen had seemed to straighten him out. I don’t think Ollie’s a head case b/c of him, I think he was turned into a head case b/c he never had the oppurtunity to settle in with steady coach. And that is a real shame. There was a lot of talent in that body that seems to be lost forever.
I think the best thing for him would be a release and to get picked up by someone else to basically put the pieces back together. I don’t think he’d get a fair chance for that in NY.
Many of us, including me, could argue the Ollie situation from either point of view. Maybe or maybe not, somebody else is primarily responsible for screwing up Ollie. I really don’t know. It wouldn’t be the first time a baseball player has been screwed up by ‘the system.’
There are cases in the 1930′s where it happened and later, after WWII, it happened on the Brooklyn Dodgers, as just one case in point. Joe Black was a preeminent closer/reliever in the early ’50′s. Charlie Dressen, his manager, made Black throw a slider/curve that strained Black’s arm and he never had the same fastball afterwards. Black became mediocre or worse after one season. Did something like that happen to Ollie? I don’t know. Unlike Joe Black in his ballplaying days, Ollie seems to be immature. When he got his big $36 Mil contract, he seems to have taken success for granted, perhaps even got a bit soft. Recently he has trained a lot, but maybe Ollie is suffering from the dollar too short, dollar too late syndrome.
Compared to the average fan, Ollie has made a great deal of money. He is set for life if he manages it wisely. I don’t have anything againsst him but I also don’t feel sorry for him.
What if Ollie walks 5 in 3 inngs but strikes out 6 and throws a few pitches 91+ mph.
I’m telling you. Ollie is a pisser. He’s going to be on the team. No way the Mets are going to cut him and pay him 12 million after receiving a 25 million dollar laon from MLB. How bad would that look? A team “fires” a player with a 12 million dollar guaranteed contract after taking needing loan from the league because they can’t afford the day to day expenses of owning and running a major league baseball team? No way Ollie gets cut.
He will get cut. They have to pay him regardless so why keep him around if it pisses off the fans and hurts ticket sales? Getting rid of him will actually boost interest in the team.
My point is that Major League baseball is paying Ollie’s salary. A team with no money barely kept alive by 25 million dollar loans does not have the financial freedom to release a player with a gauranteed contract. I don’t think so. This is where it gets “foggy” and why more than a few people think Sandy Alderson was more or less “placed” as the Mets GM.
This is also why I have been saying since December that the Mets are doomed for 3-5 yrs of this crap. The only way out of tis is for the Wilpons to sell the team or rehabilitate their financiers. The Wilpon’s are not selling. The Wilpon’s began their financial rehab this fall. As a result the Mets “rebuild.”
.
wagwaan ! check it !
So how long is it gonna be before we read the headline “Mets Release Oliver Perez”?
2 weeks?
He’ll be lucky if he lasts that long.
I’ll take next weekend in that pool.
Unlike some, I don’t believe they’ll carry Ollie just b/c of the 12 MIL he’s owed.
He makes such incredibly stupid comments to go with his awful performances. It’s like I wish we could cut him three or four times.
Will definitely go down as one of the more hated Mets of all time!
Too bad, really because back in ’06 it really seemed as if he would turn into something.
Wonder what we’ll be saying about guys like Capuano and Young in six months.
You would think that by now even the Wilpons would be tired of this Oliver Perez soap opera. Why aren’t they doing anything about it? Seriously, I never thought it was going to last this long, but I guess I’ll just wait for the inevitable end.
25! The number of guys on the roster. Bottom line-when you break camp will the Mets be a better club with Perez as number 25? If yes – he stays, if no-he goes-forget the money.Money is important but you go with the best 25.
C’mon Lou. You go with the best 25 when it’s the other guys money. The Wilpons don’t like to admit their own money failures. It won’t surprise me, though it will disappoint me, if Ollie stays.