I’m in the process of reading Keith Hernandez’s book about 2008 and he goes through the season game by game with his assessment and the early part of that year he really had a lot of good to say about him, but unfortunately for us fans and himself, the wheels came off and never got close to going back on.

Anyone else read that book?

Let’s also remember Olllie was one Endy-less catch away from blowing that game before Heilman did.

Please embrace a docterine of pacificty. Or, to use smaller words, stop being you.

Unfortunately it all went downhill soon thereafter but count me as one of the people that thought he had a chance to turn into something. And I noticed how srt gave an “LOL” after telling us the start she remembered the most – which was one of his real bad ones. Too bad she thinks that’s funny because even though Ollie came across as ungrateful bum by not going to ST towards the end – it was the team that lost out as a whole – but she thinks that’s funny. And I think I know why.

Probably the best assessment of the whole Oliver Perez situation. I might add that the Mets probably did no better treating him with kid gloves due to a perceived confidence and self-esteem problem (i.e., taking him out of the game too soon so he wouldn’t have to emotionally deal with messing up an otherwise good pitching performance).

When with the Mets, Ollie did have a delicate psychological/physical disorder (the two go hand in hand) and it was apparent that his emotional difficulties, left unresolved, would in itself cause him not to be major league material in lieu of a lack of physical talent. It would have been in his best interest to work on those problems either in the form of a leave of absence or going down to the minors league. Instead, because of his problem he was taken advantage of by his agent (who was only looking out for himself) who talked him out of accepting that minor league assignment which instead led to a situation that caused enduring humiliation which he has had to live with since the middle of 2010 and who knows how much set him back.

It doesn’t matter that he was paid millions for doing nothing. It only proves that money is no substitute for good emotional health and is indeed worthless when one is so unhappy and insecure in life. In that sense, one could only feel pity for him and getting pity is about as low as one could sink.

A similar sad situation was faced by Boyer, the young relief pitcher signed by Sandy last winter who fortunately had enough understanding within himself and support from others to recognize he had a problem that had to be faced and realized the highly competitive pressure of professional sports was out of the question at least for the time being. He is working on getting himself better and deserves no pity but admiration for trying to overcome his difficulties. And it’s also fortunate he did not have a Steve Boras as his agent.

I’ve wondered if the Pirates did Ollie a diservice by bringing him up too early at 20 or if he really was never a pitcher but rather a ‘thrower, without much control. I’ll never forget a Met start for him one afternoon against the Brewers (I believe) where he walked 8 in like 6 innings but only gave up 2 hits. LOL, talk about lack of control…

Guess they figure all they lose is the cost of a minor league contract so it’s no real gamble on their part. But why even waste their time on him, especially since pitching is Seattle’s strong point. Did a scout see him pitching somewhere and thought he spotted something?

Maybe it’s nothing more than the same thing the Phillies did with Louis Castillo last spring – doesn’t hurt to take a look except for those standing about ten feet away from home plate when Ollie is on the mound – those people would be putting their life in their hands.