20
2012
Remember When We Wanted To Sign Derek Lowe?
An article by 
Today we chastise Omar Minaya for the contract that he handed out to Oliver Perez. It hamstrung us for a couple of seasons, and he gave us virtually nothing in return for our investment. But there were some other contracts handed out that off-season that were not so great either.
Every year we go into the off-season as fans with a list of players we want the Mets to target. Up until very recently we had no issues spending money. The past few years have not been kind to us in the financial department thanks to Bernie Madoff, but hopefully that is changing.
Earlier this season the Mets were granted a gift of not having to pay back millions of dollars as a result of Madoff scandal. We are not out the woods yet, as we are still losing money, have an empty ballpark, and many holes to fill with limited funds. The point is that the days of being able to spend some money to fill of our needs may be returning soon, just probably not this off-season.
Derek is cheesing in this picture because like Perez did with the Mets, he also stole money from the Braves
Anyway, back to the point of this article. Every year we discuss and debate the hot topics of the MLB hot stove season. We make our opinions about who we want to sign, and the people that we do sign, very well known. We discuss and debate all rumors and moves in our circle of friends, through blog posts, comment threads, and even on the airwaves via WFAN or ESPN radio.
During the 2008-2009 off-season we had a need for starting pitching. Oliver Perez was a free agent, as was Derek Lowe, Ryan Dempster, and CC Sabathia among others. The Yankees struck early and grabbed both Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, leaving Lowe as the best available starting pitcher remaining.
As the winter moved on all the other chips fell and towards the end it was basically down to Lowe, Perez and some other well traveled veterans. Lowe and Perez had the most potential, but there was a nine year age gap between the two, as Lowe was 36 and Perez just 27.
The Braves ended up signing Derek Lowe to a 4-year deal worth $60 million dollars. The signing left the Mets Perez, and the scraps left on the Free Agent wire. Minaya out of a lack of choices and the desperate need for an arm, re-signed Perez a 3-year deal worth $36 million. A sizable sum, but far smaller than what the Braves gave Lowe.
At the time Lowe was the much better and more established pitcher. He was coming off a nice run with the Dodgers where he went 54-48 and pitched to an ERA under 4.00 in each of the four seasons he was there. Prior to landing in LA he had a great career with the Red Sox, as he had a 21 win season and a 42 save season under his belt. He was the better option for sure, but he came at almost double the cost.
It didn’t take very long to see that Atlanta did not get the pitcher they thought they were from his days with the Dodgers. He made the opening day start in 2009 and pitched great for eight innings allowing just two hits and no earned runs. In his first two seasons with the Braves he did win 31 games, but his overall numbers across the board were way up and his run-support was making things look better than they actually were.
Here is what Atlanta got out of their investment.
His 2012 stats are with both the Indians and the Yankees, and continue to show a downward spiral.
He signed a 4-year contract with the Braves, but was not on their Opening day roster in 2012. They paid for 3 years of mediocre garbage totaling $45 million, before shipping him to Cleveland in the off-season of 2011 for a minor leaguer. As part off the deal they agreed to pay $10 million of the $15 million remaining to make him go away. In other words they paid a net total of $55 million for three years.
He pitched so poorly for the Indians to start this season, that he was eventually designated for assignment, and was picked up by the Yankees after they had a rash of injuries.
Are you kidding me? That production is awful for $60 million. It was so bad they decided it was better to pay him to play for someone else.
Perez didn’t give us very much production for the money we spent on him, which is why he is so disliked by the fan base. Perez won just 13 games for us over three injury plagued seasons, and pitched to an ERA of 5.17.
But I’m sorry, but if I had to choose one of the two, I would choose Oliver Perez’s contract. Derek obviously pitched better than Oliver, but not even remotely close to what was expected of him. He was paid like an ace and pitched like a number 4 starter. He also got paid almost double what Perez did, and didn’t even finish out the contract. The Braves are still currently on the hook for $10 million this season when the contract comes off the books at years end.
Today Derek Lowe toils away in the Yankees bullpen collecting the rest of the $15 million that is owed to him.
When both deals were signed you would have thought Atlanta was the clear winner. I guess that’s why we aren’t really supposed to judge moves until a few years have passed.
About the Author: Dan Valis
I am a staff writer for Mets Merized Online. I am a Mets team analyst with a focus on the minor league system, as well as the major league club. I am a lifelong New Yorker who was born and raised to be a Mets fan. The ups and downs of being a Mets fan is what makes following this team so much fun, but at times so frustrating. You can follow me on Twitter @BgAppleMetsTalk.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 30 | .583 | - |
| Phillies | 35 | 37 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Nationals | 34 | 36 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Mets | 27 | 40 | .403 | 12.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 48 | .314 | 19.0 |
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As it turned out, we signed the lesser of two evils. With our bullpen and offense, Lowe would not have even won 31 games in 2009/2010 with the Mets. Probably closer to 20 wins and considering twice the price tag of Perez it would have hurt us even more in the pocket than Perez did. By the way, Perez is actually pitching decently right now for Seattle which is a lot more than you can say for Lowe..
I was in the small minority of folks who wanted Ollie P over Lowe (if that was the choice to make). I didn’t like the bidding against themselves but I also felt Ollie P should have been able to give us more for the $ than Lowe would based on his age and track record.
Looking back – to me the only reason to say you would have preferred Lowe is simply knowing about the 09/10 injury issues. Because he would have been valuable on that roster but would his performance have mattered in the grand scheme of things?
I think its a tough call. I think Oliver Perez clearly would have benefited from a different approach AND different attitude on his side. But if you ask me today knowing everything I know from the last 4 years – I’d take Lowe over Perez.
I’ll admit I was part of that small minority as well and man, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Sigh…. John smoltz retiring screw that up for us… I think at 3/36 lowe was ready to take that deal… then, smoltz retired, the braves jumped up the offer and we got stuck with perez.. the rest is history
Actually I wanted neither. I thought that the just because we didn’t get Lowe we have to offer Perez… was the wrong idea. For Perez money you could have gotten Garland and Wolf.
I must say, i never wanted to shoot somebody before omar minaya signed oliver perez.. To that deal even more..
^ Really?
Omar made the move because Ollie still had potential, was just 27 years old, a former 15 game winner, and a lefty at that with a mid-90′s heater.
He just way over payed for him…and Ollie lost what he had completely.
not to mention he was a basket case lol
Thing is they needed more than just Ollie and they actually could have had 2 similar pitchers and 2 draft picks if they had not signed him.
the only way they’d get picks is if somebody signed him. Who was gonna do that? We’ll never know.
The problem with the Ollie signing was not that they signed him – it was how they went about out bidding themselves. It was overpaying for a commodity voluntarily.
You cannot just toss aside the fact Perez from 25-26 years old went 25-17 with a 3.91 ERA for the Mets. You can’t deem that from a lefty as not valuable. What they didn’t calculate well was “above the shoulders.” Ollie not only lost confident fast but he showed a lack of patience or willingness to correct the problems. You can’t tell me there isn’t a role for him in baseball – he’s proving in 2012 there is.
Garland is a nice thought but he made it clear after playing in LAA that he wanted to stay out west. I’ll never forget this entire debate and if I need to go dig for old articles I will but trust me – California kid Jon Garland wanted to stay out west if he could. And notice where he’s pitched since 08. LAA-AZ-LAD-SD-LAD
Randy Wolf, I mean okay? But I don’t see how getting him at 31 could outweigh the potential of Perez. You can’t use what you know now of Ollie P. He had more potential prior to 09 than Wolf.
OK so no one else was going to sign Perez but Omar signed him for 3/36? Of course someone would have signed Perez.
Also, it didn’t have to be Garland. The point was that you needed more than just Perez and the amount you paid for Perez and the draft picks given up that you would have received were not worth it at the time and it obviously turned out that way as well. The only pass I give Omar on the deal is that people around baseball were pressuring him into it when we couldn’t sign Lowe.
I was against Both signings. I thought we should have passed on Perez at the time and Lowe and some of the other less than .500 pitcher available during these years that everyone wanted to sign like Millwood and such.
Agreed, there was no way that Perez was worth Garland, Wolf and 2 prospects.
Everyone forgets the both guys had Scot BoreAss as their agent…hate the dude, but he completely Jedi Mind Tricked both Omar and the Braves with those deals.
I was one who loved Ollie for what he did and wanted him back because I love the Mets and like their players too much…but deep down I had a very bad feeling about his future and was wishing that someone else took him before we had the chance.
Remember when the scouts and ex-GMs nicknamed Perez the “GM Killer” saying that Ollie was talented enough to get some GM to give him a big contract but bad enough that he’d bust and cost that GM his job? How true was that evaluation? Would Omar still have a job if it weren’t for the Perez contract?
All his other deals weren’t that bad, even the busts. Castillo sucked and the length was long, but the $ wasn’t crazy…K-Rods deal was praised at signing and would have been fine if the Mets didn’t go broke and K-Rod turned into a nut case.
All of these discussions just go and prove that the plan of re- building the Mets is to do it with young arms like they have done with Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler. The fact that we got stuck with Ollie’s 36 million dollar deal was bad enough but letting him stay after refusing to go to the minors was stupid. No one wants to lose 36 million bucks but keeping him in NY was an even bigger mistake. iT SENT A POOR MESASAGE TO THE OTHER PLAYERS.
Journeymen pitchers are a dime a dozen and that is what Derek Lowe had become by age 37. Omar indeed signed Ollie as the lesser of two evils at the time! I can’t fault him for that one!
Our younger arms will take their lumps at times but it is part of the maturity that has to develop and as long as we have young, strong armed guys with “good mechanics” they should blossom into mature ML pitchers….
A psychological exam should be part of the plan too!
No more head cases like MIKE PELFREY….