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….

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 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.

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.

He just way over payed for him…and Ollie lost what he had completely.

not to mention he was a basket case lol

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.