What Will The Mets And Alderson Do With Oliver Perez?

Oliver Perez is in the last year of his 3 year, 36 million dollar contract.  When Omar Minaya signed Perez to this contract it was questioned from the start with good reason.  Unfortunately for the Mets Perez has been downright awful for the last two years.  He’s had knee injuries that have required surgery, he’s seen his velocity go below 90, has flat out refused a minor league assignment and in 2010 he didn’t win one game while making 12 million dollars.  There’s no reason to believe that 2011 will be any different even though Ollie will be making another 12 million dollars this season.

Now that Alderson has hired his front office and has his manager he can start paying more attention to the players.  As far as I can see Alderson has 3 options in regards to Oliver Perez.

• He can just cut ties with Oliver Perez and pay him his 12 million dollars.
• Let Ollie come to Spring Training.  Discuss with Terry Collins what role they think Ollie fits into, be it a lefty specialists, long relief or as a starter.  See how Ollie performs after getting all his work in Spring Training.  If Perez is still awful tell him that he can either accept a minor league assignment, work on what needs fixing and work your way back to the majors.  If he doesn’t accept that then just release him.
• Let him sit in the bullpen like last year, occupying a roster spot.

Option one makes no sense to me.  The Mets are going to have to pay him 12 million, no sense in cutting him before Spring Training ends.  Option 3 is also something that would be very foolish.  The Mets as they are constructed right now cannot afford to be one man short on their roster the entire year.  The only option that makes sense is option two.  I know Perez’s numbers in winter ball are underwhelming to say the least but I don’t put too much stock into winter ball numbers.  I want to see how Perez performs in Spring Training against major league talent.

I believe that Perez most likely will not be on the opening day roster.  For the last two years Perez has shown that he’s unwilling to take the minor league assignment and I cannot believe that Alderson and Collins will allow Perez to occupy a much needed roster spot.  That’s how the old administration worked, this is a new front office with a new manager, and they need to show that the old way of doing things is over.