During the post game, Ron Darling had some very choice words for Oliver Perez and the Mets. Thanks to Metsfan4decades and Mrnorthjersey for relaying the comments in the dugout
“You’ve really run out of excuses…Doesn’t matter how much money you’re paying him…He doesn’t belong here…88mph fastball is not gonna make it…He’s not like a Moyer or Glavin though…He’s not making the adjustments like those finesse pitchers did…I think you’re at the point where you have to say we made a mistake signing Ollie…Send him to Buffalo…Mets are the swing n miss team of baseball…They need to make a change in the lineup”
Its hard to argue with any of this in my opinion. Im glad Ronnie had the cojones to say what he truly feels on air and im sure he is not alone in what he thinks. I know Ollie is our “#5″ pitcher and all(even though he makes more than our #2, #3 and #4 combined) but enough is enough. The only thing keeping Perez in the rotation(and I bet he remains there) is his 12 million dollar contract. When Jonathon Niese has more innings pitched, lower era and making $11,598,000 less than Oliver Perez…we have an issue. Now I know the argument is that he is a #5 starter, he is giving you what you would expect. What I say is that he hurts a team in a place where they feel it much more for a longer period of time…the bullpen. Including today, Ollie has gone 3.1 INNINGS IN HIS LAST 3 STARTS! I dont know what the Mets brass are thinking of doing but this is an alarming trend and if according to Ollie he is “healthy”, ill let you fill in the gap on that one.
UPDATE: In case you were wondering, according to a tweet from Adam Rubin “Jerry and Omar having chat in manager’s office, by the way.”
12 comments
Mr North Jersey
5/14/2010-11:13pm at 11:13 pm (UTC -4)
Just call him Ron “The Mad Bomber” Darling.
dirtysanchez
5/14/2010-11:21pm at 11:21 pm (UTC -4)
i love it man…major cojones to do what he did.
stickguy
5/14/2010-11:24pm at 11:24 pm (UTC -4)
anyone ever think that Ronnie should run for office some day?
stickguy
5/14/2010-11:28pm at 11:28 pm (UTC -4)
actually, there is something else besides the contract keeping ollie in the rotation.
Lack of an obvious, viable alternative.
None of the guys in the minors has really shown they are ready to come up. And, taka has been great in the pen, but no way to tell if he will be up to pitching full SP length. and of course, if you take him out of the pen, then you have another hole to fill.
and it does, of course, weaken the depth chart (if they get rid of him entirely).
have to think if they had someone in the system dominating as a SP that appeared ready, they would be a lot quicker to make a move.
stickguy
5/14/2010-11:28pm at 11:28 pm (UTC -4)
oh, so I would not be surprised if Omar has fired up the old rolodex, laying the groundwork for some kind of trade.
dirtysanchez
5/14/2010-11:44pm at 11:44 pm (UTC -4)
lol, lets hope he knows how it still works. Has not had to fire up that baby in a while
stickguy
5/14/2010-11:51pm at 11:51 pm (UTC -4)
make Kong happy. just keep calling up guys from the minors.
asod75
5/14/2010-11:51pm at 11:51 pm (UTC -4)
I’d actually bring R.A. Dickey up for a few starts. Yes, I know he’s a journeyman who hasn’t done much in the majors, but he’s only been throwing the knuckleball for a few years, a pitch which takes awhile to master (he was forced to start throwing one due to multiple arm problems which robbed him of a once decent fastball). Dickey has gone at least 8 innings in all but two of his starts I believe, and even if he gets hit a bit at the major-league level, he could give the Mets much more length than what Ollie has given them. His ERA sits at 2.20 or something, he deserves at least a few starts to see what he can do. Gee is struggling after a good start, Stoner does nothing for me and Misch sucks. Let’s see what the knuckleballer can do, he was actually effective for a few months last year as Minnesota’s longman in the pen before struggling later. Maybe the Mets catch lightning in a bottle and he can give them a lift. Also, bring up Dessens and send Mejia down to start. Find a phantom injury for Perez and place him on the DL.
njstuckintx
5/15/2010-12:21am at 12:21 am (UTC -4)
I won’t bring up the whole “stretching Mejia out” argument…
stickguy
5/15/2010-12:24am at 12:24 am (UTC -4)
my blood pressure thanks you.
GravediggerHebner
5/15/2010-1:25am at 1:25 am (UTC -4)
Veterans’ consent
If a player has 5 years of major-league service, he may not be assigned to a minor-league team without his consent, regardless of whether he has already been outrighted once, even if he clears waivers. If the player withholds consent, the team must either release him or keep him on the major league roster. In either case, the player must continue to be paid under the terms of his contract. If he is released and signs with a new team, his previous team must pay the difference in salary between the two contracts if the previous contract called for a greater salary.
metsfan4decades
5/15/2010-9:06am at 9:06 am (UTC -4)
Hence what makes this difficult.
If Ollie is truly healthy, it has to be to his advantage to go down there and work on his mechanics. He can’t keep going out there getting shelled this way. It’s not helping the team, it’s not doing anything for his confidence and it so obviously is not solving the problem.