According to Metsblog, the Mets “officially” asked Oliver Perez to accept a minor league assignment and Oliver refused. However there have been rumors that the front office has been asking Oliver for some time now but he has always refused, stating “I want to stay up here”. Mike Puma from the New York Post quotes two unnamed Mets players, one saying “You tell him you go to Triple-A or that’s it, you are finished,†and the other saying “At some point you have to cut bait….You owe him a lot of money, but for what?â€
Ok now that the news is out of the way, Im seriously at the end of my rope with this kid. How selfish can you really be? People talk all the time about how players are selfish about money or are not hustling because they dont want to injure themselves but I would like to submit to you Olivers case of selfishness. He will NOT accept an opportunity to see if he can figure some stuff out and would like to continue to leave his team short handed. What do you mean by shorthanded, well…the last time Oliver Perez saw action before Saturday was the WEEK BEFORE where he pitched .1 of an inning….POINT 1! After a week of sitting in the bullpen, Jerry Manuel decides to use him in a piggy back start after Fernando Nieve. Fernando got shelled and what does Oliver Perez do after a week of just sitting in the bullpen where one would imagine at the very least he would be throwing bullpen sessions or working on mechanical issues…Oliver Perez comes in the game and lets up 3 earned runs in 2 innings including a home run, not to mention he used 38 PITCHES TO DO SO!!! I dont know if its Scott Boras who is talking in Ollies ear to refuse the assignment to help his trade value(if there is any) or a misplace sense of pride and stubbornness but here is something for Ollie that ends some speculation in the dugout….YOUR OWN TEAMMATES WANT YOU GONE! Man wheres Billy Wagner when you need em…
“Perez has honestly got to step up and know that we’ve just used every guy in our bullpen the night before,†Wagner said to the Associated Press. “He can’t come out there and decide that, ‘Gee, he hasn’t got it today and so be it.’ â€
A reported then asked Wagner if talking to Perez was like talking to a wall. Wagner’s response? “Pretty much.â€
-May, 2008
Granted im sure they want Oliver Perez to succeed but even they realize the only way he could do so is by going to a place where he can take his time and figure stuff out. I know several defenders of Ollie(the few of you that are out there) think the Mets are giving up on Ollie too quickly or he does not merrit a straight release or that Oliver Perez cannot control when he is being used. I offer to you 2 things..
1) The Mets may not even know HOW to fix whatever is wrong with Oliver Perez
2) Can you blame Manuel for not going to Perez with his job on the line
Now, realistically I doubt Oliver will be released but right now he is holding the Mets hostage. Ollie has 24 million dollars of Mets cash and with every decline to accept an assignment, he is spitting in the face of everyone on the Mets who ever gave 2 s**ts about him. I really dont think there would be any negative PR at this point if they released him as it wouldnt take too much to justify that move at all but I think the Mets need to take the ball in their hands and TRADE HIM. The Angels paid 21 million dollars to GET RID of a player and he is sitting on our bench. Now the previous argument against this as it applys to Ollie was the “what are the Mets options”. Well, we now have R.A. Dickey, Hisanori Takahashi and Raul Valdez who could fill in for Ollie or the Mets can get something in return for the trade.
The bottom line here is the Mets cannot afford to put themselves in a position to LOSE GAMES. We all have seen what can happen in a matter of a week in this division. Right now, it is obvious that Oliver Perez REFUSES to HELP HIMSELF and HELP THE TEAM by pissing away his best opportunity to right his ship. This is where all the critisisms of this organization come from. This would be a time where any team would have cut their losses and either released Perez or trade him for a bag of balls. I dont know why this front office is so afraid of admitting to a mistake and DO SOMETHING about it. Its very clear that Oliver Perez is not your best option to win a game. The Mets are in a rare position where not only do the fans want him gone, the players do and im sure several within the organization want him gone too. So my question is whats the hold up? Hell we can hold a collection and im sure we would rasie enough money to buy out Oliver Perez if thats the issue but there is NO BAD PR for getting rid of a player like Oliver Perez at this point.
Any job in the real world would have given a guy like Ollie the pink slip already, I dont see why there should be any difference with the Mets. Playing professional baseball is not a right but a privilege that most people will NEVER experience. Oliver Perez has the talent and stuff to be a successful baseball player and im sure thats what Omar Minaya thought when he gave Ollie 36 million dollars. It seems Oliver is showing his true face now, sort of like when you first move in with your girlfriend or boyfriend. Its all nice in the beginning but wait about 6 months and the nails start to come out…unfortunately, we didnt have 6 months to enjoy…we had less….
23 comments
Mr North Jersey
5/31/2010-1:11pm at 1:11 pm (UTC -4)
I am not sure but when 3 of the last 5 posts are about Oliver Perez I think that means the topic of the day is Ollie.
dirtysanchez
5/31/2010-1:17pm at 1:17 pm (UTC -4)
lol, after i finished my post i realized king wrote something up on ollie…i didnt want to delete mine because..well..i just dont like ollie lol.
rustyjr
5/31/2010-1:44pm at 1:44 pm (UTC -4)
Rename the site the real dirty Ollie blog
GravediggerHebner
5/31/2010-1:14pm at 1:14 pm (UTC -4)
It’s time for the Mets to yell “Ollie Ollie oxen free” to let him know he can come out of hiding without penalty, and then go home.
Mr North Jersey
5/31/2010-1:23pm at 1:23 pm (UTC -4)
In the interest of getting a different point of view I give you this.
From Mets Oliver Perez Should Refuse Minors
“It doesn’t make sense from Perez’ point of view to accept a trip to the minors. Everyone brings up the Steve Trachsel and Bobby Jones comparison but those aren’t equal. If those players didn’t accept a trip to the minors they would’ve been released and their careers could have been over. That’s not the case with Perez. If the Mets release him someone else will sign him the day he clears waivers. His career isn’t over.”
http://metsreport.com/mets-oliver-perez-should-refuse-minors/
dirtysanchez
5/31/2010-1:27pm at 1:27 pm (UTC -4)
nobody is saying ollies career is over or would be over if he doesnt accept. He does have a chance to improve himself and help the team. Right now he is hurting the team more than he realizes. Manuel cannot use him because we need to win games. So that means everybody else has to pick up the slack while ollie just sits there earning 12 mill and doing nothing. I want him released or traded more so to protect and help the team than anything else.
GravediggerHebner
5/31/2010-1:31pm at 1:31 pm (UTC -4)
This.
metsfan4decades
5/31/2010-1:52pm at 1:52 pm (UTC -4)
Can’t say that I agree that the day he clears waivers some other team is picking him right up.
Any GM in his right mind has to be following this, coupled with Ollie’s poor numbers since the signing and will have to think long and hard before signing him.
Even though he’ll only get league minimum from his ‘new’ team, that’s money to a small market team. The big market teams such as Yanks/Boston/Angels (you get the idea) are still in it to win it. What are they gonna do with Ollie?
Although maybe the Phillies will pick him up. They’ve made a habit this year of taking on our retreads – hahaha.
I was one of Ollie’s biggest supporters but I’m done with this drama now. We too are still in this to win this.
I’m still saying come Friday, when Niese will activated to pitch Saturday’s game (if all goes well), Mets will release Ollie if he does not change his mind. And this Met fan will have no problem with that. Hindsight is always 20/20 but it will just have to go down as a sunk cost and bad signing.
metsfan4decades
5/31/2010-1:53pm at 1:53 pm (UTC -4)
I’ll have no problem though if he does accept a minor league assignment. Give it one last chance to get something back for this investment.
GravediggerHebner
5/31/2010-1:56pm at 1:56 pm (UTC -4)
All this Ollie talk has got me really down on pitching and pitchers. Thankfully the MLB Network is carrying the Tim Lincecum – Ubaldo Jimenez showdown later today, that should fix me right up (now that I’ve said that the final score will be 13-11).
Mr North Jersey
5/31/2010-2:05pm at 2:05 pm (UTC -4)
LoL, I am watching yesterday’s game again trying to see how in the world did the Mets end up with 16 hits.
I will be watching the Yankee game though. I am looking forward to seeing Joba get lit up again.
Hazmet
5/31/2010-3:56pm at 3:56 pm (UTC -4)
Seeing as the mental midget’s who run our beloved franchise are completely unable to think out of the box let me help them here with the simple yet evil plan to stick it to Ollie and get him to accept an assignment to Buffalo. Lo I say poor Buffalo if he ended up there. Here’s how this play’s out:
1. Accept the fact that you’re either going to cut Ollie and eat all his contract or you’re going to eat almost all of it as part of this trade.
2. Hello, JAPAN – can’t find a trading partner in the states, well let’s just find some club you can work with to trade Ollie too in the Far East while assuming most of his contract and getting whatever back. Whatever = who cares when weighed against the immeasurable pleasure of screwing this douche bag over.
3. Have the trade worked out and approach Ollie and let him know “here’s your choice, Buffalo or Japan, you choose”.
Simple, 1-2-3, any questions? I’ll leave it to the more baseball rule educated participants at our home here to let it be known if this would not be possible based on service time, etc. I wildcard searched it and couldn’t find anything. So, here it is, Hazmet’s proposition to demoting Ollie, screwing Boras, all of the above.
trs86
5/31/2010-4:03pm at 4:03 pm (UTC -4)
LOL, Hazmet.
You can’t actually trade a player to Japan without his consent.
GravediggerHebner
5/31/2010-4:04pm at 4:04 pm (UTC -4)
You can on April 1st but before he gets on the plane you have to reveal the joke.
Hazmet
5/31/2010-4:07pm at 4:07 pm (UTC -4)
Kill joy. Dang. I shall retire to my fortress of solitude and think up something else short of spiking his water with HGH, hey wait a minute
stickguy
5/31/2010-4:06pm at 4:06 pm (UTC -4)
haz, I am pretty sure they can only trade a guy to japan if he is willing to go.
But, trading him (with most of his salary) to whoever will give a spare part back? Saves face on the mets part, and F’s Ollie, not getting to pick where he gets to go.
But, there is one obvious perfect solution.
Find someone on the team with the Balls to Code Red him!
Hazmet
5/31/2010-4:09pm at 4:09 pm (UTC -4)
Now we’re talking my language.
Mr North Jersey
5/31/2010-4:11pm at 4:11 pm (UTC -4)
Mr North Jersey
5/31/2010-4:18pm at 4:18 pm (UTC -4)
If that is not one of the best scenes in freaking movie history then I don’t know what is.
asod75
5/31/2010-5:09pm at 5:09 pm (UTC -4)
I’m so sick of Perez and Boras. I’d actually try to swing a deal where the Mets pick up some of the cost and deal Ollie to the Orioles along with Murph and Kunz/Parnell and perhaps a lower level B prospect for Millwood and Wigginton. Millwood enters the rotation to add stability and Wigginton immediately upgrades the bench and gets some starts when the inevitable Castillo injury occurs. If a trade doesn’t work out anywhere, I think you’re left with no other option but to cut the guy and eat the money. I’d much rather him head to the minors and see if he can recapture his form, but he wants nothing to do with that option. You can’t proceed as things are now. Right now, the bullpen is in shambles as it is (Nieve was overworked to begin with, now he won’t be able to pitch for a day or two due to his ridiculous start, Iggy is rounding into form, Mejia’s role continues to be undefined). Having Ollie out there compromises this team going forward. The longer he’s out there, the more the bullpen is overused, and with a manager that is on the hot seat and a man who can’t manage a bullpen if his life depended it anyway, it’s a recipe for multiple injuries and ultimate disaster. Time to let this guy be someone else’s problem.
trs86
5/31/2010-5:11pm at 5:11 pm (UTC -4)
It would take a lot of cash on our part or a very good prospect. Even taking those two players, the O’s can get a good return from them without taking back salary.
asod75
5/31/2010-5:44pm at 5:44 pm (UTC -4)
Which is why I really can’t see the Mets being able to trade Perez. All I know is, I want him off this team in the worst way.
Hazmet
5/31/2010-8:11pm at 8:11 pm (UTC -4)
Too late but maybe a useful discussion during mid-flight to San Diego by Jerry could have been:
“Alright men, everybody buckled in? Ollie go check to see if that door is locked, yeah the one with the big handle, turn it to the left.”