Well as we all know this Sunday Oliver Perez Made his third rehab start, this time for AAA Buffalo. And once again the outcome did not seem to indicate that he was anywhere near ready to return tot he rotation. Ollie lasted five innings, giving up one unearned run on five hits – which withing itself doesn’t seem so bad. The problem is that he walked five batters- and hitting two,- all this while throwing 100 pitches only half for strikes !! Reports said that once again his fastball topped out between 85-88 m.p.h. Obviously Mr Perez – The Sultan of Suckitude is not ready yet , but there is less than a month to go in this rehab stint. The Mets are mandated by the rules of Major League baseball to activate him once the thirty days are up. So what are the Mets to do? Will they try to acquire another starting pitcher before Oliver is slated to re-join the team ? If they do go this route will we end up with one of the two top level starting pitchers on the market ( Oswalt, Haren) – or will we get a middle of the road pitcher who can burn innings and save our bullpen ( Westbrook, Lilly) ? I hope it would be the former because I have been railing for a top line starter such as Dan Haren or Roy Oswalt . They would all but deliver the Mets into a playoff berth, but the reports of the Mets financial difficulties are based in reality, then expect a cheap middle of the road type of pitcher or expect the front office to sell us that Ollie is “cured” and getting him back is like obtaining a front line starter ( cringe). Remember Oliver is still owed a bit more than 20 million dollars for the next season and a half, and we know this team won’t eat the contract. That coupled with the fact that apparently no team will touch Oliver in a trade ( he might have cooties or bubonic plague), Lets face it this could turn into a ugly second half if he returns to the rotation. In my opinion , I feel if Ollie is not ready, put him on the sixty day d.l. and make sure he doesn’t see any action in a Mets uniform for the rest of this season,because if he does pitch and he fails miserably – well it may turn ugly when a fan base really turns against one of it’s players – just ask Bobby Bonilla or Armando Benitez.
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                                                                               ” Ay Dios Mio !!!”
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And with that said….. HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!
Celebrating birthdays today are :
Journeyman reliever from the ’74 team, Jack Aker is 70 (1940) .
One time catcher of the future, Mike Fitzgerald is 50 (1960). Mike was a very good catcher, but he was involved in the deal that got us Gary Carter from the Expos. Mike had a long and productive post Mets career .
New York Mets purchased catcher,Joe Pignatano from the San Francisco Giants on July 13, 1962.We all remember Joe’s bullpen tomato garden that lasted through his tenure as the Mets bullpen coach . He was one of the longest tenured coaches in Mets history – 13 years to be exact (’68-’81)
New York Mets signed free agent reliever Bob McClure on July 13, 1988. Bob at one time was the closer for the Milwaukee Brewers, but by the time he came tot he Mets he was more of a set up man.
New York Mets released middle reliever Juan Padilla on July 13, 2008.
And Mo Vaughn was sighted at last night’s Home Run Derby. He was utilized as the batters eye in center-field !!
7 comments
metsfan4decades
7/13/2010-7:47am at 7:47 am (UTC -4)
The Mets are already in a way, eating Ollie’s contract.
I think the only reason he got any leeway last year was b/c it was obvious by middle of June this team wasn’t going anywhere.
This year, they were pretty quick to remove both him and Maine from the rotation. I cannot believe that they will allow him back in the rotation at his current level of pitching, with a FB topping out at about 88. If they do, then it has to be construed it’s all about the money and not so much about winning….
And if they do that, what kind of message does that send to the fans? The backlash will be tremendous. I have to believe they’re going to make a decision based on what’s best for the team, not the pocketbooks, in the case. That money is already sunk one way or another. No reason to have him in the rotation if he can’t even remotely get outs at the ML level.
rustyjr
7/13/2010-8:03am at 8:03 am (UTC -4)
I hope you are right – I just look at this teams history with dealing with this scenario ( bonillia , castillio etc) and I feel that Ollie will be up sometime this season
metsfan4decades
7/13/2010-8:16am at 8:16 am (UTC -4)
I can’t fault them for doing whatever they could with Ollie to see if they could get some return on that $$. I just can’t believe they’ll try and justify using him if he can’t get the job done. I guess we’ll see soon enough…..
Kingman 26
7/13/2010-8:44am at 8:44 am (UTC -4)
So THAT is what the batter’s eye was last night!
I think Ollie will be on the shortest leash in history, be banished after 2 bad MLB starts and be released during spring training 2011 is he cannot pitch by then.
ceetar
7/13/2010-9:50am at 9:50 am (UTC -4)
Ollie will need to show something first, consistently, he hasn’t, so he won’t pitch.
He’ll be reassigned to DL again. He’ll stop being reported on by the beat writers, and we’ll stop hearing about him.
njstuckintx
7/13/2010-9:57am at 9:57 am (UTC -4)
Fade into Bolivian.
GravediggerHebner
7/13/2010-12:18pm at 12:18 pm (UTC -4)
I think maybe Ollie has cooties AND the bubonic plague.
Mike Fitzgerald may be the first young Met that I had mixed feelings about being traded away – half “oh I was rooting for him to make it & help this team” and half “thanks for facilitating Gary Carter.” I have been calling it “Carlos Gomez” syndrome, but maybe I should call it “Mike Fitzgerald” syndrome.