Today marks Oliver Perez’s twenty-ninth year on this planet, and what does he have to show for it? He pitches ( cough, cough) for one of the richest teams in all of baseball. He signed a 3 year/ 36 million dollar contract last season, which makes him just a cut below the richest starting pitchers in baseball today. Lets face it he is a wealthy man ! So what do you get a wealthy man who enjoys sitting on a bench every game and doesn’t care if he sees action or not? A new Porche 911? a vacation home in Aruba ? A bottle of Patron and a hand-held ps3 unit ? I would say the perfect present for him would be early retirement !! Thats right I say release his lazy ass and just pay him the 18 odd million dollars that is still owed to him and his agent Scott Boras ! Lets face it , “The Sultan Of Suckitude ” will never find his old form again ( not for the Mets anyway). His 95-97 m.p.h fastball that made him an enigma has eroded to a 86-88 m.p.h junk ball that fools nobody. He is a selfish player, refusing time and time again to take a demotion so that he can try to find his mojo. And he has essentially tied Omar, Fred and Jeff’s hands when it comes to roster management !! It is clear that the man has no worth to this franchise, and I doubt that any other team would be willing to trade for him or dare sign him to a major league contract. This organization has to use Oliver as an example that the team comes first and players that do not live up to their contracts will be jettisoned like yesterdays trash !!
So Happy Birthday Ollie P I hope that someone gives you a birthday punch that will knock you into 2012 after your contract has expired !!
And with that said… HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!!
“Happy Birthday Ollie P – now GO AWAY !!!”
Celebrating Birthdays today:
Reserve outfielder from the ’67 team,Tommie Reynolds is 69(1941) .
One of the most overlooked catcher in Mets history,Duffy Dyer is 55 (1945).
One of the bright spots of the Mets mid ’70′s pitching staffs,Nino Espinosa would have been 57 today (1953) .
Oliver Perez is 29 (1981) ( HACK PTOOEY !)
New York Mets traded starting pitcher,Shawn Estes to the Cincinnati Reds for middle reliever extraordinaire,Pedro Feliciano, outfielders, Raul Gonzalez and Brady Clark and minor league outfielder,Elvin Andujar on August 15, 2002. Lets face it , we always had high hopes for Estes, but except for some flashes, he never panned out ( how do you miss beaning Roger Clemens ?!)
New York Mets released utility-man, Eli Marrero on August 15, 2006
Mo Vaughn is waiting at Citi Field to be the first in line to give Oliver Perez his birthday punches – with a Louisville Slugger !!
11 comments
stickguy
8/15/2010-12:51pm at 12:51 pm (UTC -4)
“He signed a 3 year/ 3 million dollar contract last season,”
Yeah, you wish Rusty!
and they don’t owe him 18m anymore. It should be down to about 15 at the end of august.
At this point, the Mets are in so deep, likely they are just hanging onto the slim hope that they can move him by the 8/31 deadline. Only 2 weeks away.
ANd if they can’t, at that point, no reason to release him. Rosters expand so just call up more pitching, and tell him to go on vacation. Don’t release him, and keep paying him, but don’t even bother to have him dress.
Then work every angle to move him in the off season. and when that all finally fails, release him. Hopefully at the last possible minute, so he has chance to hook up with another team for ST.
You know, just to F with him and boras. Make it one of those “if you won’t play for us, you won’t play at all” deals.
Now, if the mets were fighting for a playoff spot, I would support cutting him today, but with jerry still at the helm, it really makes no damned difference if ollie is out there being ignored, or some other guy like valdes.
rustyjr
8/15/2010-12:59pm at 12:59 pm (UTC -4)
oops i blame mypain pills for that lol
i understand your point – but when do we stop coddling pariahs and start taking the tea back? this team is playing one player short – and it has been proven that we need that extra pitcher in the pen and letting ollie sit is not the answer – releaing him is !
stickguy
8/15/2010-1:07pm at 1:07 pm (UTC -4)
fans are very emotional and reactionary. Quick trigger finger. A FO though has to look at the bigger picture (the best interest of the team, now and ongoing).
In their judgement (right or wrong), they must still feel that Ollie can give them some return on their investment. Hard to believe it is by being in the rotation next year at this point, so more likely, in some kind of trade in the off season.
and yes, he is tradable, with only 1 year on his deal. Late blooming lefty concept.
So, they seem to have decided to hang onto him to try and still get something back before releasing him.
ANd for the last 2 weeks while jerry was buried, another arm would not have mattered, since Dessans also sat for 2 weeks. If jerry desperately needed a fresh arm, well, there he was.
I still think a 7 man pen is overkill. especially now, when the mets are getting a pretty consistant run of deep starts (6 every day, with plenty of 7 or mores sprinkled in).
so maybe the arguement should be, ollie is keeping them from having Turner or duda on the roster! Because a usable 7th pen arm is not what they have been missing, not with jerry especially.
don’t forget, these are contracts to the team, not people. Take the emotional (fan) aspect out of it.
rustyjr
8/15/2010-1:21pm at 1:21 pm (UTC -4)
oh trust me i am the first person to admit that I am reactionary when it comes from the mets – it just burns me to see that this man in my perception at least doesnt care about idoing whats best for the team and taking the demotion
GravediggerHebner
8/15/2010-1:20pm at 1:20 pm (UTC -4)
I think the word “enigma” was invented to describe Oliver Perez.
I don’t know what someone would find if they searched old Metsblog comments but the way I recall it when Oliver’s free agency period began I was gung ho to sign him on the premise that he was a relatively young LHP and that many of those were historically late developers and the chance that he might be one of those was one that had to be taken.
Then I conversed with people and did some research and concluded that the concept of the late blooming LHP was pretty overblown and that basically I was thinking of Randy Johnson only. I certainly understand why I would want the Mets to sign a young Randy Johnson.
But I couldn’t find many more examples and ultimately came to the conclusion that the Mets should let him walk or at best sign him to a reasonable 1 year deal. Obviously they did not do that.
I’m not sure that’s correct perhaps that’s revisionist history on my part but that’s the way I remember it anyway. Now I take solace in knowing that worst case it will all be over about 14 months from now. Any earlier parting of ways with him will just be a bonus.
rustyjr
8/15/2010-1:22pm at 1:22 pm (UTC -4)
i too also wanted ollie back – but i was shocked when they commited that much moeny to a unproven pitcher such as ollie
stickguy
8/15/2010-1:33pm at 1:33 pm (UTC -4)
I was actaully very excited for the mets offering arb, and having him decline to sign elsewhere, and the Mets getting some draft picks. Then signing someone like Wolf instead, and being ahead on the deal.
I was not really surprised they didn’t do that (omar being omar), and yeah, was kind of shocked at the money.
But, it was not really out of line with what other mid rotation FA SPs were getting.
Just never expected this level of suckitude.
If Ollie had even just replicated 2007 and 2008 these last 2 years, no one would be talking about Ollie.
kingman 26
8/15/2010-1:36pm at 1:36 pm (UTC -4)
Let’s not forget Sandy Koufax.
And when Ollie admits he did PEDs with half of the other LoDuca Mets in 2006–2008, it will all become abundantly clear why he (and Maine) cannot hit 90 on the gun anymore.
And hey, at least Estes TRIED to hit Roger—more than most recent Met pitchers would have done!
stickguy
8/15/2010-1:46pm at 1:46 pm (UTC -4)
ollie, maybe. Maine, no way. He lost his FB when his shoulder shreaded.
metsfan4decades
8/15/2010-2:00pm at 2:00 pm (UTC -4)
Mets rolled the dice with Ollie and lost. I think they were hoping he’d become a bit more stable pitcher. Turns out he’s nothing more than a ‘thrower’ and the talent that gave him mediocre success is virtually gone.
It’s a sunk cost. They need to admit it, release him and move on. Anything else is a mistake and is driven by $$ only. If that’s the message the Mets will be sending next year, they can probably count on even more reduced attendance/support.
stickguy
8/15/2010-3:33pm at 3:33 pm (UTC -4)
I think they figured he would at least be equivalent to the 2007=2008 version, in which case the deal would be a little high, but not too much. And that there was a chance that, you said, he would mature enough and take the step up to being a higher end guy, in which case he would have been a bargain.
for sure, they never expected this.
and yeah, very sunk cost. I expect they finally clean up the mess one way or another in the off season.