In an article by Adam Rubin the New York Mets officially told Oliver Perez today that they no longer see him making the team as a starter.
“I told him that we have decided that we think the place where he would probably help us the most is being a situational lefty,” Collins said.
The People Perez will be competing against for that situational lefty role are Tim Byrdak, Taylor Tankersley, Mike O’Connor and Pat Misch.
Perez is scheduled to pitch Saturday at ESPN Wide World of Sports vs the Braves.
18 comments
Prismo
3/9/2011-6:09pm at 6:09 pm (UTC -4)
I don’t really understand why he’s given *another* opportunity, and if it’s just a show, why bother?
Would any of you rather see Ollie than ANY of those 4 guys in any dire relief situation?
stickguy
3/9/2011-9:41pm at 9:41 pm (UTC -4)
probably 2 things going on.
1) they don’t want to be accused of not giving the players a full chance at a spot. Should help with relations in the future.
2) they still hope that some team will get desperate as ST goes on, and might take him off the Mets hands.
metsfan4decades
3/9/2011-10:02pm at 10:02 pm (UTC -4)
Um….you can’t see me but my hand certainly is not raised.
rustyjr
3/9/2011-6:13pm at 6:13 pm (UTC -4)
I sure hope it’s bust !!
hazmet
3/9/2011-7:05pm at 7:05 pm (UTC -4)
I was so disappointed to hear this earlier today. This had just best be a matter of time. I believe the only reason they kept him was his mph increased to 88mph from the 84 he was hitting. If it wasn’t for that lowly improvement he might have been gone today. Irony is this increase was probably the result of a fast gun in ST. I would be shocked if he ever hit 90-92 again unless he gets a little “go-go juice”.
stickguy
3/9/2011-9:43pm at 9:43 pm (UTC -4)
so let him have a couple of appearances out of the pen. They probably won’t go well, and then he will be gone.
it is still early in ST, when they are play split squad games, regulars aren’t going very deep, etc. so there are plenty of innings to go around.
now, in about another week, it is time to start cutting down to the “real” team. So it won’t be long for Ollie now.
metsfan4decades
3/9/2011-10:06pm at 10:06 pm (UTC -4)
Agreed. Whether his diminished skills this young are his own doing, through no fault of his own, some combo of both…..Met fans and the players behind him as well, have suffered long enough.
Sometimes life just sux, Ollie.
metsfan4decades
3/9/2011-10:24pm at 10:24 pm (UTC -4)
http://metsmerizedonline.com/2011/03/this-is-not-funny.html#comment-139208
Sorry…had to share.
I think we should start a pool here involving how long until the Mets are no longer the laughingstock of MLB.
Prismo
3/9/2011-11:45pm at 11:45 pm (UTC -4)
metsfan4decades
3/9/2011-10:51pm at 10:51 pm (UTC -4)
Not sure where the original story and link is on this but…
The Detroit Tigers third baseman played the entire 2009 season with patellar tendinitis in his left knee. Utley, the Phillies All-Star second baseman, is currently sidelined by the same injury in his right knee and the team revealed Wednesday that it has not improved with a cortisone injection.
Though no two cases are exactly the same, Inge’s injury sounded familiar enough to Phillies manager Charlie Manuel that he asked the Tigers third baseman to call Utley.
Inge said Utley has two options: season-ending surgery or playing through intense pain.
That explains why Utley and the Phillies are exhausting all non-operative options. Inge’s description of the surgery was also grim.
He faced the same decision in 2009 when he was diagnosed with patellar tendinitis in spring training and he decided to play through the pain.
“The pain that is associated with it is not fun,” Inge said. “It’s a tough thing to play through.”
After hitting .230 with 27 home runs and 84 RBIs in 2009, Inge opted for surgery in November and was ready to play opening day last season. But he said he did not feel significantly better until spring training this year.
“I played an entire year with it, then had the surgery and then an entire year last year recovering from it and it’s not fun,” he said. “This is the first time I’ve felt comfortable. There is not much you can do about it.”
“They don’t just do arthroscopic surgery — they open you up,” Inge said, lifting his uniform to reveal a five-inch scar on his left knee. Surgery was frustrating … because the recovery is slow. In the beginning part, it’s painful.”
Inge said the procedure included the drilling of three holes in his kneecap.
It was obvious that Inge’s pain was caused by something similar to what Utley is going through. When the Tigers third baseman was shown the new word — chrondromalacia — the Phillies are using to describe Utley’s injury he immediately knew how to pronounce it.
“It’s patellar tendinitis,” he said. “Even if he does have the surgery, it’s never going to be the same. I wish I had better news and I hope the best for him.”
**********************************************************
I’m a little confused because Ollie supposedly had patellar tendinitis, had the minor surgery for it, was back the next season with no pain (no talent left either but that’s another point all together).
The surgery Inge describes is exactly what I read concerning Beltran when microfracture surgery was mentioned in relation to him and his bone on bone problem in that knee.
If Mets do release Castillo it might be more of a possibility than a laugh to see him picked up on the Mets dime in Philly.
stickguy
3/9/2011-10:58pm at 10:58 pm (UTC -4)
particularly hard probably to deal with it as a 2B.
he says he can hit fine, but that pounding on it, cutting, lateral, etc. is where the real pain comes in. IOW, playing 2B!
gotta figure that if he does play through it, it will have to negatively impact him, and probably get aggravated playing the field.
the real panic down here will be when one of the SPs comes up lame!
Prismo
3/9/2011-11:46pm at 11:46 pm (UTC -4)
Was it this one? (was linked earlier from a Phillies fan/friend)
http://blogs.delawareonline.com/philledin/2011/03/09/diagnosing-utleys-injury/
metsfan4decades
3/10/2011-12:20am at 12:20 am (UTC -4)
I posted a quote I saw over on beerleaguer but the fan didn’t reference the site nor the link, just cut and pasted from whatever article he saw it on. So I can’t be sure.
I looked on philliesnation.com….thinking maybe he got it from there but no. However, the article they’ve got up on Utley paints an more pessimistic and serious picture. It sounds like he’s got exactly what Beltran has, but maybe in an earlier stage of bone on bone (not as deep?) or just newly diagnosed. In fact, it sounds exactly like Beltran circa June 2009. Cortisone shots didn’t help, put on DL, will be back after rest, etc., etc. In that article, Charlie mentions doing whatever is necessary so he’s back next year and the year after. Doesn’t sound good….
metsfan4decades
3/9/2011-11:18pm at 11:18 pm (UTC -4)
Yes, I’m bored tonight…..
This one’s for you, stick: (mlb.com)
Duda’s journey may result in pivotal role
Powerful prospect could play right field if Beltran misses time
“I’m hoping like mad that Carlos Beltran can be out there quite a bit,” Collins said. “But if something happens, this guy has shown this spring that his bat’s dangerous, so I need to find a place for him if that happens.”
stickguy
3/9/2011-11:27pm at 11:27 pm (UTC -4)
too bad it isn’t LF that is potentially opening up!
stickguy
3/9/2011-11:32pm at 11:32 pm (UTC -4)
watching the local (philly) sports, and of course they are obsessing about Utley, and how much time he might be missing (sounds like they are writing off opening day pretty much, and it is now a matter of lots vs. all season maybe).
made me wonder, can upgrading 1 SP spot (Kendrick to Lee I guess) overcome losing their 2 best hitters from last year (werth and utley)?
ask the mets, losing your #3 and #5 hitters for extended periods (or all season!) does not help at all.
without those 2, that line up does not look particularly scary.
metsfan4decades
3/10/2011-12:27am at 12:27 am (UTC -4)
If they didn’t lose Werth, they maybe could have compensated somewhat for losing Utley. But both? Especially when the replacement players are a huge drop. For instance right now it’s Ben Francisco in RF, who really projects as a 4th OF and Wilson Valdez at 2nd (and enough said there).
If I was a stat head, I guess you’d subtract War totals for Werth and Utley, add in WAR for Lee and over/under for whatever WAR with the replacement players? If yes, wouldn’t you say they start out with a win total projection of less than the 97 for last year?
If I was Philly, I’d be looking over my shoulder with a very worried look at the Braves.
stickguy
3/10/2011-10:30am at 10:30 am (UTC -4)
I believe i compared at one point, and effectively werth for lee was a wash, depending on the other SP option.
if they lose utley too, it should equate to a negative WAR