It was another bad day for Oliver Perez today and it could be his last as a Mets pitcher. He got rocked for back-to-back home runs when he entered the game with two men on base against the Nationals in the seventh inning. His spring ERA ballooned to 8.38 and his fastball never got above 87 mph. It’s just not working out.
I was in favor of holding onto Ollie at least until the end of spring training. But it’s become abundantly clear that there’s nothing to be gained by Perez’ continued participation in spring training.
The Mets were willing to eat Luis Castillo’s contract for $6 million yesterday. Ollie’s contract will be twice as difficult a pill to swallow at $12 million. The only saving grace is that both players are going to be free agents after the 2011 season.
I feel like I’ve seen this quote a hundred times from Perez during his Mets career. After today’s game he said:
“I didn’t do my job, and that’s why they scored four runs,” Perez said after the Mets’ 7-4 win over the Nationals. “That’s a really bad job.”
Pitching coach Dan Warthen talked to reporters after the game too. He’s frequently been in a position to be an apologist for Perez.
“I would like to see better stuff from Ollie,” Warthen said. “We have other guys in here that are working hard and doing a good job from the left side,” Warthen said. “He’s trying to make the left-handed job, and these other guys are doing a very good job right now. We have to evaluate that way.”
Today I changed my mind about Ollie. I’m ready to pull the plug and let him go. I had serious doubts before spring training that he would be able to recover his stuff from 2006. Now, I think he’s wasting time in Port St. Lucie. It’s time for Ollie to go.
The Mets Report 