Here’s this week’s video that I did Sunday night with Kerel Cooper of On The Black. We did this video before the official announcement of Oliver Perez’ release was made. We also talk about the release of Luis Castillo, Jason Bay’s comeback from injury, and the latest on the Madoff lawsuit.
Mets Release Oliver Perez
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
I’m back on board with this organization today. Many of us have been so critical of the Mets over the last four years and, in many cases, rightfully so. There aren’t many teams that would eat $18 million in contracts between Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo in three days like the Mets just did. That shows some smarts and some guts to move forward in a new direction.
I have to admit that I was okay with the Perez contract before the 2009 season. If you remember, it was between Perez and Derek Lowe, who ended up getting a 4-year/$60 million contract from the Braves. By comparison, the Perez deal was a bargain. A bargain that turned into a nightmare.
Since Perez signed the big contract in 2009 he’s gone 3-9 in 31 games with a 6.81 ERA. It was time to move on without Perez. I applaud this team for making a decision that couldn’t have been made lightly considering the money that was on the line. And I won’t even get into the Wilpon’s current financial situation.
Take a look at Perez’ final stats with the Mets.
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | W | L | G | GS | GF | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | BK | WP | BF | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 24 | NYM | NL | 1 | 3 | .250 | 6.38 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 36.2 | 41 | 26 | 26 | 7 | 17 | 0 | 41 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 165 | 69 | 1.582 |
| 2007 | 25 | NYM | NL | 15 | 10 | .600 | 3.56 | 29 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 177.0 | 153 | 90 | 70 | 22 | 79 | 1 | 174 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 765 | 121 | 1.311 |
| 2008 | 26 | NYM | NL | 10 | 7 | .588 | 4.22 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 194.0 | 167 | 100 | 91 | 24 | 105 | 4 | 180 | 11 | 1 | 9 | 847 | 100 | 1.402 |
| 2009 | 27 | NYM | NL | 3 | 4 | .429 | 6.82 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66.0 | 69 | 51 | 50 | 12 | 58 | 2 | 62 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 324 | 60 | 1.924 |
| 2010 | 28 | NYM | NL | 0 | 5 | .000 | 6.80 | 17 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46.1 | 54 | 37 | 35 | 9 | 42 | 3 | 37 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 234 | 58 | 2.072 |
| NYM (5 yrs) | 29 | 29 | .500 | 4.71 | 101 | 91 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 520.0 | 484 | 304 | 272 | 74 | 301 | 10 | 494 | 29 | 1 | 22 | 2335 | 90 | 1.510 | |||
Mets Owners File to Dismiss Madoff Lawsuit
Although Fred and Jeff Wilpon and Saul Katz are wealthy, they don’t know very much about investing their money or how it’s handled. At least that’s their story in a legal filing attempting to dismiss the Madoff trustee lawsuit against them for more than $1 billion.
The defendants have consistently stated that the trustee’s lawsuit is a work of fiction. But reading through the legal filing from the Mets owners tonight, I’d have to say that their side of the story doesn’t come across well.
I find it hard to believe that the Wilpons and Katz aren’t sophisticated investors and that’s the argument that they’re making. Anyone that controls billions of dollars makes it their business to be a sophisticated investor. Casting themselves as bumbling fools that happened to make more money than most people see in their lives is ridiculous.
The Mets owners need to get serious about settling this case. This stunt of a dismissal motion is nothing more than a PR tactic being used to try to fight the lawsuit through the media. If they don’t get serious about settling the case and solidifying their ownership position with the Mets, it’s going to continue to hurt the team in multiple ways. Notably, the players will have to continue to answer questions day after day about the team’s finances instead of the game on the field.
This “uncertainty” is going to continue as long as the owners continue to make statements like the following from Saul Katz:
“I don’t do well in the markets, the stock market,” Katz said. “I’m not good at it, it’s not my business. I don’t have an active account anywhere.”
Fred Wilpon was asked in a deposition if he knew how Madoff was able to make money investing:
“I’m not an investment person…so I wouldn’t have any kind of expertise.”
If this is the strategy that the Wilpons and Katz plan to employ, they’re in bigger trouble with this lawsuit than I thought they were. Playing dumb is never a good defense and for people that built an empire in New York it’s a really bad idea.
Mets Oliver Perez Hit Hard, Could Be Released
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.
Mets Release Luis Castillo
There wasn’t much doubt that this was going to happen at some point this spring, it was just a matter of when it was going to happen. Today, the news came out that the Mets finally released the chronically under-performing Luis Castillo. It came out from the beat reporters that Castillo asked for his release today, unhappy with the assemblage of talent trying out at second base to replace him. Even the $6.25 million left on his contract for 2011 wasn’t enough to save him.
Castillo’s contract was inexplicable from the start. The Mets picked him up from the Twins at the trading deadline in 2007 and went on to one of the greatest late-season collapses in baseball history. At 31 years old, he appeared to be on the downside of a former speedster’s career. His legs didn’t look fresh and he couldn’t cover the same ground in the field that he did in the late 90’s with the Marlins when we saw him steal bases against Mike Piazza at will with his running mate Juan Pierre.
Of course, Omar Minaya rewarded him with a long-term contract. 4 -years/$25 million. It was hard to believe that was really true. But it was. Continue reading “Mets Release Luis Castillo”
Video: Mets 2011 Promotional Video
Image via Wikipedia
Here’s the 2011 version of the Mets team video. They put one of these out every year to get fans fired up for opening day. And it always works for me. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m already fired up about opening day, or the video itself is that good. But I think it’s more that I can’t wait for baseball to get started after a couple of weeks of spring games.
The 2011 team video below is one of the best ones in recent memory. I love the slow motion. This one compares favorably to the 2010 promotional video in black and white.
http://service.twistage.com/plugins/player.swf?p=link&v=82168ded01695
Video: ESPN 2011 Mets Preview
Tim Kurkjian previews the Mets from Florida. Basically, his take on the position players is that they look good on paper. The problem is that the recent injury histories of Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran make it difficult to believe that they’ll be in the lineup all season. He doesn’t even mention Jason Bay and his awful, injury-shortened 2010.
The take on the Mets rotation is that they’re fairly pedestrian without Johan Santana at the top. It’s hard to argue against that. Kurkjuan doesn’t think the Mets have the pitching to hang with the Phillies, Braves, and Marlins this year. Frankly, I agree.
Check out the video below.
http://espn.go.com/videohub/player/embed.swf
The Mets Report 