Tag: Oliver Perez

Troubled Oliver Perez Should Stay With Mets

Oliver PerezThere’s no disputing the fact that something, and maybe everything, is going horribly wrong for Oliver Perez this season. He’s made five starts now and is pitching to a 1-2 record with a 9.97 ERA. Obviously, he’s hurting the team and shouldn’t continue in the starting rotation. The only debate right now is whether he should be sent to Triple-A Buffalo or stay with the Mets in the bullpen in an attempt to right the ship.

I believe that Perez should stay with the Mets in the bullpen. He doesn’t even need to pitch out of the bullpen, but he should stay with the Mets not be banished to Buffalo.

The Mets should bring up Nelson Figueroa to take Perez’ spot in the rotation for one start. This will give Perez a chance to continue his work with pitching coach Dan Warthen and Johan Santana. Figueroa could take Ken Takahashi’s spot on the roster. Perez will have the pressure off him for 10 games and have a chance to just work on finding himself.

Perez is going to be a part of the Mets for the next three seasons. His 3-year/$36 million contract that he just signed assures him of that. So the Mets need to go forward with Perez on the major league roster and show some confidence in him. I think he needs that right now. The going is tough for him but it’ll get better. You can see it on his face that he’s disappointed in himself.

There are examples of established major league pitchers that have gone to the minors and come back better for it. Steve Trachsel did it for the Mets. But you can also look at Barry Zito with the Giants from last season. On April 29, 2008 Zito was off to an 0-6 start with a 7.53 ERA and was moved to the bullpen. He skipped a start and came back much better. He finished the season at 10-11 record after the bullpen move, and that’s with a bad team that finished the season 72-90. Take a look at Zito’s 2008 game log here. I could see the same type of season for Perez this year.

The Mets made a prett sizable investment in Perez this offseason. They shouldn’t give up on him after one bad month. He should stay with the team and work with the best pitching coaches in the organization. That means he stays with the major league team and works through his problems.

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Phillies 6- Mets 5 May 2, 2009

Oliver Perez pitched another complete disaster and couldn’t even make it out of the third inning, and that wasn’t even the worst part of this game. If you’re a Mets fan and didn’t get a chance to watch this game because you were enjoying a nice May Saturday afternoon, you may want to stop reading now to keep from tossing your cookies. Perez’ line was 2.1 innings giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and 6 walks. He was even doing some kind of new pause in his delivery that we haven’t seen before. Perez has absolutely no idea what to do right now.

What I did like about the Mets is that they were down 4-2 and came back to score 3 runs in the sixth inning. That’s a good sign because they haven’t done much coming back this season. Carlos Beltran and Ramon Castro had two hits apiece, and Castro and Daniel Murphy homered in the game.

The devastating part of the game came when the Phillies scored one to tie in the bottom of the sixth inning. Both teams couldn’t get a rally going and went to the tenth inning. Sean Green was in for the Mets and struggling badly. He loaded the bases and ended up walking Shane Victorino to score the winning run. What an awful way to lose a game, especially to the Phillies. As reader TD noted, Green did a great impression of Aaron Heilman. I was surprised that Jerry Manuel stuck with Green through the inning even though he was wild, walking two hitters. I would have pulled him for Brian Stokes. Both Stokes and Francisco Rodriguez were still available to pitch. Another ugly loss.

Box score

52091

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Game Preview: Mets at Phillies [Game 23] May 2, 2009

Phillies logoNew York Mets (10-12 Road: 4-6) at Philadelphia Phillies (11-10 Home: 5-8) 3:40 pm

Oliver Perez (1-2 9.31) vs.Jamie Moyer (3-1 5.09)

TV: Fox  Radio:  WFAN

What to watch:  The Mets took the first game of the rivalry series last night. Perez gets his shot on national TV today against a Phils team that he’s had historical success against. I question how much that actually means but he was 1-0 with a 0.35 ERA in 4 starts against them last season. Perez may very well be pitching to keep his spot in the rotation today. Moyer’s last start was excellent, going 6 innings against the Marlins and giving up only 1 run. There’s word that Carlos Delgado (hip) may go on the disabled list if he isn’t ready to play today.

Don’t forget to visit The Mets Report Live Game Chat during the game to chat with other Mets fans!

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Mets Designate Fossum, Call Up Takahashi

Casey Fossum was designated for assingment after today’s game against the Nationals. He pitched in 3 games for the Mets after getting called up from Triple-A Buffalo when Nelson Figueroa was DFA’d.

Ken Takahashi is a 40 year old lefty who’s pitched very well at Buffalo. He’s pitched in 6 games, going 11.2 innings and has a 0.77 ERA.

I’m not sure what the Mets didn’t like about Fossum. He did give up 3 hits and 3 walks to the Nationals today. But that’s nothing compared to the disaster that Oliver Perez threw today. Then again, Fossum doesn’t make $12 million/year. So I guess that’s what happens.

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Nationals 8- Mets 1 April 26, 2009

42609Oliver Perez couldn’t get out of the fifth inning…again. And he gave up 7 earned runs. I liked Perez a lot more when half of his starts were pretty good. His season ERA is up to 9.31 now. What more is there to say about his start?

The Mets offense only mustered six hits. But the Nationals rookie pitcher Jordan Zimmermann looks like he’s going to be a good one. I have to say that it’s good to see that the Nationals have something going for them. I was starting to think that they don’t belong in Major League Baseball.

The Mets couldn’t finish the sweep thanks to another stinker by Perez. The Marlins come to town starting tomorrow night.

Box score

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Game Preview: Nationals at Mets [Game 18] April 26, 2009

Washington Nationals logoWashington Nationals (3-13 Road: 0-8) at New York Mets (8-9 Home: 5-3)  1:10 pm

Jordan Zimmerman (1-0 3.00) vs. Oliver Perez (1-1 7.80)

TV: WPIX   Radio:  WFAN

What to watch: Zimmerman looks like a bright spot for an otherwise dreadful Nationals team. He made one start against the Braves and got a rare win for the Nats. The Mets have lost 2 of 3 Perez starts. I believe if he gets bombed again today that the Mets may skip his next start so he can try to figure out what his problem(s) are.

Don’t forget to visit The Mets Report Live Game Chat during the game to chat with other Mets fans!

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Mets Starting Pitching May Force Roster, Coaching Changes

Oliver PerezAfter the Mets humiliating defeat in St. Louis yesterday, manager Jerry Manuel spoke to the media about some possible changes to the roster in the near future. Manuel said that they’ll go one more time, as is, through the pitching rotation. If the starting pitchers, other than Johan Santana, can’t overcome their problems the Mets will make changes.

Manuel said that he would like to immediately add a 13th pitcher to the Mets roster. The logic being that the starters are pitching so few innings right now that it would keep the existing pitchers in the bullpen from getting burned out early in the season. Manuel admitted that he’s concerned about how many innings the bullpen is logging already.

Another issue is to figure out which position player will pay the price by losing a roster spot to add another pitcher. I suspect that Jeremy Reed is the most likely candidate. If it was up to me, I would option Daniel Murphy for reasons written before on this site that I won’t go into again.

Adam Rubin of the Daily News reports that the Mets are already considering making changes to the coaching staff. Rubin also notes that the Mets are considering optioning Mike Pelfrey or Oliver Perez to the minors. That would be quite a shake-up, moving the #2 or #3 starter to the minors!

Although some of these ideas sound desperate, I’m glad that they’re not just going with the status quo because it’s April. The Mets have a lot of seats left to sell and this team isn’t inspiring me to go out and buy more seats. That doesn’t even mention the fact that the last two seasons have been lost to one or two games, so they can’t just give games away even if it is only April.

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