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Yesterday, Oliver Perez pitched pitched strongly for five innings but gave up three runs in the sixth. He matched his season high of eight strikeouts as well in the Mets’ win.
After the game, Willie Randolph had this to say:
“Ollie is still relatively young in a lot of ways. His stuff is good, but it’s like someone trying to harness a lot of that talent. He gets out of his arm slot and just tries to invent things…The beauty of Ollie is he competes. He might drive you a little nuts every once in a while, but he competes. When he starts to realize that you’re going to be a lot more consistent staying within your pattern, I think he’ll be more consistent.”
Perez, notes:
“For us, the starters, we need to keep the team in the game…Guys are starting to hit the ball, and that’s why we can win games.”
…i love how simple oliver’s post-game interviews are…pitchers need to pitch well, and hitters need to hit…genius…
For More on Perez, check out the Bergen Record, the New York Post, and the Daily News.
…as i have said before, i think perez will be up and down all year as he continues to mature as a pitcher…i think yesterday’s game was a perfect microcosm of how dominant, and how shaky perez can be…i just hope the dominant side rears its head more often…
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It is precisely for this reason that he can not be counted on. Even within the same game, he goes from dominant to testing things and inventing things. He simply can not be trusted. I am fine keeping him for the year but I do not want him back. As likely a type A free agent, we will get picks along the lines of what Glavine got us. That was a boon also. Those in favor of trading him in season…the only player I would do that for would be for Texiera who I think does get traded in season and signs with the team he gets traded to….IMO
A couple of things:
Why would the Braves trade Teixeira for another pending free agent, much less to a division rival?
Why would Teixeira sign with the team who traded for him? Is there any precedent whatsoever for a Boras client to do so?
Hey Danny. Good pts. I was not saying it would happen. merely suggesting the only person I would trade Perez for in season would be for Tex since I believe he stays where he gets traded to. I do not know Boras clients pattern historically as to when they get traded in season where they end up. Though your comment suggests you do know and that they do not stay. I can not say. Suffice it to say there is a limited market for $20M players as you know and Texiera is likely to become one of them. NY, Boston, LA, Detroit (though they are certainly not adding any payroll to their big budget at the moment), Maybe Wash DC if the Nats choose to spend a little to bring in a winner.
Regardless. your pts make sense and I would frankly rather get the likely 2 first round picks if he goes to a team with a better record than us, then keep him.
What a strange idea. The Braves and Mets make a trade of regular players during a pennant race.
Besides if either player is traded they will be traded for a player that is not a pending FA.
If the Braves SP woes continue I could see them trading Tex for a starer but it would be a guy like Hughes. Some one under team control for a while.
I’ve posted this observation before: We get to see the Ollie that won 15 games for us last year, and the Ollie that lost 10 games for us last year, often from one pitch to the next. Yesterday, he kept the 10 losses side, hereafter referred to as his “inner Jose Lima,” to a bare minimum, thankfully, and he was able to summon up some of his “inner Tom Seaver” to end the sixth.
I hate to break this to everyone, but for all the crap Perez gets, he was more consistent than John Maine last year. This game is all about labels. If you are “clutch”, you stay clutch until the day you die. If you’re a “gamer”, you keep that label too. If you’re a “utility player”, good luck getting a starting gig, no matter how well you play when you are in there.
For Perez, his label is “inconsistent”. Is Perez really the only pitcher in baseball who gets gassed towards the end of a start and gives up some runs in his last inning? Really? Yet when Perez does it, OHMYGOD THE BAD PEREZ JUST CAME OUT. It’s so tiresome.
Here’s the best part. Perez IS inconsistent. But so is most every young pitcher out there. And Perez is still young. He’s not anymore inconsistent right now than any other typical young pitcher, contrary to what everybody tries to tell you.
Perez had a horrendous turn in his career for a couple of years, got the inconsistent label, and save a Cy Young season, will never shake that label.
I don’t recall Maine absolutely cruising through 5 innings and then getting in trouble by messing around with his windup or arm slot like Ollie can.
OP transparently loses focus at times when he’s dominant and all of a sudden becomes both wild and hittable. That’s the frustration… it’s not that he’s gassed, it’s that his mind wonders. It’s almost like he’s trying to invent new pitches in the middle of a game, instead of just getting outs. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when you’re rolling along so great with the old one.
It’s not really fair to compare Perez to Maine. Pelfrey makes a better comp so far this year.
Or Figgy, actually.
Why? I could argue that Perez had a better year than Maine last year.
You could. You could also argue that Perez had a better 2004 and that Maine had a better senior year in high school. Which is why I qualified my comment with “this year”.
It’s true, Ollie and Maine were very statistically similar pitchers last year. Maine tends to allow more hits, Perez tends to walk more batters (which I believe has something to do with the “inconsistent” label). They also each pitched much better in the first half of last year than the second. It just seems, from stats and observation, that Maine has adjusted this year and is back on track and that Perez is still wildly inconsistent, from start to start, inning to inning, batter to batter. And so far this year, he just hasn’t really shown much promise in terms of shaking that label. What he needs to do is string together 3 starts where he goes 6+ innings and doesn’t walk more than 2 batters. That would go a long way toward making people (or at least me) believe he still has the potential to “figure it out”.
You don’t recall because you haven’t affixed the “inconsistent” label to Maine, and when he struggles late in a good start, it doesn’t phase you.
Nah, it’s because if Maine struggles it’s not occurring at the exact same time he starts messing around with pausing during his windup as if he was trying to be a lefty Dan Haren or dropping down side-arm.
Yes Maine is inconsistent but it seems like it’s more physical with Maine but more mental with Ollie, and OP’s definitely more likely to let it snowball into a sure loss for the team whereas Maine has shown the ability to fight through it and give the team a chance more often.
I’m curious as to how you can say OP was more consistent than JM last year. What are the criteria? consecutive quality starts? IP per consecutive start? Big innings allowed? High leverage situations?
Another Matt’s observation seems valid to me. Players have said it, his catcher’s said it: he’s prone to lose focus and melt down. Not the same thing as being gassed.
Actually, I have to concede… I just looked at there game logs from last year, and there is a case to be made that Ollie was no less consistent in his actual performance.
In their starts last year, Maine failed to complete the 5th inning 5 times, Ollie only 4 times. Maine gave up more than 5 runs 4 times, Ollie only 4 times (that’s including unearned runs, which is when Ollie sometimes seems to lose the plot).
So it comes down to perception: Maine’s struggles seem to be more physical, whereas Ollie’s seem to be more mental. That leads to the impression that Maine’s making the most out of his talents but that Ollie could be better “if only he just straightened his head out”.
Yeah, they really had very similar seasons over all, but I don’t see how one could say ollie was more consistent. I do buy that too often an image is defined and then perpetuated through repetition, rather than examination of performance (and that there’s merit to JM being unfairly exempt)…but I think “inconsistent”, in this case, has been a euphamism for “depends where his head’s at on the day he pitches”
just for fun: runs allowed per start last year
OP 132438120335042*21556430352526
JM 02210133522241222*742066336161830
According to Rubin, Adam Bostick is getting the Wednesday start. Of course, this could change due to rainout(s).
The Matt Wise situation is getting a bit absurd, btw.
That seems odd. Why not somebody like Caludio Vargas or Tony Armas Jr.? Or Sosa, so you don’t have to make a roster move?
And yeah, Matt Wise seems like some guy who keeps showing up to the clubhouse to hang out, and the Mets are too nice to tell him to go away. You have to wonder if there’s some deal in the works that will somehow “solve” their roster logjam.
Vargas and Armas Jr. are not on the 40-Man roster. Omar doesn’t want to add them for just 1 start, because then you are exposing the player who is taken off to waivers.
Oh, smart. I did not know that neither were on the 40 man. I actually thought we still had room.
Ruddy Lugo’s got a better ERA and better WHIP in NO than Adam Bostick, and is on the 40-man, which makes one wonder why he’s being overlooked.
Also, couldn’t they make room for Armas on the 40-man by shifting either Burgos or J.Vargas to the 60-day DL?
Unless there’s a limit on the number of players on the 60-day or you can’t make it retroactive or something…
Maybe Bostick has options and can be sent back down where as Lugo might have to go through waivers to return to NO.
Oliver Perez gets bashed way more than he should. I’m tired of all this “who is Oliver Perez” garbage. He’s a solid #3, he was last year, he is going to be this year. This guy is honestly one of the better reclamation projects in a while, a guy who’s career was destined to rot and die in Pittsburgh, but it honestly seems like there isn’t a single met fan out there who can appreciate everything he’s done.
I’d want him back in a second. Look at the 2009 free agents for SP, and you’d notice the only name that’s better than Perez is CC Sabathia. Would you rather have Ben Sheets or Derek Lowe over Oliver Perez? One of them is 36 years old, the other is going to get a gigantic contract even though he hasn’t gone a season without missing at least a dozen starts since 2004.
I would rather have Perez back as a pinch runner after yesterdays stolen base exhibition. He can fly……
Seriously though..Perez is what he is right now. Which is slightly better than league average. He shows flashes of brilliance and flashes of horrendous sometimes batter to batter. If that is the type of pitcher you want, then sign him up. He can be the best #4 pitcher in the league. But we can aspire to get better than him.
I did the math already. With Alou, Delgado, Perez, Pedro, Duque all coming off the books plus some small raises to others…we are about to lop off $40M from this years payroll.
In doing so, we can choose to load up in the rotation or load up 1 top pitcher (CC Sabathia type) and 1 top 1b (Texiera) all while trusing that LF goes to a Carp, Murphy, Evans, Fmart type.
I’d prefer to take the option of landing a solid A pitcher and solid A hitter/fielder for 1b and leave Pelfrey to round out the rotation.
Next year I’d like to see…Santana, Maine, Sabathia, Pelfrey and say one of the Vargas, Niese, Figueroa, types plus an offense that goes…Reyes, Church, Wright, Beltran, Texiera, Fmart, Castillo, Schneider
Agreed, he’s a great pitcher and we’re lucky to have him, especially since he wasn’t the focus of the deal that brought him here.
Nevertheless, while his stuff’s as good as anyone’s, it’s hard to feel complete confidence when he takes the mound. It’s not like Santana where you feel like every start is going to at least meet the criteria for the Quality Start stat (and indeed 6/8 have been so far, and one of the two that missed was a 2R, 5 2/3 IP near-miss)
who is karim garcia?
I think what all the people that complain about OP’s inconsistencies means is that… One start he’ll get a shutout. The next start he’ll give up 6 runs and 5 walks. Repeat. Whereas JM would give you a consistent 3 runs per start. They both average out to the same and that’s the difference. Although OP might have better stuff and better potential, I would definately opt for JMs consistency (Don’t get me wrong, JM has been inconsistent too.. but in stretches.. A couple of bad starts then a couple of good starts)… At this point in OPs career I mean. Earlier in spring training, I thought OP would finally put it together and he’d fetch 15mill plus on the open marketing, but his inconsistencies has dropped his stock to the 10 mill level. I wouldn’t sign OP long term to anything more than that. In fact I would prefer to sign him to 12 for 1 year and see if he can finally put it all together. I doubt this will happen and we might have to see him walk.