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In a win last night against the Nationals, Oliver Perez let up 
three runs and six hits pitching in to the seventh inning, while striking out eight and walking three.
Most intriguing, Perez is 4–0 with a 1.23 ERA in eight starts against the Marlins and Phillies this season.
Jerry Manuel, on Perez, while speaking to reporters following last night’s win against the Nationals:
“Oliver has become a real consistent pitcher for us. We feel very confident when he takes the mound. He’s throwing strikes, the velocity is good and he’s mixing his pitches. He’s just having a tremendous second half for us.”
Perez had a 4.44 ERA in his 19 starts prior to the All-Star break.
He is 3–2 in six starts with a 2.52 ERA since the break.
Perez, on Perez, talking to reporters, said:
“I feel like I’m a pitcher and doing what I’m supposed to do. I just need to keep this going, because I feel very good.”
The difference, to me, is that, unlike in the beginning of the year, he is keeping his game together when runners reach base. Earlier, a runner would reach base, Perez would get in trouble, and before I could blink the base paths looked like a pinball machine, during which he was seemingly good for a wild pitch or a walk or an errant throw.
Now, he is in control the entire time, regardless of what is going on around him. Actually, to a lesser extent, the same can be said for Mike Pelfrey and his turn-around.
For more on Perez, check out Ken Davidoff’s column for Newsday, in which he refers to Perez as, “The loopy lefty.”
I hope the Loopy Lefty ends up staying – as inconsistent as he’s been, has there ever been a more entertaining pitcher to watch on the mound???
HIGHLY doubt it. He’s already hinted at moving back towards the West coast, closer to Mexico (SD, LA, ANA?)
And when has he “hinted” that or are you just making up stuff.
I saw an interview with Ollie a few weeks ago on Mets weekly, where he said he’s grateful for the opportunity the Mets gave him to prove he can be a good pitcher, the work the coaches have done with him, he likes NY, would like to stay – but right now, for the rest of the season, he’s just concentrating on pitching well and helping the team. Said whatever will happen when the season ends, well, he’ll deal with it then.
More or less to that effect. It was an interview in his native language, being translated for the audience.
I have fond memories of a similar lefty, Sid Fernandez, but I was just a kid back then so maybe he wasn’t quite as entertaining as I remember.
The space cadet finally lands on earth. Hes been our most consistant pitcher. Definatly shut me up about him and im sure alot of other people. Actually looking foward to him resigning with us. Whether it happens or not..whos to say but i would not mind if he can keep this up. Good for ollie. Just another example of how it doesnt matter how you start but how you finish(and yes i know we are not finished but this ollie compaired to the ollie during the willie era are pretty much 2 different people..so far so good…)
Frist off, Santana has been our most consistent pitcher, and as good as Ollie has been of late, for the money he’s going to ask for, I say use it to go after Sabathia.
He’ll probably go to the Yankees, I wouldn’t mind signing Burnett & Sheets.
It will be interesting to see what happens. I think the Yankee’s will go after CC and will end up with Sheets. I have no idea where CC will go. Maybe a smaller market team trying to make a big splash.
I would love to see us get Perez and Burnett but I see Perez and a guy like Loshe.
I think the biggest domino is Pedro and what the Mets decide to do with him based on what Pedro is asking.
Yea thats a good point danny. I think they should focus on bringing back ollie and trying to get a #2 or #3 guy. If we are unable to do that then getting pedro for one year is not the worst thing in the world. He can be our #5
I think I would rather go with a Loshe type in the # 5 if we can’t afford something like Perez and Dempster. I love Pedro but can we really depend on him again?
Need to realize that Pedro will be effective again and pitch a few more years but that it will not be here. His time with us has come and gone.
It would not suprise me to see him on the yankees actually or Dodgers, possibly even San Diego.
He will be effective again when fully healthy but will never pitch more than 160 innings again in a full season.
I see him having a career with 12 – 14 wins versus 7 – 10 losses in a season and with an era in the high 3’s
I think Omar may consider Pedro if he signs one year deal with less money. But there’s also a chance that Pedro might retire after this season.
It would be good if the Mets sign Ollie, but with Boras as his agent, there’s no hometown discount and he’ll go where the most money is.
I wouldn’t mind signing Pedro for one year deal
I hate the idea of Pedro coming back, sorry. We have depended on him every season and for the most part he has let us down when it counted. I am done with the Alou, Elduque, Pedro types. We need someone who is average all the time in the #5 spot. Not someone who MAY be great, MAY be average or MAY not be here at all.
I still think we’re going to see Jon Garland and possibly a returned Pedro, depending on how his season ends.
Santana
Maine
Pelfrey
Garland
Pedro/Niese/another FA signing.
The Yanks will be throwing a lot of money around and will outspend anyone for either CC or Sheets, and as said above, some small market team will make a splash with the other.
I’d prefer the Mets make smart signings, not headline signings.
@ real
Yea definatly pedro is not trust worth and i would only consider it if its a one year kind of deal. I like his influence on our young pitchers and can still be effective out there. Ideally your right we should try to sign a lohse kind of guy for the rotation. Im just extatic that pelf has morphed into what he has become and gives us a ledgit option next year.
Pedro wants to pitch at least through 2010. Do you really want to tie up 20-30 million on Pedro?
DS, If you want him to be an influence let him leave and come back as a pitching coach in 2011. ;)
I just want something different next season. I think the rotation, even if Perez comes back, needs a decent innings eater for that 5 spot. Garland would be great but I would settle for someone like Loshe or a trade for a similar guy on a salary dump.
not at that price…..hell no. If he is willing to reduce that by a few million and reduce the years to one lol id give it a shot as a fallback option, but first order of business is to try and bring back ollie and sign a #2 or #3 guy.
You know he will want at LEAST 2 years 22 million with an option year. That’s just too much for me.
well if thats the case then NO….
Yeah I agree. If Pedro wants upward of 10+ mil per year, then Omar probably won’t sign him and I don’t think it’s worth it either. But if the deal is somewhere like 6-7 mil, I could see Omar signing Pedro for one year.
As for #5 starter, I really would like to see the Mets bring up Niese.
Burnett and Sheets are both too injury prone to rely on.
As opposed to Pedro?
And by the way, in 8 years Sheets has 3 200 inning years and in 7 Perez has 0.
As for Burnett, he has made at least 20 starts in 7/8 years. So while he has been injured he has at least been there most of the season and has consistantly pitched innings while there.
I see Garland and F Rod as additions to the staff plus some smaller moves for the pen
I see Perez and Delgado resigned and option year taken.
To me…that leaves only the question of rounding out the bench and finding the left fielder of the immediate future
Next year could be something like
Santana, Garland, Perez, Maine, Pelfrey
Wagner, F Rod, Sanchez, Heilman, Smith, Kunz, Stokes and Show
Wright, Reyes, Murphy, Delgado, Schneider (infield)
Church, Beltran, (Fmart or Murphy depending on how aggressive they are with Castillo being moved)
Bench of Castro, A Reyes, Tatis, Evans and Easley
I’d go to war with that!
I wish you were right about FRod, Garland and Perez but we won’t get but one of those. I would settle for 2 :)
And there is no way they move Castillo without paying half his contract. Also, we have no idea if Murphy can play 2B. He played about 15 games there in the minors. He should be the LF next season. Delgado’s option should be picked up.
That leaves about 35 million to spend. You can’t get all 3 of those pitchers for that but you can get 2 of them.
yea i dont see frod here. I doubt he would accept a setup role at this stage and success in his career as a closer. We still have wags for one more year and i dont see them cutting wagner so that dream of frod is dead.
It doesnt get any prettier with castillo. Whether we like it or not we are stuck with him for 2 years(i do think we will have a replacement for him in his final year). I think we got enough cash to make a play at filling our holes for next year and based on the current production from unexpected sources, we might be in better position than we thought going into 09.
I am not willing to give up on the idea of Frod. There will never be a better time to get a guy like him for the future with all the other big name teams not in the market.
Tell Wagner he will either be the setup man or we can trade him to a team that will let him close. I would be he would waive his no trade clause. Send him to Cleveland they need a closer and it’s not too far from home for him.
Wagner is most likely going to retire at the end of this season…I doubt he will waive his no trade clause to go to a team like cleveland at this point, and i SERIOUSLY doubt he would say yes to a setup man role when he is just trying to notch as many saves as possible to end his career. I would LOVE to have Frod but i doubt he would sign if he is not going to be a teams closer. He is having a hellova year with the Angels and he will sign as some teams closer..no questions asked.
Again, why does Wagner get the choice of being the closer?
If he wants to close, accept a trade. If he wants to stay here then be a setup man. Seems pretty easy to me.
while in theory it seems pretty easy….im sure its going to be more complicated than that..
Just depends on a lot of other things. Omar is rumored to love FRod. I guess we will see how much.
I see FRod signing with the Angels, especially if they sign Tex. Angels are not shy about spending money and I’m sure they’ll match anyone’s offer for their closer. Having said that, IF FRod comes to the Mets, Wagner will not be happy about being a setup man. As we all know that Wagner is not shy with the microphone, so it will be one disruptive bullpen all throughout the season.
Scott Boras thinking out loud: “Cha-ching, Cha-ching and Cha-chaing.”
SHOW ME DA MONEYYYYYYYYYYY
baseball is amazing. nobody here would ever have considered bringing ollie back next year, especially being in boras’ corner. however now theres -got- to be at least a conversation.
i feel the same way about delgado also, unless next year is the year of carp or texieria
Delgado has to come back on his option year. We are not getting Tex and there really is no one else on the market.
Keeping Delgado would be as bad, if not worse, than keeping Castillo. Remember, before his hot July he was garbage for 8 months before that.
Teixeira is a possibility. Jeff has always liked him.
You want Tex for 8/200?
Delgado cost us only 12 million and will cost 4 million if we let him walk.
We have Carp, Evans, Murphy all who are near or already are MLB ready and all play 1B. Why not bring back Delgado on the cheap and hope one of these guys develop?
Who do we have for pitching? Jon Niese?
We have to spend that Tex money for pitching. You could get Perez and a Dempster type for one Tex?
Always go for pitching.
3 Months ago we never would have said bring back Delgado, but you cannot deny that he is on pace to being the solid cleanup bat that Omar traded for two years ago – 30+ homers, almost 100RBI. I think wrist injuries really killed his timing more than we know
What’s one year @ 20 million bucks? Keep him as insurance and go after some pitching.
On another note, i know CC has good mechanics, but given his weight, isnt that a long term health concern?
And on K-Rod, isnt everyone worried about the increased walks, the decreased K’s and the violent arm action?
Id stay away from max contracts from those guys
2 things
1 see below. Delgado only really cost us 8 million this season to keep him.
2) KRod has changed his delievery. It is no where near as violent. That accounts for less SO but he has been just as effective. His BA against is lower than last year and his WHIP is about the same.
I don’t think the Mets priority should be 1B. It should be getting real good help in RP, OF and SP.
I don’t think Tex will sign with the Mets
I’m not convinced that, after getting security in dollars and years, ollie won’t go right back to being ollie…the very talented and very scatterbrained version. I love what he’s been doing, but atheletes have a funny way of giving that extra effort when there’s a fortune on the line. But maybe I’m just being cynical.
Not cynical, truthful – you think Delgado wanted to settle for the $4million buyout? or have his $20 million option picked up? Yeah money is a huge factor in performance
Who the hell has a 20 million dollar option?
Delgado has a 12 million dollar option with a 4 million buyout.
Yeah that was my mistake, i saw your post late.
On the other hand, the more i think about it, i would decline the option/ offer arbitration and let him walk and receive two compensatory draft picks since the numbers he puts up make him a Type A free agent.
Thoughts?
And who would play 1B? We can get the picks when he leaves the next year.
Also, think about it. If we decline the option and offer him arbitration then we could end up paying him 18 million instead. He made 16 this season and arbitration is not going to give him a pay decrease.
I don’t mind picking up Delgado’s option; we’re already invested in him anyway, and it’s not like there’s anyone else lying around ready for the bigs. ollie, though…I just don’t know if I want to deal with his act anymore (if he goes back to it, I mean, which I think he will).
No guarantee he puts up Type A numbers in 2009.
Im sure there are cheaper options out there to consider although the names escape me.
Anyway, I think this is a golden opportunity to cash in on Delgados resurgence which is by no means guaranteed and continue to restock the farm system.
Im okay with keeping him either way, but it would be nice to go two years in a row without forfeiting picks and getting some long term value from delgado
On the arbitration note, although it is a gamble, i can certainly see an American league team who would be in the market for a DH to come and claim delgado.
The Mets’ priority should not be at 1B. It should be getting an OF and lots of pitching help in RP and SP.
Delgado should put up 20-25 HRs and 80-90 RBIs and I think that’s good enough at the 1B position.
Why would they claim him? He’s not on waivers. Arbitration is not the same.
As for names that escape you, here they are. LOL.
Rich Aurilia SF
Ben Broussard TEX
Carlos Delgado * NYM
Nomar Garciaparra LAD
Jason Giambi * NYY
Wes Helms PHI
Kevin Millar BAL
Richie Sexson NYY
Mark Teixeira LAA
Frank Thomas OAK
Jim Thome CWS
Daryle Ward CHC
After Tex, I think Delgado is the best name for the offseason.
Has anyone else noticed how well the Mets starters have been since Peterson left? The bullpen is another issue, but the starters have been probably the best in the majors since the All-Star break.