Oliver Perez

When the 2009 MLB season comes to a close, the Chicago Cubs have announced that they will shop starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano in hopes of swinging a trade and dumping much of his monstrous contract. The question is, should the Mets be interested in the massive right-hander?

Continue reading "Cubs Say They Will Shop Zambrano"

: (1) a $10 million club option isn't that bad for a guy like Garland, especially when someone like Oliver Perez is making $12 million a year. The Dodgers may end up keeping Garland. And (2) the front office seems to love John Maine, so they'll probably bring him back at a discounted price. 

Continue reading "2010 Mets' Rotation"

oins Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes on the DL, and that's just in the lineup.

Pitchers John Maine, Oliver Perez and J.J. Putz sit on the DL for the Mets, as well.

So why am I so optimistic?

Continue reading "The 2009 New York Mets are Finally the Underdogs"

But where should the Mets go from here, until Oliver Perez (another awful signing) returns?

Well, it's time to introduce our contestants on "Who Wants to Be the Mets Number Five Starter?!!"

Continue reading "I've Had Enough of Tim Redding."

(Note: I've also published this post on FanNation, under the username JFro.)

About a month ago, I published a similar post complaining about Jerry Manuel's mind-numbingly awful managing. It actually generated some interest, as it appeared on a Mets blog and in various discussion threads.

Continue reading "Jerry Manuel Must Be Fired. Now!!!"

All right, so I've jumped the gun a little (the Mets are 21-17, giving them 38 games played, which means they're shy of the 1/4 season mark), but I haven't been too active on this blog and I'd like to get up to speed.

Continue reading "The New York Mets: A Quarter Season in Review"

e start taking swings at people?

Now for the things that are upping my blood pressure: 

1. Oliver Perez - Come on, who's surprised? Really?

2. Injuries - Well here we go again. This is the problem with a veteran ballclub. But why does it seem like the Mets just don't have enough Major League players for each position? I am very curious to see what Omar does to fill the vacancy left by Carlos Delgado's surgery. I say go for it and make a bold move. Why not, right?

Continue reading "Team Inconsistency"

Oliver Perez will stay with the New York Mets after signing a 3 year deal worth $36 million. The deal is a pretty fair one considering Perez was looking for 5 years and $70 million last offseason.

Continue reading "Mets Agree To Deal With Oliver Perez"

le for a rotation spot speaks volumes of the lack of depth in the rotation.

Other than re-signing Oliver Perez, I'm hoping Minaya is keeping tabs on Ben Sheets. Yes he has injury issues, but

Continue reading "Mets "Not Interested" in Ramirez; ..."

Lowe get away from us, and sign with a hated division rival no less? Why are the negotiations with Oliver Perez going so poorly? What happened to the loads of cash we used to have?

Of course, one answer could be the national financial crisis. However, MLB analysts including Tim Kurkjian and Steve Phillips have said that the Mets shouldn't be one of the clubs suffering mightily in these harsh economic times. They said the Mets should be above the issue, like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubbies of the world.

Continue reading "Does anyone know what the Mets are thinking?"

ckings, in my very humble opinion, here are the top five free agent pitchers:

(1) Ben Sheets, (2) Oliver Perez, (3) Jon Garland, (4) Andy Pettitte, and (5) Randy Wolf

Sheets is unquestionably the best pitcher of the group, but his injury history is immensely discouraging. Even though he's the top gun remaining, I wouldn't touch him if I were the Mets. He'll get hurt and either Jon Niese or Bobby Parnell will be in the rotation before we know it. Can't have one of them on top of Maine and Redding.

Continue reading "Major Mets Blunder: Lowe Signs with Braves"

he nostalgia, and simply let him walk away.

Better remaining options are the aforementioned Lowe, Oliver Perez, Jon Garland, and Randy Wolf. Go big or go home, so the Mets have to get either Lowe or Perez, preferably Lowe, to occupy the No. 2 spot in the rotation and push everyone else down accordingly. Though if they end up re-signing Perez, Jerry Manuel will probably elect to go lefty-righty-lefty with Santana, Pelfrey, and Perez in that order.

Continue reading "The New York Mets: Plenty of Question Marks Remain"

useful acquisitions include Paul LoDuca, Darren Oliver, Jose Valentin, Duaner Sanchez, John Maine, Oliver Perez, Endy Chavez, Ryan Church, Damion Easley and Fernando Tatis.

           But it hasn’t been all peaches and cream for Minaya, who also took chances on Luis Castillo, Moises Alou, Orlando Hernandez, Shawn Green, Scott Schoenweis, Jorge Sosa, Aaron Sele and Matt Wise—none of whom were very impressive as Mets, and many of whom had massive difficulties staying healthy.

Continue reading "In The Aftermath Of The Collapse ..."

se of that, September 29th’s game directly mirrored those final 17 games of the season.  Oliver Perez pitched well enough to win through 5.1 innings, and Carlos Beltran provided a huge game-tying two-run homer in the sixth, but the bullpen didn’t hold up its end of the bargain.  Scott Schoenweis and Luis Ayala gave up back-to-back home runs in the eighth, and the offense couldn’t fashion a comeback.  The Mets fell one win short of the playoffs, just like last year.

Continue reading "In The Aftermath Of The Collapse"

o make the playoffs--one more than the Phillies will suffice.  Mike Pelfrey, Johan Santana and Oliver Perez, the Mets' three most dependable starters, will likely combine for eight starts down the stretch, with Pedro Martinez, Jon Niese and anyone's guess filling out the remaining five.  New York will need strong, deep outings from their big three, and lots of offense in the other five games in order to avoid leaving their playoff hopes in the hands of the bullpen.  Of course, a little help from Philadelphia's opponents couldn't hurt, but the Mets need to be able to take care of their own business.  If they can't win enough games on their own to hold their divisional lead, then they don't deserve to play baseball in October anyway.

Continue reading "Mets Cling To First Place With Lucky 13 Games Left"

solo bombs in the 10th inning to give New York their second straight loss against the Astros.  Oliver Perez had just one rocky inning, allowing a sacrifice fly to Mark Loretta and a two-run homer to Hunter Pence in the fourth, but Aaron Heilman couldn't hold the one-run lead in the seventh.  He allowed hits to both batters he faced, but was credited with recording an out when Fernando Tatis gunned Geoff Blum out at the plate in the seventh.  The homers Feliciano allowed in the 10th came from two players who had combined for a total of three taters all season until their extra-inning blasts.  You know you don't have your best stuff on a particular day when you give up a go-ahead home run to a defensive replacement (Brad Ausmus).

Continue reading "Feliciano Blows Up In 10th"

nd is threatening Bobby Thigpen's single-season record of 57.  Despite a slow start, the Mets' Oliver Perez, a Scott Boras client, has been one of the most consistent, and best big-game pitchers in the majors over the last two months.  Ryan Ludwick, who is currently playing on a one-year contract, has more home runs this year (31) than he had totaled prior to 2008 (28).  His 94 RBI are no slouch either, considering he only had 96 over five seasons through 2007, and his .305 batting average is far better than his previous career high of .267.  C.C. Sabathia has seen success in the past, but his off-season paycheck is increasing by the day with his 8-0 record and five complete games in nine starts for the Brewers.  Manny Ramirez stopped playing hard when contract issues arose with Boston, but he's been tearing it up for the Dodgers, hitting over .400 with more RBI than games in Los Angeles.

Continue reading "Pelfrey Goes The Distance"

in left, and the Mets completed the comeback from a 3-2 eighth inning deficit.

    Oliver Perez didn't have his best stuff, but still managed to keep the team in the game through 6.1 innings, allowing only three runs despite giving up seven hits and five walks.  Luis Ayala relieved Perez with two runners on and one out in the seventh, and immediately endeared himself to Mets fans by brushing back Omar Infante with some chin music, and then retiring Infante and Brian McCann on successive pop-ups.  Aaron Heilman escaped a jam in the eighth without allowing a run, and Scot Schoenweis tossed a scoreless ninth to nail down the victory.

Continue reading "Delgado, Easley Spark Comeback Against Braves"

    Another solid outing from Oliver Perez and another offensive onslaught sealed the Mets' 9-3 win, and a three-game sweep over the Nationals.  The Mets cruised through the first six innings behind Perez's dominance, and built a 5-0 lead, but Perez ran out of gas in the seventh and gave back three runs.  Joe Smith got the final out of the inning, and it appeared that the rest of the game would be an interesting test of the New York bullpen.  Smith got the first out in the eighth but ran into some trouble after walking Lastings Milledge and Austin Kearns, so Jerry Manuel called upon Duaner Sanchez.  Sanchez got out of the inning unscathed and the Mets had a 5-3 lead after eight.  The suspense mounted.

Continue reading "Mets Finish Off Sweep in D.C."

Louis.  And last night Oliver Perez fought through six innings, allowing just the one first-inning run, after the bullpen blew an eighth-inning lead on Monday.  David Wright gave the Mets an early lead with an RBI double in the first and Carlos Beltran put New York ahead with a rare two-out RBI single in the sixth.  Carlos Delgado jacked a two-run homer in the eighth for insurance, and Heilman pitched two scoreless innings for the hold, before Billy Wagner tossed a perfect ninth for his 27th save.

Continue reading "Heilman Holds Perez's Lead, Delgado Puts it Away"

p on the Phillies, who were idle on Monday, and one game ahead of the Marlins in the NL East.  Oliver Perez, coming off a great start against the Phillies, goes for the Mets tonight against Scott Olsen.  New York will need another solid start from Perez, and preferrably another deep outing in light of the uncertainty surrounding Maine and Pedro Martinez in the starting rotation.  Three runs also will not cut it; the offense needs to step it up.  Fernando Tatis can't do it all by himself.

Continue reading "Mets Fried By Fish, Maine Leaves Early"

    Neither the good nor the bad version of Oliver Perez showed up on Thursday at Shea--the spectacular version came to play against the Phillies.  Perez struck out 12 batters over 7.2 innings, including six whiffs of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, as he out-dueled Jamie Moyer, who pitched a gem of his own.  Carlos Delgado came through with the big hit, a two-run double off the previously unhittable J.C. Romero, in the eighth, and Billy Wagner nailed down the win in the ninth with his 26th save.  Fittingly, Jimmy Rollins, who did not start because he arrived an hour late to the ballpark, made the final out of the game.  After Tuesday night's ninth inning meltdown, the bullpen tossed 4.1 scoreless innings, including back-to-back saves by Wagner, and the Mets took two of three from Philadelphia, despite losing the first game of the series.  New York is now 9-4 against the Phillies this season.

Continue reading "Mets Continue to Roll Behind Delgado, ..."

nt over the 48.5 percent mark he had averaged over his previous three outings.

    Oliver Perez gets the start Thursday at 12:10 in the rubber game of the series.  Perez is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in three starts againt Philadelphia this season, so hopefully he can continue his solid performance against the divisional rivals and shuttle the Mets alone into first place.  Jamie Moyer, who has been pitching since polo was still played at the Polo Grounds, will oppose Perez and the Mets.

Continue reading "Billy Wagner Never Looked So Good"

entertained the idea of trading for Xavier Nady, the outfielder the Mets traded to the Pirates for Oliver Perez and Roberto Hernandez in 2006.  While Nady's powerful right-handed bat and ability to play first base make him a perfect solution to the Mets' needs, I think many Mets fans tend to underestimate the Pirates' affinity for him.  Although Pittsburgh has not made the playoffs since the Barry Bonds era, their organization is not simply a well of talent from which big-market contending teams can pick and choose players to acquire (despite how that may sometimes seem to be the case).

Continue reading "Big Pelf and the Mets Take Nine Into ..."

t that was last year and we can forget about it.

 Johan Santana, Pedro Martinez, John Maine, Oliver Perez and Orlando Hernandez (for now).  If this is not the best staff in the league it is definitely in the top 2.

Continue reading "Pitchers and Catchers"