The Oliver Perez Situation and the 24 Man Roster.<\/p>\n
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Oliver Perez will not go to the minors.\u00a0 I know most of us think he probably should, and some irrationally want him released, but if he\u2019s not going to go the Mets need to figure out how to proceed.<\/p>\n
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Burying him in the bullpen is not a recipe for success or a solution.\u00a0 This is systematic of the problem that Omar and Jerry created with how this roster is constructed.\u00a0 You could call it managing scared, or managing not to lose.\u00a0 Putting him the bullpen and not addressing the reason he\u2019s there in the first place is basically playing with a 24 man roster.<\/p>\n
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I want to clarify here that I\u2019m not excusing Oliver Perez here.\u00a0 He\u2019s pitched poorly, failed to execute his pitches, lost his velocity, and is actively hurting the team by refusing to go to the minors to get it straightened out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Oliver Perez is talented.\u00a0 He has ability to throw the baseball and get guys out, and win baseball games.\u00a0 He did this the last year he was healthy, in 2008.\u00a0 He did it the year before that, in 2007.\u00a0 His greatest success was with Peterson, and he continued that for a period after Peterson left.\u00a0 He has steadily declined the longer Warthen was the one guiding him, including this year when new mechanics seem to have sapped not only his control, but his velocity.\u00a0 \u00a0There were times this year when Perez was throwing four pitches, at four different speeds, and was able to throw them for strikes.\u00a0 Maybe he just hasn\u2019t had enough time to get a handle on this new way of pitching, maybe just a mere 1-2 mph on the fastball would make a world of difference.\u00a0 This is not something I, or anyone else, can figure out from the other side of the television set.<\/p>\n
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So what is Dan Warthen doing?\u00a0 Has he buried Perez in the bullpen and doesn\u2019t know what to do with him? Is he actively working on getting Perez to be better with those strikes?\u00a0 Tinkering with his mechanics so he\u2019s more comfortable?\u00a0 To me, it\u2019s always seemed like Perez has lacked a fundamental understanding of pitching, of when to throw strikes and when to throw balls, on when to go for a strikeout, and when to pitch to contact.\u00a0 These are things that can be taught, if you could get through to Perez, and I don\u2019t feel like Dan Warthen is.\u00a0 Coupled with this is John Maine, who tried and failed to pitch the way Warthen thought he should.\u00a0 When John Maine went back to what he was most comfortable with, he was successful more often than not.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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I see no pitchers that have actively gotten better since Dan Warthen has been the pitching coach.\u00a0 No reclamation projects, no continued bouts of success.\u00a0 Whatever Dan Warthen brings to the table, it doesn\u2019t appear to be in the best interest of the Mets pitchers.\u00a0 Oliver Perez, for better or worse, is here with the Mets.\u00a0 He\u2019s not going to take a demotion, and that means the Mets need to find the tools to get the most out of him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Oliver Perez Situation and the 24 Man Roster. \u00a0 Oliver Perez will not go to the minors.\u00a0 I know most of us think he probably should, and some irrationally want him released, but if he\u2019s not going to go the Mets need to figure out how to proceed. \u00a0 Burying him in the bullpen … <\/p>\n