Jun 03 2010 04:09 AM
"Mets Want Perez to Move Aside for Niese"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/sport ... tml?src=mv
| The Mets are working with Scott Boras, the agent for Perez, in the hopes that Perez will accept a temporary demotion by the weekend. General Manager Omar Minaya has been in contact with Boras, who is believed to be open to the idea of trying to help the Mets persuade Perez he should accept the assignment.... Manager Jerry Manuel, the pitching coach Dan Warthen and Minaya have been trying to persuade Perez of the value of going to the minors to try to regain his form. But Perez has not given a clear reason for his desire to stay in the major leagues, where he has been relegated to an almost nonexistent role |
New York Mets pitcher Oliver Perez is a trainwreck; agent Scott Boras should be a better conductor
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseb ... hrink.html
| "He hasn't had the revelation yet that (going to the minors) is the best thing for him and the best thing for the ballclub," Jerry Manuel said early Wednesday afternoon from San Diego. "Sometimes I'm not sure my message is getting through to him. I want to say, 'Have your agent call me, I'll explain it to him.'" |
Defiant and Prideful, Perez Holds the Mets Hostage
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 21026.html
| For weeks now, Mr. Perez has in essence held the Mets hostage, refusing to accept another minor-league assignment despite his poor performance, exercising his collectively bargained right as a player with at least five years of major-league experience to remain on the Mets' roster. He is 0-3 with a 6.28 ERA, has walked 33 hitters in 38 2/3 innings, and since manager Jerry Manuel removed him from the starting rotation and moved him to the bullpen in mid-May, Mr. Perez has become an expensive and ineffective pariah. He might as well walk around the clubhouse with a scarlet zero on his uniform, so far is he now from being a valuable contributor to a team still within striking distance of first place. To no small extent, the Mets created this problem themselves in February 2009, when they handed a three-year, $36 million contract extension to Mr. Perez, a pitcher with a history of erraticism. Still, since Mr. Perez has rebuffed the team's repeated suggestion that a stint in the minors might help him, he has become something of a punch line even to the people paid to coax something positive out of him. "Is he hurting the team by staying here?" Mr. Manuel said recently. "Only if we need a long reliever." Mr. Manuel then went a step further before the Mets played the Padres here Wednesday. Starting pitcher Jonathon Niese, who has been on the disabled list because of a bad hamstring, is healthy enough to be activated Saturday, and Mr. Manuel said it would be "ideal" for Mr. Perez to accept a minor-league assignment and open a roster spot for Mr. Niese. Those not-so-subtle shots have a good bit of truth to them. Mr. Perez has made only four appearances since his last start, which was on May 14, and he's shown little progress in those appearances, allowing five earned runs in only 5 1/3 innings. He threw 2 2/3 innings of relief Monday in the Mets' 18-6 loss to the Padres, entering the game only after San Diego had built a nine-run lead, and the only consolation for him was that two other Mets relievers, Raul Valdes and Ryota Igarashi, pitched worse than he did in the game. |
