Oh no it's been 2 days and he hasn't hit a home run. Should we be worried? With Home Run # 600 for Alex Rodriguez looming right around the corner, will the pressure of achieving this goal become a distraction for the future HOF or will he hit it in the next few days as if it were just any old HR and not let it interfere with his ability to play the game, that he usually dominates oh so well?
My thoughts:
People worry too much about when players approach any big type of milestone and yes sometimes they do have merit to do so as it can become a distraction for a player. Whether it be a HR, SV, Win, or Hit, when a player nears any type of record people tend to make a big deal out of it. I suppose that you could say pitchers may have an advantage because they know he is trying to hit this momentous HR, so they can avoid throwing pitches that would be in his advantage to hitting one. But lets get real people. If he wants to hit one, he will. There is a reason he is the youngest player ever to reach the amount of HRs he has by the age of 34. Looking at the stats he has gone 2-10 with one SO. Obviously not good, but you have to wait longer than 10 at bats before you jump to any conclusions. To the people who read this I'm not saying I've heard people get concerned about this, but I know people will given enough time and after each game that passes without it happening. Don't believe me, you just wait and see.
Mets fans how many times this season have we seen this picture:
Or this one:
Or even this one:
Well not so much the last one, but you get the picture
If you look at his game log stats, the W-L decision tells the whole story.
Finally being removed from the rotation after the May 14 explosion of 7 Runs, 4 of them HR in 3 1/3 IP the Mets decided that enough was enough and it was time to move in a new direction with their second highest paid pitcher. Oliver Perez was heading to the bullpen. He refused the idea of heading to the minor leagues where he could work out his issues and instead decided to stay with the big league club to work it out there. Like a spoiled brat he ignored the fans and organizations continuous requests for a trip to the minor leagues.
I suppose his reluctance to accepting the demotion is that if he struggles or gets lit up, in the minors, like he has here, that he would stay there for quite some time and that is true. The fact is that staying with the big league club won't do anyone any good though. So the Mets have 3 options and I have heard nobody talk about the one that I want, but here is what they can do right now.
Things to do with Oliver Perez
1. Keep using him and allowing him to give up runs as a starter or reliever.
2. Release him and be paying him to maybe play for another team with the possibility of doing well.
or
3.
You sit him the rest of the seasonI think the clear cut choice is #3. Yes I know it takes up a roster spot but I highly doubt that one spot is what would keep the Mets from possibly reaching the playoffs; which at the moment seems less likely to happen than it did a few weeks ago. Sitting Perez would send him a message that unless he is willing to be a team player, the New York Mets organization are not going to take his poop anymore. That he will not be bullying them around anymore and that he will not be making the calls from here on out. You let him know this is how it is going to be and then see if he eventually caves or continues to act like a 5 year old child that doesn't get his way. My guess is that if he really loves playing the game of baseball, which I believe most players do, he will eventually give in. I could be wrong, but honestly do you think he wouldn't care about sitting on the bench for the next 2 months. He loves the game of baseball or he wouldn't have chosen it as his career. Yes he could have been intrigued by the money too, but originally that could not have been where his desire to play the game came from. It was for the love of the game. Now go Mets and show him who is the boss once and for all.
Mets fans you want a hitter?
Ok fine that's all good and dandy, but riddle me this joker, what position will this newly acquired bat play at? If memory serves me correctly every position is filled with either someone who can't be moved, players that are too good to be moved or that you can not get rid of for one reason or another. Don't believe me, lets take a look:
C - You have 3 already, but the main man seems to be Rod Barajas. Yeah he's hitting only .228 with a .266 OBP, but in the first two months he had 11 HRs. Obviously he has gone in a terrible tailspin in the last two months only hitting 1 HR over that time and hitting below .200. So do you go and bring in some young good catcher? Well good luck with that seeing how there aren't too many that are young, can hit well, and that you would be able to acquire from a team. Teams usually like to hang onto those players, ma gentlemen.
1B - Hi my name is Ike Davis and I'm here to save your season. You really lucked out this year at this position. Your choices before him were Dan Murphy and I don't remember who else. Personally I liked Murphy and thought he could improve with time. He did have 38 doubles last year in case we forgot. Anyway back to my point. Davis has been a big surprise this year, but like most of the Mets this month he has started hitting badly with a .219 average. Overall though he's had a pretty nice season and you have to think with time that this 23 year old has barely reached his potential. It looks like the future of this organization is with you Ike.
2B - Well I guess this is the position that could use an improvement more than any other. Here you have two men at the moment. One is Luis Castillo who just came back from the DL. He is currently hitting .239 which is definitely unexpected since his career avg. is .291 and last year he hit .302. Your other choice on the other hand is Rubin Tejada who was just sent to the minors or Alex Cora who is even worse than Castillo. You gotta hope that Castillo can revive his ability to smack the ball around and get some base hits or this is going to be a long season at 2nd base. The reason you won't get someone is that this position is even harder acquire a good player from another team than trying to get a catcher.
3B - David Wright is one of the core players of this team and possibly the leader. He's definitely one of the top 3B out there, no question. Would you be willing to trade him. I didn't think so.
SS - His left hand man, Jose Reyes. If the Mets are to win games he needs to score runs. He is the Flash of the Mets and at one time has been known to steal as many as 78 bases in a season.
OF -
4 players in total so you can't get a new one unless you get rid of two of them or some crazy injuries start to occur. Not that the Mets know anything about that.
Left field is filled by Jason Bay. To me he was supposed to be the Carlos Delgado of the OF, but that certainly is not the case this year. You just signed Bay to a 4 year $66 million deal in which you only outbid yourself and so far it is looking like a bad investment. That contract makes impossible for him to be traded or benched. So he plays. Maybe he just needs some adjusting to the stadium like David Wright did last year. We can only hope that is the reason for his dismal season. Believe it or not though he hits better at home in every offensive statistic. Also on a side note he only has 4 games in the whole season where he hit a HR because he hit 2 in 2 games. Thus he has played 94 games and hit HR in 4 of them. Right now he is on pace for only 10 HR like Wright had last year. Bay has never hit that few HR in a full season. Mr. Bay get your act together and give these fans something to cheer about.
Center could have become a distraction because you had two people who could fill that position. Luckily it did not. Since Beltran has come back he was automatically given it. It's never good when one of your best 3 hitters is hitting a low .188. We must think positive though as he just came back from an injury and would need time to revitalize himself to the Beltran that we all know and love.
The other Center fielder, Angel Pagan. Possibly the savior of the season for the Mets. He is putting up Bay like numbers except he can actually hit the ball and run the bases. There is no way you get rid of this kid.
Right field we have Jeff Francoeur or at least we did until he was put on the bench. They say he's a team player and a great club house guy, but how great can he be when after only 3 days on the bench he wants to be traded. Talk about selfish. Has he been talking to Oliver Perez? Know I understand it's obviously frustrating being the one who loses your job, but the reason is quite obvious. YOU ARE NOT HITTING JEFF. Get your act together and take a look at yourself. You honestly expect them to play you when you are hitting .143 in the month with 1 RBI in 49 at bats? Frankly I would not be all that opposed to trade him if it brought someone good in, who could help this falling team. Word is that some teams are actually interested in him as well so no need to worry my friend, if traded you may just get your playing time. Even if this man is traded though you still have every position filled by 8 other players.
A question for you fans out there. Who has been a bigger disappointment this season, Jeff Francoeur or Jason Bay? For me the answer is obvious in that it is Bay. With Francoeur the expectations were not as high as Bay's and Bay is getting paid quite a lot more in the long run. Not this year because Bay is making only $6.5 million while Francoeur is getting 5. But yes back to my answer it has to be Bay for all of the above reasons. Let me know if you think I'm wrong though.
So that covers it. Yes you may need a bat, but you have no place to put him. What you do need is for your players already on the team to start hitting and all 8 positions are currently filled. This brings me to my next and final point. Go out and get a STARTING PITCHER. I have been actively saying this even in this past offseason that what the Mets need was a pitcher, not a hitter. They didn't listen and got Bay. Now I would certainly not have expected them to have as good of a staff as they do, which could be a factor of the park, but they still need someone to replace Takahashi, unless they decide that this season is a lost cause at this point. If it is not though and if they still are in it to win it then they need to go get someone and not just anyone, but a #2 starter. Yes the man from Japan has been impressive, but just because he is impressive does not mean he is good enough to continue in the rotation. Someone like Ted Lilly would be nice, but if I were a Mets fan I need someone who I can count on to get a win every night out or they are just not worth getting. Why settle for pretty good when you can get great? And the Mets have the people to get a great pitcher. If this is not the year to try and go for it all, then when is? There are still a few good pitchers left out there to be acquired. Go get them before a team in your own division decides to do so and then they would be pitching against you instead of for you. Omar you have made some pretty bad moves in the past year or two. Please don't let there be another by either getting a mediocre pitcher or worse not getting one at all.
As always this has been, Corey Sobel, with a special report.
