
My God, it’s day one of pitchers and catcher reporting to St Lonesome and I’m already sick of the Ollie Perez stories.
Perez came to camp and proclaimed he wanted to compete for a starting spot in the Mets rotation. The Mets plan for Perez was to compete with Tim Byrdak, Mike O’Conner, and Taylor Tankersley for the role of LOOGY in the Alderson/Collins production. But OP had other plans when he had his sit down with the GM and manager letting them know he wants a shot at the two spots up for grabs.
Odds are long that Perez is going to out pitch Chris Capuano, Dillon Gee or Chris Young and Terry Collins is concerned about his mind set which shows some nativity on Collins part as no one, not even Perez knows what’s going on in that noggin.
What hurts Perez is of course his inability to throw strikes and that’s due to some of the worst mechanics this side of the constantly out of service escalator at the South Ferry subway station. Perez is full of bad habits, awful arm angle on release, bad balance in his delivery and not really understanding how to pitch. Perez is a classic thrower. Add in two straight years of constant nagging injuries and hard headedness you wonder, why bother with this guy? All these deficiencies lead to the bane of Perez’ problem, his command and control is awful which lead to base on balls which lead to loads of base runners, base runners who wind up touching home plate at an alarming rate.
The fans can’t stand the sight of him and they’re not wrong. If OP would have taken management’s advice and agreed to accept a minor league assignment to work out his problems, the fan base would be much more sympathetic and in fact I bet those fans who are repulsed by Perez would rally behind him. But Perez in essence told the Mets management and fans “Fuck You” and the fans responded with “Fuck Me”? No. “Fuck You”
It would a major upset and disappointment if Perez makes the 25 man roster. I don’t think he will, in fact he’ s only around because he’s not drawing a paycheck yet for 2011 (players don’t start getting paid until opening day they get per diem during spring) as once he does I’m sure it will be as a former Met.


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