Mets Mess: Oliver Perez Released - Thumbs Up or Down?

Article first published as Mets Mess: Oliver Perez Released - Thumbs Up or Down? on Blogcritics.

In the old Roman Coliseum days, the crowd got what it wanted based on thumbs up or down. Some say the gladiator spared his opponent if the thumb was down rather than up; whatever the case was in those days, now we know thumbs down means a bad rating. For former Mets pitcher Oliver Perez, he got a resounding thumbs down from the fans and has been finally shown the door.


There were lots of reasons to keep Perez and Luis Castillo - about 18 million of them. The team gave up on both players, exorcising at least some of the ghosts left behind by former GM Omar Minaya. In doing so they were giving the fans what they wanted, but it also will look pretty bad if both guys get picked up as cheap players by other teams and do well (the Mets will be on the hook for most of their salaries either way).

While Castillo never really had success here in New York, for a while Perez flirted with greatness. I can remember going to a Suway Series game back at Old Shea a few years ago on a rainy night, and Perez kept the Yankees scoreless for seven plus innings. What happened to him since then no one can tell, but some say he has just lost it; others thought it was a mental block of some kind. Maybe we will never know.

On this day the Mets parted ways with Oliver Perez, and in this move new GM Sandy Alderson is making a statement that goes beyond payroll and fiscal worries. Perhaps the Mets are no better now than they were before, but as was the rule back in the old coliseum days, the fans got what they wanted. At least Perez gets to leave town with his head on his shoulders.

Photo Credit: Metsblog.com

Mets Mess: Luis Castillo Released - Perez Still Pitching In

Article first published as Mets Mess: Luis Castillo Released - Perez Still Pitching In on Blogcritics.

I picture Luis Castillo during this spring training as a guy with a bucket on the Titanic. He kept trying to get the water off the deck, but you know how this story ends. So now Luis is gone; either he jumped overboard or got into a lifeboat. Either way, the ship is still sinking.

Castillo always seemed to be the target of the fans. Not only did his hitting leave something to be desired, but so did his fielding. When I think of him I see dropped pop-ups and remember the booing of the crowd. Not a very pleasant memory at all. By all accounts his teammates liked him, but the main reason he is gone is because the fans demanded it.

While the Mets parted ways with second baseman Castillo, troubled pitcher Oliver Perez is still hanging in there. He pitched one scoreless inning yesterday, even striking out Jason Heyward of the Atlanta Braves. Does this mean Ollie might get a shot at being in the bullpen? I'd say grab a bucket, Ollie. Someone has to take up where Castillo left off.

There are also alternating reports of Carlos Beltran feeling better and his knee bothering him. Take your pick, Mets fans, because this is not the player the Mets were supposed to get. He should have been their star center fielder, ostensibly their centerpiece to the puzzle, a super star around whom to build a team. We see how well that has worked out, right?

Alas, the old regime of GM Omar Minaya (and Steve Phillips before him) shelled out lots of money to players who have gone bust. Just take a look at the short list: Beltran, Perez, Castillo, and Johan Santana. Millions and millions of dollars wasted as well as time and at the expense of the team and the fans. People can talk all they want about the money the team lost investing with Bernie Madoff, but the worst investment the Mets ever made was in these players who gave them no return.

Now maybe the Mets can get back to what they used to do well: establish a strong farm system that develops great players like it once did. Clearly, guys like Ike Davis, David Wright, and Jose Reyes give us a glimmer of hope of what can come from that kind of cultivation. We have to hope that GM Sandy Alderson has the vision to do this for the long haul because free agents are just not working out for the Mets. It seems they never have (can anyone forget Bobby Bonilla?).

There isn't much to look forward to this season, but we have to remember the band kept playing on the Titanic even as it was sinking. So grab a bucket, Ollie, but don't think it's going to save the ship before the fat lady sings.

Photo Credits:
Castillo - Daily News
Wright - espn.com

Mets Mess: Castillo and Perez Should Be Gone By Opening Day

Article first published as Mets Mess: Castillo and Perez Should Be Gone By Opening Day on Blogcritics.

It's not like Mets fans have not had enough to worry about this spring training. After a dismal time of it last season, the team squandered the off season by taking on no new players of note, and then the Bernie Madoff scandal became big news and seemed to shake the team and its fans to its core. With a pending sale of a significant percentage of the team in the works, there is nothing much for Mets fans to look forward to except maybe the 2012 season.

There is a bright note from spring training though: the Mets seem finally willing and able to part ways with two of the worst acquisitions since Bobby Bonilla: pitcher Oliver Perez and second baseman Luis Castillo. I think I hear cheering all the way from Citi Field to Central Park.


Both Perez and Castillo have shown no signs this spring of being any better than last year. With Daniel Murphy making a concerted effort to make the roster as a second baseman, it is clear that Castillo has run out of options. Perez also has little or no juice left. According to reports, his velocity is down to the low 80s and he looks inexplicably lost on the mound. There's a possibility he could be used in the bullpen, but that didn't work out too well last year.

So it seems both Perez and Castillo will be released sometime before Opening Day (unless some team wants to take them on). The team mired in its financial muck and mire will have to eat their contracts (Perez is owed $12 million and Castillo about $6 million), but this is stll something positive for the club. Finally this spring Mets fans do have something to be happy about!
Photo Credit: Simmons/Daily News

Mets Mess: Trump Wants to Buy a Stake In Team

Article first published as Mets Mess: Trump Wants to Buy a Stake In Team on Blogcritics.


Donald Trump - the man known for strange hair and the iconic line "You're fired" - has made it known that he would like to buy a piece of the New York Mets. Why, you may ask? To help a friend? Well, yes he and Mets owner Fred Wilpon are chums. Could it be exposure? The Donald likes exposure as much as the south wall of your house. What other reason is motivating Trump to get in on this? My thoughts are that he probably thinks the Wilpons are going down, and who better to be there to pick up the pieces and take on the whole team once Fred and Jeff are gone.

One thing is very certain: if Trump comes on board things will get interesting very quickly. The Wilpons have never been interesting. They don't even register a blip on New York sports pages - except if they are involved with the infamous Bernie Madoff. Living in this town we Mets fan have always had to endure the back page headlines about another sports owner - the late George Steinbrenner (and now his sons). He was always hiring and firing Billy Martin, warning Reggie Jackson (and everyone else from Horace Clarke to Joba Chamberlain), and basically creating for himself a colorful personality that increased the Yankee brand.

Even famed New York Daily News cartoonist Bill Gallo couldn't resist creating a recurring cartoon character in Steinbrenner's honor. Mets fans had one too - the oh so lovely Basement Bertha. This figures to be the Mets' fate: the Yankees get a general and we get an overweight woman living in the cellar. That is our lot in this town.

But, oh how things would change with The Donald in charge of the show. Can you imagine the press generated by Trump as he came to games? He would be more exciting than Lady Gaga sitting in the stands in her pajamas. Never one to mince words, there are probably hundreds of different headlines just ready to burst out of his mouth over the course of the season. Trump's presence in the owner's box would be an event, would help ticket sales, and most certainly bolster sagging TV ratings.

Heck, I even propose if The Donald is in that the Mets TV channel (SNY) create a new series - Donald Trump's NY Mets Apprentice. This would be a fabulous weekly series where players had to work for the Donald - on and off the field. Wouldn't it be worth it just to see the Donald sitting across the table from Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez saying, "You're fired!"

As a Mets fan, I am totally behind Trump buying into the Mets. I think lots of fans would agree with me. So come on, Fred Wilpon. Take the Donald's call and lets get the ball rolling. It might not save this season, but it certainly will make for a hilarious time, and we Mets fans need a reason to laugh right now.

Photo Credits:



Donald Trump - celebritysmackblog


Basement Bertha - NY Daily News

The Eternal Sunshine of the Spring Training Kind

Article first published as The Eternal Sunshine of the Spring Training Kind on Blogcritics.

There is nothing more scintillating for me as a baseball fan than when I hear the words, "Pitchers and catchers report for duty today in Florida." That sentence makes the hairs stand up on my arms, and I think back to the countless cool spring days that I played ball myself, with the dream of being like my heroes Cleon Jones, Ron Swoboda, or Tom Seaver. Any kid whoever pounded a glove on the cool wet grass of a field on a spring day knows the feeling, and that is why spring training makes us all young again and filled with hope.


Of course, every team - whether it is the major league franchise or the pee-wee league variety - has the fever that spring brings. No one has any wins or losses that count; everyone's batting average or ERA is zero, and there is the feeling that this year we will go all the way. The eternal hope of spring training manifests itself in these cool bright days, and the only way you become boys of summer is by first being the ones of spring.
Reality will set in eventually for all of us as the long schedule that drags its feet through March produces some malaise even among the most ardent fans. We want opening day to come quickly, but as injuries happen and old knees creak, the prospects begin to look less rosy and some of us may even wish to put off that first pitch of the season if we could somehow.

As a New York Mets fan, I don't have that much to be happy happy about this spring. Other teams have signed free agents of note and are ready to compete, but for the Mets fans we are stuck with mediocrity and the prospect of a quiet spring that will blossom into what seems like it will be another one of those wait until next year scenarios.

You know you're in trouble if the most promising new signings are people named Boof Bonser. I mean, even George (the Stork) Theodore had a more baseball appropriate name than that. The Mets are going to struggle this year because of a lack of starting pitching, a suspect bullpen, and question marks about regular players like Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Jason Bay. In fact, there are so many questions about this team, I think they should adopt the Riddler costume as their new uniform. Can you imagine Luis Castillo walking around saying, "Riddle me this; riddle me that; does anyone dare, give me a bat?"

Still, I want to think of those springs long gone and the ghosts of players who once wore the orange and blue. Where have you gone Tommie Agee? I know you're somewhere up there with Gil Hodges, Tug McGraw, and the rest of the gone but never forgotten Mets greats. At one time we dared to dream and we got a team that beat Hank Aaron and the Braves and Brooks Robinson and the Orioles. That's when they earned their moniker The Amazins. Man, that does seem like a long, long time ago.

So as baseball fans everywhere get ready for a glorious spring, pound a ball wet with dew from the grass inside a glove. Tilt the hat back on your head and look up at the endless blue sky. In the eternal sunshine of spring, anything is possible, even for Mets fans. Even we can dare to dream these days for a little while, or at least until that first pitch on opening day when everything counts and reality sets in.

Photo Credits:
Cleon Jones - Phoenixnewtimes.com
The Riddler - Batman-Superman.com

Mets Mess: New Manager Introduced: And the Crowd Yawns

Article first published as Mets Mess: New Manager Introduced: And the Crowd Yawns on Blogcritics.


The news that the Mets hired Terry Collins as their new manager did little to inspire dancing in the streets here in New York City. NY Mets fans like myself are sick and tired of an organization treating us with less respect than the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield ever got.


Mets fans wanted a big fish. We wanted Joe Torre, despite all the stuff that went on between him and Jerry Manuel. Who cares about that? We wanted someone like Wally Backman, who maybe didn't ever manage in the majors but was surely a spitfire as a player. We would have even accepted the second coming of Bobby Valentine; at least he had a pulse and caused people to get excited about the game.



Instead, we get Terry Collins, who hasn't managed a baseball game since 1999. Uh, what the heck was Sandy Alderson and that Mets brain trust thinking when they made this choice? This is about as exciting as naming Pee Wee Herman as our starting second baseman for next season. Come to think of it, he'd probably do a better job than Luis Castillo.

Anyway, this Collins guy has an awe inspiring 444-434 record as a major league manager. We wanted a superstar and instead we got the understudy. Mets fans have been so poorly treated in recent years, one has to wonder what objective this franchise is playing for next year. Is this yet another "transition" year? Is this yet another year when we have to suffer with the likes of Castillo and Oliver Perez on the payroll?

Maybe I am wrong and this guy Collins will come in here and make things right again, but during the press conference at Citi Field today it sounded all wrong to me. Collins, who quit as manager of the California Angels in September 1999 due to problems with the team, readily admitted, "I did a bad job managing the clubhouse, no question about it." Way to go, Sandy Alderson, just what we need.

This sounds like another Art Howe kind of guy. Come on, even the Pittsburg Pirates were smarter than this when they hired Clint Hurdle right out from under your nose. If this is the way Alderson plays chess, Mets fans are going to be hearing "Checkmate" before the All Star Break and, if that is the case, the seats are going to be so empty in Citi Field next summer the bored ushers and vendors will be hearing lots of pins drop.

During this same press conference, Collins stated that he felt the Mets had a chance to contend in 2011. Well, right now that sounds to me like the builders of the Titanic saying it was unsinkable. We know how well that turned out.

I wish I could look at this as a good move, but the truth is that I think Mets fans have once again been given damaged goods. Terry Collins? Well folks, I think you all better have a Tom Collins or beverage of your choice and sit back and get ready for what looks like another year of no joy in Metsville.

Good News for NY Mets Fans: K-Rod Gone with the Wind

Article first published as Good News for NY Mets Fans: K-Rod Gone with the Wind on Blogcritics.

For those of you Mets fans who are also movie buffs, do you remember that scene near the end of the classic movie Gone With the Wind, when Rhett Butler (Clarke Gable) and Scarlett O'Hara (Vivian Leigh) say their final words to each other. She asks him about what she will do without him, and Gable utters that famous line, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."

Well, flash forward to the drama that has unfolded with Mets closer Francisco (K-Rod) Rodriguez and his going all Joe Frazier on his poor girlfriend's father. K-Rod should have known better, probably did know better, but he was seeing red and cursing his way to a brawl as he entered the Mets' players family lounge. In front of other players' wives, children, and family members, K-Rod punched out an older man and, in the process, damaged his pitching hand.

We learned on Monday that K-Rod will be out the rest of the season because of the injury sustained during his tantrum. I was listening to talk radio here in New York yesterday, and some Mets fans were lamenting another lost season - as if K-Rod's departure is the only reason why the team is floundering - but most were happy to see him go. I count myself among them.

When the Mets signed K-Rod, there were rumors about his volatile personality. I discounted that as the usual stuff when a new guy comes to town, but as soon as he started closing for the Mets, I was less than impressed. He made Armando Benitez seem like Mariano Rivera the way he pitched, with the game almost always tediously on the brink of being lost with him on the mound. Despite his impressive save totals coming from the Angels, we didn't see him as invincible and, in fact, he seemed rather susceptible to being beaten all the time.

Now, it seems, the Mets will have a pastiche closer mechanism, judging from what Jerry Manuel had to say on SNY after Monday's game. It could be Hisanori Takahashi one night; Oliver Perez the next night, and so on. Hey, why not throw Luis Castillo in there and see what the heck he can do? The closer-by-committee version just might end up doing as good a job as K-Rod, but that's not saying much.

It is apparent that K-Rod now becomes K-Dud; he is gone and will not likely pitch for the Mets ever again. The Mets will try to void his contract based on his injury being caused as it was during a fight. The Players Association will probably take his side, but in the end we have to hope he goes someplace else and becomes a problem for another team.

The Mets and their fans know the truth and understand it has to be this way. Wouldn't be nice if K-Rod asked you, "Where will I pitch again?" to be able to answer, "Frankly, K-Dud, I don't give a damn"? Well, the Mets are going to say just that and then he can take his anger management classes in another city and drive their fans crazy with his antics. Gone with the wind never sounded so good!

The Mets Kids Are Alright

This article first appeared as The Mets Kids Are Alright on Blogcritics.

If the painful truth about another lost season started to set in around August 1 for the Mets and their fans, it took the team until August 7 to do something about it. Things were not working with the team as it was, and since no trade was made by the July 31 deadline, something had to give. It did yesterday.

The Mets released infielder Alex Cora, an all-around nice guy, good presence in the clubhouse, but batting only .207. They optioned outfielder Jesus Feliciano to Buffalo, and recalled infielder Ruben Tejada and outfielder Fernando Martinez. It seems that Martinez will get to play left field in the absence of Jason Bay (on DL with a concussion), and this could give the talented but yet to be proven player a chance to get a permanent spot on the team.

Even more good news awaited Mets fans: Luis Castillo and his two bad feet were benched, and that meant Tejada got to start at second base. Though Tejada batted only .212 when previously playing for the Mets this season, he has a great attitude and is a major improvement on defense over Castillo. With Tejada at second and Martinez in left field, the "new" look of the team is younger and certainly brighter than it was yesterday.

Meanwhile, pitcher Johan Santana (9-6) pitched a brilliant game on Saturday, taking a no-hitter into the bottom of the sixth. After Raul Ibanez struck out but reached first base on a wild pitch, Placido Polanco stroked a single up the middle to end the continuing Mets dream of getting their first no-hitter in team history.


Santana pitched very well into the eighth inning, leaving with two on base and one out. Francisco Rodriguez was then called upon for a five-out save (gulp). Luckily for the Mets and their fans, K-Rod escaped the jam in the eighth and pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 24th save.

Over all, it was a good day for the Mets in more ways than one. They won a tough game against their division rivals the Phillies, got some new blood on the field, and let it be known that they have heard the fans and are trying to do something to better the team. For this day at least, Mets fans had something to smile about for a change.