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

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!

Mets Honor '86 Greats; Get Blown Away by D'Backs

Article first published as Mets Honor '86 Greats; Get Blown Away by D'Backs on Blogcritics.

Sunday, August 1, 2010, started as a nearly perfect day for the Mets and their fans at Citi Field in New York. The Mets organization honored some of the key members of the 1986 World Series Champions by elevating them to the team's Hall of Fame. On hand to accept the honors were Darryl Strawberry, Dwight (Doc) Gooden, Davey Johnson (Manager), and Frank Cashen (GM).

It was a golden moment for the fans as they vigorously cheered the heroes of '86, but it also seemed incongruous that the current team, watching with perhaps a bit of envy from the dugout, could not expect to have similar adulation coming its way any time soon. Predictably, the current Mets (53-52) went out and got crushed 14-1 by the Arizona Diamondbacks (39-66).

The legendary sports cartoonist Bill Gallo created Basement Bertha, a kind of sympathetic figure who helped fans who felt down in the dumps. Bertha cheered up Mets fans through all the tough years, but it now seems like Bertha needs to be brought back, because the 2010 team is starting to look an awful (emphasis on awful) lot like the hapless Mets of long ago.

Who in the stands couldn't help but wish for Doc Gooden to pick up a ball and stride out to the mound? All of us were wishing so. Wouldn't it have been even more grand for Doc to look over his left shoulder and see the lanky and reliable Strawberry standing in right field, basking in the shouts of "Darryl - Darryl" as he always did? I personally would have loved to have seen Davey Johnson walk into the dugout, suit up, and stand on the top step as he used to do while the Mets' brass showed Jerry Manuel the door.

Yes, Mets fans can't help but think about the past because the present is so confoundingly depressing. This 14-1 loss ruined any good feeling the day started with, and thoroughly exposed this team for what it really is: one that, at best, can hope to have an 81-81 record when all is said and done (but even that may be too much to ask at this point).

Finally, what about Frank Cashen going into Minaya's office and teaching an abbreviated GM 101 course? Cashen was the architect of the '86 Mets, swinging very good deals to bring Howard Johnson, Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, and Ray Knight to the team, pushing them into the playoffs and ultimately winning them a World Series.

Those were the days my friends, as the old song goes, and sadly it had to end. Now, it breaks this old Mets fan's heart to see what's happening on the field. Manuel had to lift Jonathon Niese who got pounded, and then Elmer Dessens who also got punished, but the worst offense of all was for him to insert Oliver (Space Cadet) Perez into the mix. Besides the terrible booing that followed, Perez allowed four more runs and that's just rubbing salt into the wounds.

So on a day that should have been a celebration for the Mets and their fans, what we got was a day that highlighted the ruination of this team. No trade was made to help them, and now it looks like we're going to have to settle for much less than anticipated. Can someone call Basement Bertha and ask her to get the place ready for the Metsies? It looks like they're coming back home to live for a spell.