Oliver Perez hurt the Mets when he was pitching, now he is hurting them by not pitching … in the minor leagues.
Because of Perez’s failings and the injuries to John Maine and Jon Niese, the Mets have had to borrow from their bullpen to fill the vacancies in their rotation. So, not only have they lost trusted bullpen arms, their rotation has two guys working with short pitch counts.
And the Mets don’t believe Perez can help — as a starter or a long reliever. They asked him to go to the minor leagues, but he refused. That is Perez’s collectively bargained right, but it doesn’t help his team.
Hisanori Takahashi has been tremendous in his first two starts (12 IP, 0 ER), but he may not last six innings in every appearance, and Fernando Nieve is expected to make his first start Saturday in Milwaukee. Both will be working with short pitch counts, which means long relief will be needed in tight games, and it would be nice to add another option to the Raul Valdes, Elmer Dessens pairing. The Mets had Manny Acosta, but he went back to Buffalo when the Mets called up Ryota Igarashi last week.
Bringing back Acosta back would help lighten the load for a bullpen that has worked 166 1/3 innings this season, second most in MLB behind the Pirates. The Phillies are at 112 2/3, which is the least in baseball — thank you, Roy Halladay.
Mets relievers have the fifth-best ERA in baseball, which is one of the main reasons they are three games behind Philadelphia and in the NL East race. But this is a marathon, and despite the Phillies’ recent struggles, they are better positioned for the long haul than the Mets.
Perez said he believes that success in the minor leagues does not guarantee success in the big leagues.
“If I go to the minors and feel confident there, that doesn’t mean I will feel confident here,” said Perez, who has pitched 2/3 of an inning since May 14.
That’s true, but confidence does not come from collecting splinters on the bullpen bench or throwing a couple of shutout innings in a 12-3 game. There may not be a solution to the Perez Problem, but does he have to take the rest of the team down with him?