The Seattle Mariners didn't have a response when the Los Angeles Angels signed Albert Pujols. The Seattle Mariners didn't have a response when the Los Angeles Angels signed C.J. Wilson, which happened within like ten minutes of the Pujols thing. The Seattle Mariners didn't have a response when the Texas Rangers won the right to negotiate with Yu Darvish. But Wednesday afternoon, the Texas Rangers finally got Yu Darvish signed. And the Seattle Mariners had a response.
Mariners sign former Mets starter Oliver Perez, 30, to Minor League deal w/camp invite. On comeback from AA ball last year.
I'm going to be honest with you - it's a little daunting to try to tackle the whole Oliver Perez thing, given his background with the Mets. Mets fans have a lot of opinions about Oliver Perez. They know more about Oliver Perez than I do. But I'll do the best that I can.
Oliver Perez is bad. If he's not bad, he has most certainly been bad recently. The 30-year-old southpaw had some success out of the bullpen during winter ball, but he spent last season in double-A and struck out 58 batters in 75.2 innings. With the Mets between 2009-2010, he posted a 6.81 ERA with more walks than strikeouts. Also Perez's velocity has declined to the point where one report last summer said his fastball was topping out in the mid-80s. Something you want to have topping out in the mid-80s is the temperature. Something you do not want to have topping out in the mid-80s is the velocity of a pitcher's fastball when his fastball used to be faster.
What gets you about Oliver Perez is that he didn't used to be bad. He was good enough in 2008, for example, for the Mets to sign him to a big contract. He was at his best much earlier in his career. Between 2002-2004, with the Padres and Pirates, Perez struck out 10.3 batters per nine innings as a starting pitcher. He posted baseball's third-best strikeout rate in 2004 at the age of 22. Oliver Perez was going to be something. He was traded with Jason Bay for Brian Giles. When Brian Giles was amazing.
Oliver Perez became something, all right. He became Oliver Perez as people currently know him, instead of something much better than that. Many veterans who sign minor league contracts with spring training invites have discouraging stories to tell, and Perez is no different. Perez is another guy inking a minor league contract who, years ago, you never would've thought would have to accept a minor league contract a few years down the road.
Chances of making the team? Oliver Perez doesn't have a chance of making the team. Not out of camp, unless something terrible happens, or unless Perez was throwing 95 in winter ball and I just have no idea. A lot of times, teams will invite extra catchers to spring training because they need bodies to catch all the pitchers they've collected. What this move tells me more than anything else is that the Mariners overbooked on catchers.
0 recs | 66 comments
Jenga!
msb - January 18, 2012
He's had success as recently as a handful of seasons ago and he's no risk.
Also, the Mariners have a big ballpark for pitchers to gain their confidence back in, if that ever turns out to be a pitcher’s problem.
Ride the Apocalypse - January 18, 2012
Safeco can help with some fly balls, but it can't make him throw strikes
Perez has walked 12.7% of the batters he’s faced over his MLB career. Since he came up in 2002, that’s the seventh-worst rate in the majors, placing him between Daniel Cabrera and Andrew Miller on the list. I agree that there’s minimal risk, but he’s going to need a lot more than a big ballpark if he wants to be a useful pitcher again.
But assuming that we’re out of the running by August, I’d love to see him get called up. It would be entertaining, at least, to see a guy throwing an 85 mph fastball with no control.
Teej - January 18, 2012
Citi Field was plenty big for Ollie
His problem is his high BB rate, erratic mechanics, and diminishing velocity, not his flyball rate. Plus, not for nothing, but he always struck me as not the sharpest tool in the shed- maybe that was the language barrier, but…
Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan - January 18, 2012 via mobile
The final piece to the puzzle!
unfortunately the picture on the front of the box is a pile of crap
C Dubya - January 18, 2012
I chuckled. Well done sir.
grips - January 18, 2012
We oughta pick up Pudge
So we can add more pitchers to the pile.
phiat - January 18, 2012
If the team hadn't already picked up Jaso I wouldn't mind Pudge especially after the Montero trade.
KC Mariner - January 18, 2012
Is he still any good?
I saw his name today on the list of free agents. Haven’t paid attention to him for a few years, so I don’t know, but he was one of my favorite catchers for a long time. I’m guessing he probably isn’t very good now good at age 40, but I’m too lazy to look it up.
phiat - January 18, 2012
He isn't any good, but with Montero you wouldn't need him to be a starter and he could be a good mentor/coach for Montero.
KC Mariner - January 18, 2012
Even if Olivo is traded (please God)
There still might not be room for Rodriguez on the ML roster. You’d probably need your third catcher to be more versatile, a la Chris Gimenez.
fiftyone - January 18, 2012 via mobile
I don't see Pudge (or another pure catcher) fitting on the roster at this point for the reasons you pointed out.
If the team hadn’t aquired Jaso I wouldn’t have been opposed to Pudge on a one year deal with Olivo being moved.
KC Mariner - January 18, 2012
If the team is still planning on sucking for 2 years, we could sign Pudge to a two-year contract
And let him hit poorly, play okay defense and reach the 3000 hit milestone (as a catcher!) in a Mariners uniform.
…all just to show Olivo we don’t take kindly to him.
Ride the Apocalypse - January 19, 2012
I don't think there's yet a detailed plan in place for sucking in 2013
That one will be base-lined by how the M’s fare in 2012.
cwel87 - January 19, 2012
Yeah, Jack's more of a seat-of-the-pants kind of guy
Bavasi seemed to plan the suck out five years in advance.
(He didn’t think he was doing that, of course, but when you complain about being “surprised by the market” offseason after offseason, that’s what it amounts to)
J0SER - January 19, 2012
What makes you think that the team is "planning on sucking for 2 years"?
It looks to me like they are trying to build quickly and efficiently with little wasted money.
ToddK - January 19, 2012
Spring training is going to be more interesting than usual this year,
though not because of this move. There’s a lot to watch for, however.
C? 3B? LF? CF? DH?
Starting 5? Who’s in the bullpen beyond League, Sherrill and most likely Wilhelmson?
More trades?
ignacio - January 18, 2012
Shawn Kelley
njd.aitken - January 18, 2012
Delebar.
Mariner Melee - January 18, 2012
Delabar.
And hell yes.
JY - January 18, 2012
Oh yeah. Delabar. And Shawn Kelley.
That looks at first glance like it could be a pretty good pen.
ignacio - January 18, 2012
David Aardsma's still a free agent, I wouldn't mind getting him a cheap one year deal.
joof - January 19, 2012
Good
I was getting bored of thinking about Montero
bookbook - January 18, 2012
Yeah, about that guy...
.6 WAR in 18 games is pretty sweet, huh? And 14 of those games was as a DH!
zeeehjee - January 18, 2012
At that pace, he projects for 5 WAR over 150 games.
Not impossible, but probably aiming really high. I’d suspect something more in the 3-3.5 WAR range from him next season.
Cascadian Man - January 18, 2012
Even 3.5 from Montero is pretty optimistic
Doable, but optimistic.
fiftyone - January 18, 2012 via mobile
Didn't take long...
…for this to turn away from what the story was about, huh?
extavernmouse - January 18, 2012
Oh dear
cwel87 - January 18, 2012
Dumbfounded
am I, but after 3 years for 36 it’s nice that he found a way to supplement his rainy day fund.
xmet - January 18, 2012
Any hope he can be a LOOGY?
I don’t have time to research this right now. Does anyone know if he’s tough on lefties?
Alex Johnson - January 18, 2012
Not if he's stuck in the 80s,
and can’t find the plate. My biggest fear would be he wins a job in ST, and does the usual during the season.
xmet - January 18, 2012
He did do quite well in his winter league while converted to a reliever
He’s never been fully converted to a reliever before then. The competition isn’t great, but maybe he has a shot at being a serviceable reliever. Stash him in AAA as a reliever, see what happens.
AndrewMcQ - January 18, 2012
In AAA he wouldn't be a problem,
and if he can do well in the PCL he might be worth a shot later in the season, just not in the spring. Bad Ollie had a way of catching up to Good Ollie.
xmet - January 18, 2012
Let's play Player Comparison, 2010 MLB seasons
Pitcher A: 28 years old, 46.1 innings, 11% walk rate, 50.6% in the zone, 11.5% K rate, 83.0% contact rate, 6.42 FIP
Pitcher B: 29 years old, 46.1 innings!, 17.9% walk rate, 45.3% in the zone 15.8% K rate, 81.4% contact rate, 7.02 FIP
One of them is useless and terrible. The other one is useless and terrible.
abender20 - January 18, 2012
Let's play Player Comparison, 2010 MLB season
Pitcher A: 29 years old, 46.1 innings!, 17.9% walk rate, 45.3% in the zone, 15.8% K rate, 81.4% contact rate, 7.02 FIP
Pitcher B: 32 years old, 250.2 inning, 3.0% walk rate, 68.4% in the zone, 22.1% K rate, 79.6% contact rate, 3.01 FIP
One of them is Roy Halladay. The other one is now a Mariner!
seattlebruin - January 18, 2012
Way to ruin the mystery, asshole.
abender20 - January 18, 2012
I took one guess and it was a good one.
JY - January 18, 2012
That's why you're the best.
abender20 - January 19, 2012
I think Mike Leach fills the quota of pirates in Washington State
Trenchtown - January 18, 2012
Would have rather gotten Moyer
Edgar for Pres - January 18, 2012
Too late!
Finally, no more talking about getting him back.
phiat - January 18, 2012
Why?
abender20 - January 18, 2012
Oliver Perez sucks. Moyer sucks. Moyer is far more likable and interesting.
Edgar for Pres - January 18, 2012
If either of these players actually got significant playing time something probably has gone seriously wrong with roster construction
so I don’t think it matters at all.
It would just be nice to see Moyer throw on a Mariners jersey one last time. It would be an even nicer touch to see him retire as a Mariner (although like I said if he got significant playing time its a horrible sign for the team’s record this year).
Edgar for Pres - January 18, 2012
He signed with Colorado
Okay, I’m an idiot. If I had a clue, I’d put in a link here, but look over to the right at the Yahoo Sports thing.
phiat - January 18, 2012
He's asking an incredibly ambiguous why (the why is pointed at EfP's desire to have Moyer back over Perez)
And he’s expecting an incredibly detailed response from EfP to defend himself. I’ve always loved that irony.
cwel87 - January 19, 2012
On one hand, I wanted Moyer because he's awesome.
On the other hand, I didn’t want Moyer, because I want him to leach wins off a team with a better offense.
joof - January 19, 2012
And by leach, I mean he gets credited with a win.
Not drain them. Yeah…
joof - January 19, 2012
Perhaps this is a very good sign
If the M’s think the top pitching prospects are going to rocket to the majors quickly, they don’t want to overwhelm A and AA guys by bringing them to Tacoma too quickly. So there needs to be some innings eaters (season eaters?) down there so they can take your time with the guys they care about. Perez is a good hint that Paxton and/or Hultzen will be in the majors quickly.
(I’m not that serious here. I have no idea why they got him.)
Chris_FB - January 18, 2012 via mobile
Not a bad theory, really.
Ride the Apocalypse - January 19, 2012
Thanks Jeff.
That last line about having too many catchers was the funniest thing I’ve read all day. You are a great writer. Keep it up!
A Steamy Day in Cleveland - January 18, 2012
He is actually a comedian! (According to MLB blog)
heychuck1 - January 18, 2012
They're just jealous
Jeff Sullivan is ours and you can’t have him.
J0SER - January 18, 2012
He'd let himself go if it was the only way for Felix to stay.
Ride the Apocalypse - January 19, 2012
Unless is pitch speed magically reached 92 or higher
or Ollie magically managed to become crafty, which i doubt both, he is going to suck so bad.
gunsbound - January 18, 2012
I want to see him destroy another Garotrade dispenser
Poochie - January 18, 2012
The only question worth asking if this is the move to replace Pineda?
My guess? Hells no. Upside lefty with no real risk. Moving along…
Adam B - January 18, 2012
Just so you guys know
LOLlie is real mature now that he’s married, and he’s the next Sandy Koufax. So, have fun with that.
Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan - January 18, 2012 via mobile
The
explanation.
xmet - January 19, 2012
gf,tkkk
taprat - January 18, 2012
sorry - 5 year old
won’t happen again.
taprat - January 18, 2012
I know this is totally OT...
But this made me think of the LLemmies. Are we still doing those?
kennerdoloman - January 18, 2012
sb was kind enough to take the time last year.
I wouldn’t assume that he has, or is willing to dedicate, the time this year. My guess is that, were you willing to take on the responsibility, you could probably ask him to see if he has plans for them this year.
ToddK - January 19, 2012
I am sure that part of the reason he is getting consideration (if he is really getting any at all).......
pertains to the fact that he is a left hander. Still, Oli pal, I suggest you pack light for your trip to Peoria.
Ichiro's Jock Strap - January 18, 2012
I was very interested in Padres Era Perez.
Long lefty instead of Furbush?
Omerta - January 19, 2012
You got plagiarized, Mr. Sullivan
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-mariners-perez
The commenter called ‘Maxim M’
I don’t know if it ticks you off, makes you chuckle, or neither, but I just noticed it.
Aly Edge - January 21, 2012
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