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  Date / Time: 5/4/2009 6:07 PM UTC

  Ollie's follies continue
  

  Hey, it's Matt. As you may know, The Talkin' Sports with Balls Midday Show is taking a week off. While Mike and Scott head up to the New Yankee Stadium, I'll be working. So you'll have to wait another week to hear us on the Blog Talk Radio airwaves.
  But I'll use this space to vent about the New York Mets. Fortunately, I was in attendance at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night when the Mets played a rare clean game, in which the starter pitched went more than five innings and J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez pitched nearly spotless 8th and 9th innings.
  But then reality set in the next day when Oliver Perez took the hill against Jamie Moyer. Watching Perez pitch is absolute torture. It's a root canal, a 10 mile traffic jam, and fingernails against the chalk board all rolled into one. I wouldn't wish watching this man pitch on my worst enemy. Yet I've put myself through it a handful of times already this season. If it weren't for 40 year old rookie Ken Takahashi cleaning up Ollie's mess in the 4th inning, the numbers would have been even uglier. As it was, Perez gave up 4 runs on 5 hits and 6 walks.
  For whatever reason, the Mets didn't want to dig into their wallets a little deeper to get Derek Lowe, who may be aging, but is still a viable number two starter. Instead, beyond Johan Santana (who, thanks to his bullpen, has trouble getting wins himself) you have Perez, John Maine, Mike Pelfrey, and Livan Hernandez. Maine still seems to be physically and mentally working himself back into the swing of things following an injury last year. Pelfrey hasn't found the groove after a 13 win 2008 season. Livan Hernandez is what he is at this point, a 5th starter. But Perez is the key. He's being paid 12 million per year for the next 3 years. Forget number 2 starter, that's ace money right there. And the 12 million dollar man is now headed to the bullpen, while he really should be headed to Buffalo to iron things out.
  But the Mets always seem to know better. Under the Minaya regime, they stubbornly kept Aaron Heilman in the bullpen, even though he always struggled there and the 5th starter spot was being handed out to greats like Jose Lima, the late Geremi Gonzalez, Alay Soler and Chan Ho Park, just to name a few. They gave Scott Schoeneweis a 3 year deal. You should NEVER EVER give middle relievers 3 year deals, especially someone like Schoeneweis. They gave Luis Castillo a three year deal, even though it was clear after they acquired him that he could hardly run and the days of .330 batting averages and 30 game hitting streaks were things of the past. Then they bring up Daniel Murphy, who NEVER played outfield in the minors, and they stick him in left field. He's been a disaster out there, but can you blame him? His natural position is second base. But instead of cutting Castillo, moving Murphy to second and signing Raul Ibanez, they keep Murphy in left and keep Castillo on the team (to his credit, he's hitting better so far this year). The Mets thought Ibanez was too old and let him get away to the Phillies, where he's on pace to for career highs across the board. And I'm even hearing now that J.J. Putz has lost a lot on his fastball and may have some kind of lingering injury. I knew there was a reason they could land him in a three team deal where they only had to part with Heilman, Endy Chavez and Joe Smith.
  Maybe a September collapse hasn't been enough to put Minaya on the hot seat, but how about a sub .500 record? Maybe that's what it'll take.
  That's my rant! Talk to you all next week!
  
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