Lowe Rejected Offer, Wants $16MM Per Year

"Any other season Derek Lowe would have to settle for no more than $12 million, which is still pushing it"

He wouldnt have gotten more than Carlos Silva last off season?

"nrmaxx,
in perez's last 3 seasons his walks have risen (granted as has his strikeouts), his era went from 3.5 to 4.2 between 07 to 08. wins have little to do with the effectiveness of the pitcher so im not going to get into that. and you cant base how much a person will make based on how similar a lefty is to another lefty from their shity seasons at 26 and 27.

i usually agree with 95% of what you say but this i have to disagree with."

It's really not a matter of agreeing or disagreeing. I wasn't trying to be argumentative, and it sort of came off that way, and I'm not saying that I advocate signing Perez over Lowe or whatever, I'm just trying to make a case for why he would be an attractive option for somebody. He is relatively young for a free agent, has dynamite stuff, and is left handed. A lot of lefty's bloom later for whatever reason. True, his walks rose overall, but remember how awful he was early? He was getting torched in the beginning of the season and he seemed to have a lot more success throwing strikes and just in general once Wharthen took over as pitching coach. People mention the Cubs game where he imploded, and the Florida game to end the season, but the Florida game Perez actually pitched well and if the Mets could have scored some runs off Scott Olsen, Perez wouldn't have had to be pulled after 5 innings and one run. The Cub game was bad, yes, but it was more the exception then the rule for Ollie late in the year. You are right, there are certainly red flags out there with Perez, but he does also bring an upside that no pitcher left on the market (besides Sheets) can give you. The k rate is nice even though the bb rate is not. The guy is fairly durable and still young. My point about posting two solid years was that during the 07 and 08 years, while being wildly inconsistent and sometimes frustrating beyond belief, he provided one very useful season and one league average season while staying healthy and eating some innings. That holds value in itself, but if he can ever harness his emotions (and his fastball), he can be downright dangerous. That is where the Randy Johnson comparison comes in. I am sure there are teams looking at his numbers at his age compared with other left handed starters at age 26/27 and seeing some of the comps. Though you are absolutely correct, that is the high point of Perez's potential, it certainly cannot be expected, and a team would be extremely foolhardy to sign the kid with no other reason then he has extremely similar age 26/27 seasons as Randy Johnson(although to be fair, I certainly would not call the 07 and 08 production of Perez "shittty").

Personally, I won't complain as long as one of Perez/Lowe are signed. Unlike most Met fans, I would be very okay with the same Johan/Pelfrey/Ollie/Maine/Pedro rotation as last year, with one veteran starter ( A Claudio Vargas type), and one young one (Niese) as Pedro insurance.

Hes not worth 16 million - anyway watch teams wait it out and see who buckles, a team who wants a pitcher or a pitcher who wants to play baseball..