After a look at our Bad Contract Swap Meet post, let's put on our speculating cap and try to find a trade that would work for the Mets and Oliver Perez.
Perez is owed $20.2MM through 2011. He refused the Mets' minor league assignment and isn't helping the big league team. Not only is he a project, he's one that must be tinkered with in the Majors.
Gary Matthews Jr.'s contract qualifies as equally bad, but he's already on the Mets. A couple of Perez trade ideas:
- Perez and $8.8MM to the Brewers for Jeff Suppan. Suppan has $10.6MM left on his contract. The Mets save $800K here, about $500K beyond what they'd get back if they released Perez and he signed elsewhere. From the Brewers' point of view Perez at least has more upside than Suppan. The lefty would be reunited with pitching coach Rick Peterson, who was Perez's guide during the pitcher's initial Mets resurgence. The Brewers might require assurance that Perez would accept a minor league assignment in 2011 if necessary.
- Perez and $10.5MM to the Royals for Jose Guillen and Kyle Farnsworth. Guillen is owed $8.2MM, Farnsworth $3.6MM. This scenario has the Mets taking on $2.1MM to acquire Guillen and Farnsworth, about $550K of which covers what the Royals might get after releasing the two players.
Ollie Perez for Dontrelle Willis.
Willis-Perez doesn’t make sense because of the extra year, even if the Mets paid the contract. Tigers are clearing spots for younger players (lots of contracts off the books after this year) or adding guys who can help. Perez doesn’t qualify as either.
i think the only thing that can fix this is if the mets had the mafia take care of it.
Oliver Perez had a brief window of dominance when he showed flashes of his capability. Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson had an important role in his success. Peterson kept close watch on Ollie’s mechanics and was able to suggest correction whenever the wheels started to come off (I believe Peterson was able to identify Ollie’s correct release point and then coached the catcher to remind him so he didn’t have to make mound visits). Ollie has not been the same pitcher under the run-of-the-mill Dan Warthen. Warthen doesn’t even have a kernel of a clue as to how Ollie could be a successful MLB pitcher.When Ollie’s shoulder was flying out, the velocity on his fastball tanked and he was unable to throw his wicked slider for strikes. Ollie, for the duration of his pitching under Warthen’s (ahem) watchful eye, has exhibited the characteristics of an improper release point.
If the Mets paid his 2nd year then the Tigers could simply release him.
perez for zito straight up. haha.
Problem is Guillen & Suppan are both on their walk years whereas Ollie has another year on his deal after this. Gil Meche, Carlos Silva and Milton Bradley are really the only bad players with contracts similar to Ollie’s (2 years, $20-25M remaining on their deal). And GMJ, but oh wait, the Mets somehow traded for him without sending any bad contracts the other way.
Otherwise you could try and get creative and see if you get two guys who suck and add up to $12M per year for this season and next. Like Juan Pierre and Scott Linebrink from the White Sox, although the little value Linebrink has is probably still worth more than Ollie. Would probably still have to send a prospect or two in any deal to make it worthwhile.
If the money is equal, I don’t see why the additional year is a problem. Let’s say the Mets send $8.8MM plus Perez to Milwaukee, per Tim’s idea. Effectively, the Brewers would get Oliver Perez for $800k in 2011 — which is great if he’s even close to decent, and negligible if he sucks (you’d be able to release him w/o pause at that amount).
But why would anybody want Oliver Perez on their team for another year? He basically turns your team into a 24 man roster at this point. If your a manager it’s like your playing a board game and you land on a space and pick up a card and it says “Oliver Perez: Lose 1 Roster Spot”
And it’s pretty obvious at this point between Ollie and Castillo that the Wilpons would rather kill themselves than eat money on a contract. They wont even cut GMJ because they owe him a whopping $1M next year.
Then you release him and soak up the $800k hit. BFD.
ollie and some money for javy?
Why would the Yankees do that?
There is no way we are going to pay for another year of a bad pitcher. Suppan is out after this year and that will be that.
Don’t forget, the Mets would be sending us the money to pay for his contract next year. We’d only be paying him $800K next year. We can just cut him if he’s bad, and we wouldn’t have to eat much salary. I don’t see why we shouldn’t at least consider this. Who knows, maybe he’d be good again with Rick Peterson.
So we’d be paying nearly 1 million for a pitcher who is as bad as Suppan and basically is taking up a roster spot. No thanks.
It is not a risky gamble for the Brewers. Having watched Peterson resurrect Ollie’s career, I believe (barring injury) he’ll be able to get Ollie back as a good middle of the rotation guy.
Perez for Buster Posey, CMON NO BRAINER.
sabean might pull the trigger on that one.
Perez for Rowand straight up and i’d do it as a giants fan.
“Gary Matthews Jr.’s contract qualifies as equally bad, but he’s already on the Mets. ”
A+
or meche for ollie and eddie kunz
Why would KC do that?
eddie kunz is a b prospect and meche is doing awful, so they swap bad contracts and get someone who could be decent in their horrific pen
Meche is better, was better last year, and is a bet I’d rather take going forward than Perez.
Kunz is not a B prospect. He’s a 24 year-old getting his posterior handed to him in Double-A, and having gotten it handed to him in Triple-A last year, with painfully ugly peripherals.
If i were KC, id take my chances with meche getting through his injury
Oliver Perez to the Pirates for an authentic John Van Benschoten signed baseball.
I don’t think the Pirates have one of those. If that’s the return, it raises a question: Why would John Van Benschoten’s parents want to acquire Oliver Perez?
Three-way trade involving a pet goldfish?
At least the goldfish still has options. He wouldn’t clog up the 25 man roster.
Sweet Jesus, I’d rather have a pet goldfish than Oliver Perez. FML.
I can see that Brewers trade happening but no one else but Peterson will want to have to coach this guy.
The brewers would come out smelling like roses after that deal because soup still has a 2 million buyout for next year.
I think Tim built that (and perhaps the $300k Suppan gets if traded) into the math.
I can’t see the Mets taking two players for Ollie, unless they save a sizable amount of cash in the deal. Taking on two players means that you have to option/DFA someone, and the Mets have already shown little interest in doing that.
In the case of Guillen and Farnsworth: This is a terrible option for the Mets. They end up spending money while a guy they have no room for on the roster (Guillen) in order to get a year of Farnsworth and an extra roster spot in 2011. Given the team’s insistence that Gary Matthews Jr. stay on board because he can play CF (heh), the net result would be that the team would be paying nearly $2MM to downgrade from Chris Carter to Guillen.
they should just give him to the phillies and offer to pay his contract. so the mets know the phillies will lose every 5th day and they can attempt to come back this year.
ollie p for edgar renteria
yes…if this was last year.
“Gary Matthews Jr.’s contract qualifies as equally bad, but he’s already on the Mets.”
And therein lies the beauty of Omar Minaya. But seriously, if you ever read Dan Savage’s column, his advice to many people with problematic lovers is DTMFA (dump the mf already). That’s what Minaya needs to do. Don’t take on a new problem. Cut bait.
If the return for Oliver Perez is Jeff Suppan, Jose Guillen, or Kyle Farnsworth, what’s even the point of making the trade–I’d rather just cut him and eat his contract.
As is for all the above mentioned players, it’s beyond their contracts that make them bad–it’s the roster spot they take up which is the real waste.
Obviously the Silva/Bradley trade worked out well for the Cubs, but most bad contract deals don’t result like that.
Isn’t Oliver Perez just eating a roster spot??? If the Mets aren’t willing to bite the bullet and waive Perez his presence hurts the team beyond his pitching.
Assuming major leaguers, and Ollie, get paid on the 1st and 15th each month during the season, Ollie gets $1,000,000 tomorrow. Plus per diem??…
I agree–which is why swapping him for a similar player is pointless. That roster spot could go to someone who could remotely help the team as opposed to negatively affect the team.
The Royals get rid of 11.8 and take on 9.7…The 2MM saved is nice, but I don’t think the Royals would do that.
First of all, we have Meche who has his own walk issued problems and a big contract.
Next, the money owed to Gullien and Farnsworth expire after this year. Next year, we’re free of Cruz, Willie, Farnsworth, and Jose. I don’t see the Royals adding another bad pitcher to keep payroll only 2MM higher while costing an extra year.
Third, why would the Royals take on Perez? He would be useless in an AL Club. He was always one of my least favorite liked players in the majors, even when he did solid, and he would be virtually useless as a Royal, unless we save the 2MM then release him. Thats not all a bad idea.
Finally, though finding a suitor for Gullien is very important, hopefully at the deadline, Jose has been our best power bat, and Kyle has been our best bullpen arm all season. That simple. Not that it creates much trade value for either, but we’re on the losing side of the deal, even with the 2MM saved. If we release Perez, we’ll have to purchase the major league contract of two other players, whether it will be good because it may be somebody like Ka’aihue and Bullington or Osuna, we’re still going to be paying them about 1MM, and in effect saving 1MM. [Though, the idea of saving money, getting rid of Gullien, and getting Kila up here sound awesome :)..but personally, I don’t think Perez will be released, at least through this year, if he were traded to KC. Other than the 1MM net savings, we get nothing at all. (While, it’s a great trade for the Mets. Two people coming off solid halfs in the AL)
perez for lowell
The Red Sox like Lowell’s “flexibility.” Plus, Oliver Perez pitching the AL East is a joke.
As for Lowell’s “flexibility”, I don’t think he can touch his toes with his fingers
Agreed, thus the quotes. But the fact that he can hit, makes him more valuable than Perez, who doesn’t deserve to have the “er” after “pitch” attached to his supposed role.
Yea, I knew you meant something similar to that. They say there’s no “BB” in “pitcher” but for Ollie there is.
Well, to be fair, there is no “K” either.
I’m not sure that it’ll come through trade but I believe the only thing the Mets are going to get for Perez is about $300,000 salary relief when someone picks him up after his release. Detroit bit the bullet on Willis and Perez isn’t really a better option than he is at this point. The Brewers/Suppan deal probably makes some sense as long as it doesn’t end up costing the Brewers additional payroll. If Peterson could get Perez right then it could be a good deal for them. The Mets really have to start thinking of Perez as a sunk cost at this point and just try to cut their loses.
Just him to the royals for farnsworth… lol
Perez for Cain, then flip Perez for Prince, then flip Prince and Lincecum for Pujols, then flip Pujols for A-Rod
id just hold onto pujols
who in their right mind would trade pujols for a-rod? i would only trade pujols for willie mays in his prime.
A-Rod is locked up in a contract, while Pujols isn’t. Pujols can walk after 2011.
so what. pujols is probably the best baseball player you will ever see play baseball unless you are old enough to see mays play.
I’d take 7 years of one of the top 5 players in the game at a position with less good hitting over 2 years of the best player at a position where everyone hits well.
so you can’t resign him? and pujols is the best hitter in baseball. not to mention his defense is amazing.
You could but it’s probably gonna cost $30 million a season (thanks to the Ryan Howard deal), which is more than A-Rod gets, and at a position where it’s easier to find a good player. His defense is pretty good, but it’s declined according to UZR over the last couple years.
UZR is a load of crap stat. UZR also says that jeter is not good. i don’t think that pujols is going to get 30 million a year since no team can afford it other than the yankees and they have tex.
Jeter never really had much range at SS, if you watched you would know that. I do hear first base UZR is unreliable so it could be wrong about Pujols, so I guess I can’t be too sure. I find it unlikely that Howard (career like .260 hitter) gets $25 mil a year but Pujols (career like .320 hitter) gets less than $30 mil a year. I think some team could pony up in a couple years, maybe the Red Sox if they don’t get Gonzo.
UZR isn’t good with first basemen, but it’s not a load of crap. Jeter’s not a good defensive shortstop. He has a great arm and plays with flair, but he’s not very good defensively. Doesn’t mean he’s not a great player, but seriously. That drum was beaten to death years ago.
Or Frank robinson, harmon Killebrew, Mike Schmidt. you like a few more names??
Pujols is better than Killebrew.
you can do it all you want. i still think that pujols is going to end his career as the best player in history.
How is Pujols going to be better than Babe Ruth? He hit more home runs than whole other teams.
I’d stop after the prince trade. As good as Pujols is, lincecum has been the best pitcher in the majors the last two years. Fielder is a legitimate slugger, while not in pujols’ stratosphere, and is still young enough to be our 1st baseman of the future. Who in their right mind would give up Pujols for that asshat A-rod
The thought of Ollie Perez in the AL is terrifying. Isn’t there enough cooked meat in Kansas City?
How about this deal:
The Des Moines Dairy Queen tee-ball team gets: Oliver Perez.
The Mets get: One of them safety first-base bags that is twice the size and half-orange.
Des Moines Dairy Queen couldn’t take on Perez’s salary, unless the Mets were willing to eat it.
there would be no problems like runners stepping on the 1st baseman’s foot. BRILLANT!!
The Mets could eat the salary in exchange for free Blizzards for Fred Wilpon and Omar Minaya.
oliie perez for carlos silva
wait … i said that last year!
quick, omar: call superman and get him to reverse-spin-the-planet, go-back-in-time thing
What about trading Oliver Perez to Fathead for one of those Fatheads of Oliver Perez from back when he was in a Padres uniform? That way at least hitters might be intimidated by Perez when they put the Fathead on the mound.
No trade! Just send Pérez to Dave Duncan with love – in a pretty little package – with a note that says “Here you go big boy, fix THIS!!“
Best and most rational idea on here so far.
I think I’d rather keep Jose Guillen, and thats saying a lot
They are better off waiving him and eating the money if he won’t accept a minor league assignment. He’s dead in the locker room. The fanbase want to light him on fire. He really has the Mets by the balls since they have to choose between paying him to shorten their roster or paying him to play for someone else.
I actually would have considered swapping him for Dontrelle since Dontrelle goes out there and tries. Perhaps a return to the NL would get him back on track, especially in Citi Field.
I think the Mets will never trade him to the Brewers. The Mets are so PR conscious, they could not deal with the hit they would take should Rick Petersen turn Perez around.
The Mets would constantly be ridiculed (more than they are already) for dumping a pitcher who the pitching coach they fired now fixed. I think they would rather keep him on the 25 man roster than ever see that happen.
Lowell won’t happen because the Red Sox won’t take Perez back for the extra year even if the Mets pay for him.
The Mets are just going to have to eat this one. I’m sure they would rather trade him somewhere else first so if he does end up with the Brewers and Petersen down the road, they didn’t send him there directly.
Sell him to a team in japan
Instead of eating salary, Astros could take Perez back in a Roy Oswalt deal in order to sweeten the prospect return. It isn’t like the Astros are going anywhere or have a boatload of prospects waiting to break into the rotation. Is starting Perez every 5th day much worse than sending out Wilton Lopez as the sacrificial lamb?
Can they suspend him with pay? Just send him home without the dignity of a release, but not on the active roster. If he’s getting paid, would the union have a real grievance?
As a Mets fan, I sure hope so. Nobody has been talking about, but that’s what makes the most sense. Gets him off the roster and keeps Milwaukee from picking him up for peanuts.
I have a feeling the Ollie end game is going to turn out this way. The key issue is the unlimited (up to the end of 2011) potential length of the minor league assignment. Boras is a negotiator, and he and the Mets will agree to accept the AAA assignment with a time cap (say 10 weeks) after which Ollie will either be recalled or released (some adjustment will have to be made for any injury time). This will give both sides one more chance to salvage the deal, an incentive for Ollie to work on continuing his career, while limiting his potential time in “purgatory”. And the Mets get to open up the roster sport. If he can’t be fixed in 10 weeks, there will be a quiet end to the relationship.
Are you really sure the mets would want Suppan? I guess they would have the balls to just cut him. For some reason it seems like the brewers brass does not have the balls to eat that money and they obviously are trying to prove everyone wrong by getting something out of that ivestment but its just not gonna happen. The brewers need to realize that he is costing them games and right now wins are more important than $12 mil.
What could the union possibly have a grievance for if they released him.. he doesnt deserve the “dignity of the paid suspension.” cut his ass and get it over with
I mean to keep another team from signing him. I don’t think there’s any dignity in getting suspended for sucking.
Perez is worth the proverbial handful of magic beans, and little else. Maybe we can trade him to the Iranians for those two hikers who strayed over the border and have been sitting in a Tehran prison ever since.