The Team Bus Is At The Crossroads (And Oliver Perez Is Under It)

By John "Metstradamus" Coppinger
Posted Friday, May 2, 2008

Seems we have our first honest to goodness controversy of the young season. (That didn't take long.)

"It's very easy to say, 'Hey, yeah, you're going to have these games,' and you will have these games, but when there's not a lot of effort and a lot of desire, that's when you worry.

"I just think that today we just didn't show up. I'm not saying that Pittsburgh can't beat the New York Mets. I'm just saying there's no way we should have this lopsided of a score. ... We weren't good at defense. We weren't good at pitching. There was no get up and go. That can't happen." (...)

"Perez has honestly got to step up and know that we've just used every guy in our bullpen the night before ... He can't come out there and decide that, gee, he hasn't got it today and so be it."

The question in the short term about Billy Wagner's blasting of Oliver Perez after Wednesday afternoon's disaster is whether he should have done it or not. What has surprised me the most about this situation is just the amount of people who have agreed with Wagner taking his complaints to the press. With the perceived lack of passion on this team lately, it seems as if our fan base has been waiting for somebody ... make that anybody ... to light a fire under this team. Of course, there is some sentiment the other way ... that Wagner should have done the classy thing and fire his complaints directly towards Perez. Let he who is without blown save cast the first fastball, or something like that.

My only response to that would be: who knows how many times the Mets have tried to light a fire under Perez privately already? Maybe Wagner felt that this was the only course of action left. Should it have been Willie Randolph that cast this stone? Considering how many times Randolph has blasted Perez after a good outing, would the effect have been lessened?

But there's a hard question in the longer term, which is this: is this another push in Oliver Perez's back towards the door? Don't forget, he's a free agent after this season, and when you combine all the rumors of Perez wanting to return to San Diego to pitch (a more laid back atmosphere where fans aren't going to boo at every opportunity), and the fact that Scott Boras represents him, it may be time to take a hard look at getting some pieces in return for Perez, especially if it gets to be July and the Mets are stuck around the .500 mark.

Not only do the Mets get young pieces to replenish the farm system, this also gives the Mets the opportunity to ...

(wait for it)

(wait for it)

make Aaron Heilman a starting pitcher.

Think about it for a second: yes, I know I've been against this in the past, but the Mets missed the boat in getting maximum value for Heilman in a trade as a reliever. The Mets really should have traded Heilman at the end of 2006 ('07 wouldn't have been any more of a disaster without him) when his value was at his highest. Now, with Heilman being the sixth inning mop-up guy, which GM out there is willing to give Omar Minaya more than a chicken salad sandwich to obtain Heilman?

But what's the harm in making Heilman a starter the rest of the season? You figure he'll be so excited to finally have the role he wants that he'll get his head into the game and improve by leaps and bounds from that alone. And with the starting pitching market so thin, all Heilman has to do his pitch five or six quality starts for somebody to be interested in him again. Then you can trade him for more parts. So from Perez, you get minor leaguers and you make room for Heilman, so you can pull his trade value up and trade him for more minor leaguers. Who knows how good they'll be, but it will be more than you'll get if you let Perez leave as a free agent for nothing. At this rate, with Randolph and Wagner picking on him, is there really another ending to this story?