Today could be the straw that breaks Oliver Perez’s back.
Perez has been unreliable most of the season, and it’s possible that his start this afternoon could be his last Mets start any time soon. The lefty is slated to pitch the series finale against the Yankees, and the Mets have already admitted the outing will be pretty crucial.
This past Tuesday against Seattle, Perez was blasted, and afterward Jerry Manuel hinted that taking him out of the rotation was a possibility. The next day Manuel said Perez would pitch today but confirmed that it will be a telling start.
“Looking back at Oliver Perez, it appears as though the bigger the game, the better the performance,” Manuel said Wednesday. “And you can’t get no bigger game than the Yankees on Sunday afternoon at Shea Stadium. Other than obviously a championship-type deal.
“So that would be a very good time for us to make a decision one way or the other, evaluate the performance.”
Yesterday Manuel reiterated that today “is a big start for him.” He even joked that should Perez pitch well, the Mets would let him know before each of his starts that those are big starts, too.
“We’ll figure it out for him,” Manuel said. “We have to surprise him.”
Perez has a 5.29 ERA this season, but he has dominated the Yankees in his career, posting a 4-1 record with a 2.88 ERA. And he has been particularly remarkable against them as a Met, going a combined 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA.
What are the options for both Perez and the Mets if he ends up out of the rotation? He can’t be demoted to the minors without coming off the roster, so he would probably head to the bullpen and work in relief. As far as who could replace him in the rotation, Triple-A righty Tony Armas Jr. would seemingly be a candidate. The Mets also still have Orlando Hernandez on the DL, though they’ve suggested he could be back after the All-Star break.
“[Perez] will continue, whether it’s us or somebody else, he will continue to get an opportunity,” Manuel said, “simply because he has that type of [big-time] potential.”
Perez will be opposed by Darrell Rasner, who a little over 13 months ago was hit on the right hand by a ball batted by Endy Chavez in the first inning of a Yankees-Mets Subway Series game at Shea. The next day, May 20, Rasner underwent surgery to repair a fractured right index finger. The remainder of Rasner’s season consisted of two minor league rehab starts for Staten Island.
“I try not to think about last year because it was such a negative time,” said Rasner, who was dropped from the 40-man roster during the off-season but opted to return as a non-roster pitcher. “Last year I was wondering if I would pitch again.”
After pitching well at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Rasner went 3-0 in his first three big league starts. Since then he is 1-5.
“I started to press a little, I wanted to do better and better,” Rasner said of the slide. “I get in trouble when I try to do too good. I need to take a step back and make it as simple as it was.”
– Additional reporting by Bart Hubbuch