Oliver Perez: The most disturbing Pip

I’ve really got to use my imagination
To think of good reasons to keep on keepin’ on
Got to make the best of a bad situation

Gladys Knight and the Pips

From Captain Kirk on a very early Star Trek episode to Niki in the first season of Heroes, science fiction is full of characters with personalities split between good and bad. When the bad half starts to take over, what’s left of the good half begs to be locked up to prevent the bad half from causing any more damage.

So it’s possible that what is left of Good Ollie is whispering to Jerry Manuel to confine him to the bullpen or Buffalo. But that presumes that anything is left of Good Ollie.

One month into his three-year, $36M deal, Perez is a lost cause, according to the Post’s Joel Sherman, who compares the Mets’ rotation of Johan Santana and pray for rain to Gladys Knight and the Pips. Sherman calls Oliver Perez the “most disturbing Pip” and says that Dan Warthen has shown to be no more able to solve Perez than Rick Peterson was.

I was in favor of re-signing Perez, and, while it does not look good now, I continue to defend the signing. It is only April, after all, way too early to declare the whole contract a failure. Last year, who would have thought that Luis Castillo’s contract would have a chance of not being a disaster?

Even if you second-guess Omar Minaya for Perez’ big contract, what should Minaya have done instead? As of now, one year of Randy Wolf would certainly be more palatable, but it’s not as if Wolf is off to that great a start, either. As for Derek Lowe, there was no chance of him becoming one of Johan’s Pips once he had a chance to catch that midnight train to a $60M deal in Georgia.

I’m still glad that, for once, Omar did not give a huge deal to a player in his mid-thirties. Time will tell how the Lowe deal works out.

As for Perez, Good Ollie has a habit of showing up against the Phillies. I doubt if his start in Philly will have Met fans singing “You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me,” but at this point, I’d settle for “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye).” Because one more meltdown, especially against the Phillies, and the Mets can replace “Sweet Caroline” with “Every One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye).”