This off season, the Mets free agent market for starting pitchers came down to Derek Lowe and Oliver Perez.

The Braves, who seemed to be losing out on every player they went after, decided to focus on Lowe and ended up signing the starter to a four-year, $60 million deal.

GM Omar Minaya felt Lowe's deal, was too rich for a 35-year-old right-hander and decided to pass on a bidding war.

At the time, many fans agreed that the Lowe deal was simply too big and the Mets were smart for taking a pass.

I felt the contract was similar to Pedro's, in that they were paying for Lowe now and willing to sacrifice a year on the end, for what he would provide the current team.
 Lowe was clearly the best pitcher on the market and was the missing piece in this rotation, for a New York team it should have been worth it to pay the extra few million dollars per year and probably eat the last year.

Lowe hasn't disappointed the Atlanta fans. He is the staff ace and has a record of 2-1 with a 3.10 ERA, 25 strikeouts and only 12 walks.

The Mets opted for Oliver Perez and while they spun it to seem like Ollie was their guy, it really came down to money.

It's true that Perez is much younger, at 27 years old and is a left hander with a high ceiling, but Lowe was well worth, in consistency, what amounted to $3 million a year over the first three years.

The Mets were simply not willing to spend $15 million on a fourth year for a guy who will be 39-40 years old, in that last year.

With Perez's record 1-2 in four starts, an ERA of 9.31, only one appearance where finished the fifth inning, having only 18 strikeouts while walking 12 and facing demotion to the pen based on tomorrow's outing, the Mets look frugal and foolish in their rotational decision....

 

Perez already is pitching for his spot in the rotation. The Mets sure look like they blew it when they declined to guarantee a fourth year to free-agent right-hander Derek Lowe, who at 35 is eight years older than Perez, but far more trustworthy. Source: Phillies-there-for-the-taking-in-East">Fox Sports