Oliver Perez Keeps His Spot in the New York Mets' Rotation

Flushing Baseball Daily

Apr 28, 2010

Coming into this season, Oliver Perez was one of the bigger question marks for the Mets' rotation, and after four starts he’s more of a question mark than ever.

After John Maine ’s start this afternoon, Perez's spot is the most in danger in the Mets' rotation, but at least for now, he’s holding on to it. According to Mark Hale of the NY Post , Mets manager Jerry Manuel said he’s sticking with the enigmatic lefty.

“I’m going to stay with Ollie,” Manuel said. “I think we need Ollie to get it right. We need Ollie to figure it out.”

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Right now his ERA is sitting at a fairly respectable 4.35, but that is deceiving. He’s had one good start and three bad ones. All three bad ones came at home where the cavernous outfield of Citi Field has kept his home runs at zero, thus keeping his bad starts from becoming devastating ones.

To make matters worse Hisanori Takahashi , who was signed out of Japan during the offseason, has been so dominating in the bullpen especially when he’s been asked to go for extended outings. Takahashi knocking on the door like this makes it hard to believe that if the Mets weren’t paying Ollie $26 million during the next two seasons he would already be in the bullpen.

If Perez doesn’t turn it around soon and Takahashi keeps up his impressive season it won’t be long until Perez eventually gets the axe.