When Oliver Perez addressed the possibility of going to the minor leagues, the Mets need his okay to send him down, after Saturday's mess, he said he would go if it was the best move for everyone. Sometime Saturday night, Perez must have spoken to agent Scott Boras or his wife or the room service waiter because someone convinced him that it wasn't in his best interest to spend time in Buffalo.
Perez is hardly the first person to be warned off of traveling to Buffalo, but he came up with something better than just a change of heart. When he backtracked on Sunday, he was sure to point out the ice pack on his right knee and made reference to how much pain he was in while pitching this season.
"The knee has been bothering me all season," Perez said. "It doesn't feel good. This is my first time pitching with something that has bothered me. It's not easy."
Sounds convincing, although Marty Noble of MLB.com reports that Perez had a hard time answering a question about which knee was bothering him after he had removed the ice pack and dressed for the flight to Atlanta.
The Mets weren't convinced, however, and announced that the lefthander will be moving to the bullpen instead of the disabled list. If this is truly a mental/confidence issue, as opposed to a physical issue, you have to wonder if this is going to work out well for the Mets.
Jerry Manuel says that Perez will be used both as a long reliever, as well as a situational lefty. The latter makes sense statistically, but doesn't make any sense if the idea is to bring him back as a starter at some point in the future. The problem with Perez hasn't been his ability to get one out against lefties, but his inability to string together a series of outs against hitters of all varieties.
Long relief isn't exactly a salve to confidence woes. He could struggle, or he could pitch a strong three innings which will push the team back to starting him sooner rather than later. It would seem like a more fruitful approach to try and let Perez figure his way out of the canyon he's dug himself away from the pressures of a big league mound.
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Maybe he isn't really hurt, but what's the difference? Going on the DL would, if nothing else, give him at least two weeks away from the scene of his crimes. If the Tigers were allowed to put Dontrelle Willis on the disabled list with an anxiety disorder, why shouldn't the Mets be allowed to disable Perez for a fake knee injury? At the end of the day, each injury is all in the person's head.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
