Casey Fossum DFA'd, Ken Takahashi Called Up

Takahashi is a 40 year old lefty reliever. He's posted a 0.77 ERA in 11.2 innings with AAA Buffalo, striking out 9 and walking 6.

On Oliver Perez, David Lennon at Newsday adds:

"Team officials immediately gathered after the game to talk about their next roster move and that could involve skipping Perez's next turn before demoting him to the bullpen."

6 months ago James Kannengieser 44 comments 0 recs |

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I thought we signed him for his next turn

which is against Philly. And Philly is missing Johan in all 5 games coming up which would mean no lefties. Not that Ollie deserves to pitch right now.

by Mount17 on Apr 26, 2009 5:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I thought we was a big game pitcher/Sandy Koufax.

Honestly, he is the only Met right now that if I saw him do something sucky at Citi Field I would boo mercilessly.

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Apr 26, 2009 5:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nelson Figueroa, c'mon down?

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Apr 26, 2009 5:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ken Takahashi, step on up!

Lennon updated his post. Guess we decided not to go with a starter.

'Oh yes, I know all about that duty-of-a-citizen stuff. It doesn't go. There are exceptions to every rule, and this was one of them. When a man risks his liberty to come and root at a ball-game, you've got to hand it to him. He isn't a crook. He's a fan.'

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Apr 26, 2009 6:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

ah, i was just about to post that

so takahashi replaces fossum. maybe ollie to bullpen to allow for either stokes or parnell to start. personally, i’d like to see what parnell could do as a starter. he’s been pretty good in relief so far.

by englishgrey on Apr 26, 2009 6:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yeah, why not?

He can’t possibly be worse than Sandy, er, Oliver.

Anyone know what Niese’s been doing in Buffalo? Christ, I hope Saturday’s start is indicative of what Pelfrey will do now that his forearm isn’t bothering him. Maine really needs to step it up too.

2009 Mets: maybe its the Phillies turn to have a terrible bullpen?

by Greenpoint Ian on Apr 26, 2009 6:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Niese has not been great in Buffalo

8.44 ERA in Buffalo. He’s been pretty sharp the first time through in his last few starts, but the wheels have completely come off in the third inning when he tries to go through the lineup a second time.

by Meddler on Apr 26, 2009 6:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I could still see him going against Philly though

Just to get a lefty into that series.

by Meddler on Apr 26, 2009 6:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Parnell's an interesting thought

We really need SP, but I’m torn. Parnell has never been an overwhelming starter in the minors. I think the Mets may have really found a hidden gem in moving him to the pen, and he probably doesn’t have the repertoire and/or command to be a starter. He doesn’t have an offspeed pitch, and his slider is pretty inconsistent. A spot start would be fine, but wouldn’t you need to send him down first to stretch him out? That’d probably mean Figgy starting at least three or four games. I don’t think its worth it. The fact that neither Niese or Gee has been sharp at Buffalo makes it tough, but I’d still probably rather just see one of them.

by Meddler on Apr 26, 2009 6:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Ollie in bullpen.

Walk machine? As a reliever? Hell to the no.
That scares the shit out of me, to be honest.

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Apr 26, 2009 6:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

what else are we going to do?

I don’t think we can outright him to the minors.

2009 Mets: maybe its the Phillies turn to have a terrible bullpen?

by Greenpoint Ian on Apr 26, 2009 6:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

They can

Apparently he still has options, but as a five year vet he can reject the assignment if he doesn’t mind his contract getting voided.

by Meddler on Apr 26, 2009 7:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'd LOVE to see him do that.

Scott Boras would throw a fit.

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Apr 26, 2009 8:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Exactly

He wouldn’t have much choice but to accept, unless he wants to take a massive pay cut. He needs it anyway. Ollie’s spotted history is well documented, but he’s below par even by his own standards so far this year. His fastball isn’t there and not really showing signs of improvement at this point. Maybe he could pull a Brett Myers and go down for a few weeks and come back and pitch respectably.

by Meddler on Apr 26, 2009 8:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

keep sending him down

until he rejects the assignment is what i’d do. it’s the only way out of this fine mess ollie has gotten us into. at the very least, the traschell treatment is in order.

I.M. Forme
"When you get yourself into trouble is when you feel you have to do something, and then you get yourself in trouble." --Omar Minaya

by itsmetsforme on Apr 26, 2009 8:51 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

the Trachsel treatment worked pretty well, IIRC

Steve had a nice tenure with the Mets after that happened.

2009 Mets: maybe its the Phillies turn to have a terrible bullpen?

by Greenpoint Ian on Apr 27, 2009 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

thank god

the best news i’ve read all day about the mets

by JADDENHOPKINS on Apr 26, 2009 6:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I have to admit...

When the Mets traded for Perez, I liked the deal. When I heard reports later on in the day that they were going to turn around and trade him for another reliever, I thought it was stupid, and was happy when I found out it didn’t happen. After last year though, I didn’t want him to be resigned (let alone for 3 years and 36M), and I think we’re really screwed now. I don’t know how they’re going to get out of this mess.

by dan_vision on Apr 26, 2009 6:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Same, I really, REALLY did not want to resign Perez.

Like, I nearly cried when I heard, thinking, “3 years of pain coming right up”

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Apr 26, 2009 6:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

They should have thrown

Fossum to the wolves and let him pitch today until his arm fell off.

I don’t know if anyone else caught this, but they were discussing why Stokes was up today after throwing two innings yesterday, and Keith said that Jerry feels that Stokes has a rubber arm and he doesn’t worry about him, and it sounded like Gary thought he was off audio (it was low and muffled) and said something sarcastic like “yeah right” or “get real.”

by Mount17 on Apr 26, 2009 6:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I caught that

But it may have been background noise too. For what its worth, Stokes was still throwing 97

by Meddler on Apr 26, 2009 6:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ollie for Lowe

I’m sure the Braves will make that trade…..right?

by psiogen on Apr 26, 2009 6:26 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ken-Tak time!

Sweet. A complete unknown>Fossum

by Meddler on Apr 26, 2009 6:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

A batting cage pitch machine>Fossum

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Apr 26, 2009 6:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oliver Perez > Fossum

OK, well, maybe not

2009 Mets: maybe its the Phillies turn to have a terrible bullpen?

by Greenpoint Ian on Apr 26, 2009 6:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ollie's frustrating

And while he’s throwing 88 mph meatballs, he may not be far from Fossum, but Fossum is most definitely not >Ollie. That’s not meant to say much about Ollie though.

by Meddler on Apr 26, 2009 7:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Philly is up next!

That’s the reason we signed Ollie, cause he kills Philly. I’d give him his last chance against Philly, and if he sucks again, he’s out of the rotation.

by Metzfan22 on Apr 26, 2009 6:47 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Problem with that

Ollie Perez avg fastball velo :

2004: 93.0
2005: 91.3
2006: 90.2
2007: 90.5
2008: 91.2
2009: 89.0

And that was not counting today’s start. The SNY gun had him touching 90 a couple times, but the Verizon Pitch Speed had him topping out at 88, and he was definitely more often registering 88 than 90 on the SNY gun too. He just doesn’t have the command to throw 89 mph fastballs to good hitters. The Phillies are lefty dominant, but they also have Werth protecting Howard, and Werth has destroyed lefties the last couple years.

by Meddler on Apr 26, 2009 7:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Weird.

I went to the game today, and Ollie was consistently clocked from 90-93. Then I looked at the gameday though, and read the beat writer’s blogs claiming otherwise. Still, 1 run in 26 innings last year? It’s worth throwing him out there with a backup starter immeadiately on call in the bullpen.

"What position do you play?"
"I bat third."

by Preach19 on Apr 26, 2009 8:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

Having Redding progressing now makes that more viable I think. Maybe the Citi gun is fast though, because I saw him hit 90 or 91 only a handful of times on the SNY gun and he was most often throwing 88.

by Meddler on Apr 26, 2009 8:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Adam Rubin

Says Tim Redding is getting close. He was sharp in an extended ST outing recently, throwing his fastball at 90-93 with better command than he had in March. He thinks Redding will need one start for Buffalo and then he’ll be ready. So this begs the question, do you go through the rotation one more time now knowing you’ll have Redding to step in during the next trip through?

by Meddler on Apr 26, 2009 8:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I am also torn

because as much as I despise Perez and never , I repeat Omar, NEVER thought he was going to be worth any big money, I do think he may have the Phillies number. But starting Redding or Parnell interests me also.

by Endys Game on Apr 26, 2009 9:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

So it's like we really never missed out on Zito.

that could involve skipping Perez’s next turn before demoting him to the bullpen

by Gina on Apr 26, 2009 10:37 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

At least we're not paying him Zito-level money.

Which is kind of like having herpes instead of HIV.

by BobbyV_Incognito on Apr 27, 2009 1:53 AM EDT up reply actions 2 recs

Perez vs. Phillies

I’m torn on this. True, he dominated them last year, but oddly my biggest concern is that he’ll dominate them again. That just feeds into the “big game pitcher” hype, and then he might never lose his spot. I think I’d be willing to trade one loss against the Phillies now for the multiple losses one good Ollie performance will save us in the long term.

by cjmulrain on Apr 26, 2009 11:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs