NewsSurgery to sideline Perez for season
Mets southpaw has chronic patellar tendinitis in right knee
By Anthony DiComo / MLB.com
08/26/09 7:28 PM ET
MIAMI -- Eyebrows no longer arch when the Mets place a player on the disabled list, nor when they announce that one of those players is out for the year. These days, a trip to the doctor usually precedes something worse, as it has for Johan Santana and Carlos Delgado and now, among a dozen or so others, for Oliver Perez.The Mets on Wednesday placed Perez on the disabled list with "patellar tendon tendinosis" in his right knee, a condition that a team spokesman described as chronic tendinitis. Under the recommendation of Mets medical director Dr. David Altchek, Perez will undergo surgery to correct the condition and will miss the remainder of the season.
In other words, he will join the list.
"This is the year for this to happen," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "We've got to get it done and move forward, and hopefully, we'll have some healthier days coming."
For Perez, the end was not entirely unexpected. Sidelined for more than two months earlier this season with patellar tendinitis in his right knee, Perez worked his way back but was never completely healthy. In nine starts since returning from his first stint on the disabled list, Perez was 2-2 with a 5.28 ERA. In the five starts before it, he was 1-2 with a 9.97 mark.
Such numbers were magnified this season not only because Perez, in a bear market this winter, signed a three-year, $36 million deal to return to the Mets, but because he took heat for reporting to Spring Training and to the World Baseball Classic out of shape.
Rarely this season did he flash anything more than a low-90s fastball, which prevented him from powering his way out of the messes he created due to poor control. Now though, in hindsight, he has an excuse.
"I would say his knee issue probably had an effect on maybe his conditioning," Manuel said. "I can't say how much of an effect or how long it has hampered him to perform to the expectations we had for him."
The expectations, in the prime of Perez's career, were stratospheric. According to the New York Times, when negotiating for his client this winter, agent Scott Boras carried around a binder that included such tabs as "Big-Game Ollie" and "Perez Is One of Baseball's Top 5 Left-Handed Starting Pitchers." Perez justified neither of those proclamations this season, nor another: "Durable Ollie."
Instead, Perez has been described in two terms this summer: "Bad Ollie" and "Good Ollie" -- and fans have seen markedly more of the former than the latter.
In terms of durability, at least, Perez is not alone. His assignment to the disabled list was the 20th for the Mets this season and the second in two days -- the team announced Tuesday that Santana would also undergo season-ending surgery to remove bone chips from his left elbow. Currently, the Mets are paying the 13 players on their disabled list just south of $100 million.
Combined, the injured Mets have spent more than 500 games -- or more than three full seasons -- on the disabled list this season.
In terms of sheer numbers, the Mets have surpassed the Reds, who currently have 11 different players on the disabled list and who, as of Tuesday, had used 103 different lineups in 124 games. But the Mets have always had an edge in terms of sheer star power.
Since May, the Mets have played without Jose Reyes and Delgado, their leadoff and cleanup hitters. Since June, they have proceeded without Carlos Beltran, one of only three disabled Mets with a shred of hope to return this season. And the list of surgeries is currently gaining on the list of sidelined Mets.
Perez, Santana, Delgado, J.J. Putz and three others have either already undergone surgery or will do so soon. And the Mets, meanwhile, have slipped so far out of playoff contention that they cannot in good conscience encourage Beltran (bone bruise) or David Wright (concussion) to rush back. It is possible that those two, along with infielder Ramon Martinez, will return for September. No one else has a chance.
Even Jeff Francoeur, one of the few Mets not on the DL, is due to have surgery after the season to repair a torn tendon in his left thumb.
The Mets have had to make do with marginal Major League players, to that end calling up Lance Broadway on Wednesday to take the roster spot of Perez. If Manuel does not need to use Pat Misch in relief in Miami, then Misch will start Friday against the Cubs. But if Manuel is forced to use Misch due to a lack of available options, Broadway will make the start at Wrigley.
All that is certain is that it will not be Perez, whose season ends on the same disappointing note that marked its beginning. Two years remain on Perez's contract, which has yielded virtually nothing to date. The Mets have no choice but to be optimistic.
"I think he'll be fine," Manuel said. "There's no doubt in my mind. I think the one thing is that we identify things, and once we identify the things, we have to correct those things. Once you correct them, you've got to let the chips fall where they may."
Anthony DiComo is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
