Monday’s Bunts and Boots–Ollie and the Mets, Rich Hill, and Another Tragedy

Did the Mets overpay in giving Oliver Perez a three-year contract worth $36 million? Absolutely. I would have gone no higher than $30 million over three years. Do the Mets need a pitcher like Perez to make a run at the Phillies? Yes, because a starting rotation that features Tim Redding as the No. 4 starter and Freddy Garcia as the No. 5 simply would have carried too much risk. Now the Mets can slot Perez in at No. 4, and allow veterans Redding and Garcia to battle young left-hander Jonathan Niese for the fifth spot. So do the Mets now have enough to make themselves the favorites over the Phillies in the NL East? The answer to that question is no.

The Mets are still one hitter short of the Phillies. They have offensive question marks at three positions (catcher, second base, and left field) and concerns in right field (where Ryan Church will be trying to come back from serious concussion problems). Right now, the Mets are relying too heavily on four offensive players–Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran. If one of those four comes down with a significant injury, or if Delgado starts to show his age, they will have trouble being one of the elite offensive clubs in the National League. Even with all four healthy and productive, their lineup lacks a quality No. 2 hitter and balance at the bottom of the order. Omar Minaya needs to address this situation, whether it’s on the high end with Manny Ramirez, something in the middle with Adam Dunn or Bobby Abreu, or something at the bargain end in Ty Wigginton. Otherwise, the Mets look like a second-place team to me…

The value of baseball players can be as volatile as the stock market. A year ago, Cubs left-hander Rich Hill was a desirable commodity, coming off an 11-win season in which he struck nearly one batter per inning and kept his ERA under 4.00. Now he’s been traded off low, sent to the Orioles for a player to be named later, which doesn’t figure to be much more than a B or C-level prospect. 

So what happened to Hill? He tried the patience of Lou Piniella by falling behind in counts and walking too many batters, which is just about the surest way to make “Sweet Lou” sour. (The other way is to schedule Piniella’s Cubs in the Hall of Fame Game.) Hill, though, figures to be a good risk for the Orioles. He won’t turn 29 until March, still has good stuff, and might benefit from having a more patient manager in Dave Tremblay. This looks like a sensible and potentially profitable move for the O’s…

Coming on the heels of the passing of former reliever Frank Williams, who died as a homeless alcoholic in January, it looks like we have another sad story involving a former major leaguer. Craig Stimac, a burly catcher who played briefly for the Padres in 1980 and 1981, died on either January 15 or 16 in Italy, possibly from a suicide. Details are sketchy regarding the passing of Stimac, who became somewhat of an Italian League legend in the late 1980s before remaining in the country as a businessman. Like Williams, Stimac was a young man who had apparently fallen on hard times. Stimac was 54.