The jump in velocity is more likely due to being shifted to the bullpen, rather than a sudden transformation into the Ollie Perez of old. Still, he strikes people out, and he's in the right park for a guy with his home run surrendering tendencies, although you still have to live with all those walks. It's a perfectly cromulent contract.

He wasn't getting it up that high when the Mets tried to make a reliever out of him. That said, I'd rather have whatever lefty I already had in the minor leagues.

Oliver Perez, Jason Bay....could the Mariners be interested in Roger Cedeno? Mo Vaughn? Bobby Bonilla? Is any bad Mets contract off the table?

I'm sure putting him in the pen helped his fastball velocity, but I saw a lot of his starts at the end of his Mets tenure; he was struggling to get it much past 88. There had to have been something wrong with him

Pirates, West. Right down to the nautical connection. Oh, and the suck factor, also.

huh, I had no idea Oliver Perez was still pitching.

Hey, the M's have been picking up 5 wins per year for each of the past two years. Another two years on this trend and they'll be over .500. Two more years and the playoffs are coming! (Several after that, we'll have the first undefeated major league baseball team.)

Hopefully this is the end of the Veteran Presence signings. That said, I will hold out hope for a real move.

I swear to you I read this headline and intro - and first comment - and believed the entire time that this was one of those necro-threads where somebody brings back a Newsblog post from 2008 to make a joke. I looked at the timestamp on the posting and all of the comments but didn't believe I wasn't somehow being fooled until I clicked through and RTentireFA.

That makes two of us (except that your saying you'd done so saved me from having to RTFA).

I swear to you I read this headline and intro - and first comment - and believed the entire time that this was one of those necro-threads where somebody brings back a Newsblog post from 2008 to make a joke.

Ditto.

Feckin H. A 178 ERA+ for Opie? That's madness.

There are about four players I can't be bothered to wish well when they ressurrect themselves. Ollie's three of them.

Ollie can be a good pitcher, even as a starter with a plus fastball but he's pretty defenseless when he's throwing in the 80s. His velocity was always all over the place when he was a Met.

Russlan, you might need a new username.

I agree with #2 and #4. I always hoped that the Mets could squeeze something out of him as a lefty reliever in the fashion the Mariners are now -- but there was something wrong before. Whether it was an injury that he was able to rehab or the change of scenery, he's better now.

He had a 12.19 K/9 in Triple-A last year but a 4.65 ERA, so don't think he's a completely different guy now (he also walked 5.5/9). He's also not as good as he showed in limited action last year. But he could be useful.

So I'm going to Seattle next week for a conference, and will be staying in the downtown area. Any suggestions for good places to eat?

Tell your statistics to shut up...