Baseball Guru
07-16-2001, 11:10 PM
Mets Send Timo Perez to Minors
by RONALD BLUM
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- With Timo Perez struggling, the New York Mets sent him to the minor leagues Monday to regain his stroke.
It was not, they insisted, punishment for a poor first half.
''Punishment for what? Punishment for not performing as well as he wished?'' manager Bobby Valentine said. ''We'd have a busload of people if we were doing that.''
With the defending NL champions 41-52 going into Monday night's game against Toronto, the guilty are too numerous to mention. But with Joe McEwing playing well and Tsuyoshi Shinjo back after a layoff of nearly a month, Perez was left without a spot.
When he was told to see Valentine before Monday's game, he didn't think anything was up. But then he found general manager Steve Phillips and senior assistant GM Omar Minaya also waiting to speak to him.
''When I saw them together, I knew something was up,'' Perez said through a translator. ''Shinjo was activated and somebody had to go.''
The 24-year-old outfielder, considered a bright prospect after a strong postseason, was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.
''I couldn't see a young guy like Timo in July sitting and playing every four, five days,'' Valentine said. ''I think he's just got to have his swing back.''
After he came up from the minors last Aug. 30, Perez made a quick impact. Perez hit .294 in the division series against San Francisco last year and .304 against St. Louis in the NL championship series, then slumped to .125 (2-for-16) against the Yankees in the World Series.
He cost the Mets with a blunder in Game 1 of the World Series, failing to run hard from first on a drive by Todd Zeile, thinking it was a home run, and getting thrown out at the plate.
It didn't get better this year. Perez injured his right shin March 3, strained his left groin April 8 (going on the disabled list until April 27) and sprained his right shoulder June 13. He is hitting just .247 with two homers and 19 RBIs.
''I haven't seen everything,'' Valentine said. ''I haven't seen some of the things other people have seen. ''But because he's done certain things, I have to believe it's there.''
Phillips said Perez took the demotion ''like a professional.''
''I'm not the first baseball player who's gone down and back up,'' Perez said. ''That's the nature of the sport we play.''
Shinjo, 29, is hitting .281 with five homers and 32 RBIs. He was on the disabled list since June 20 because of a strained left quadriceps. He spent the weekend on a rehabilitation assignment with Brooklyn of the Class A New-York Penn League and went 2-for-7 with an RBI.
by RONALD BLUM
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- With Timo Perez struggling, the New York Mets sent him to the minor leagues Monday to regain his stroke.
It was not, they insisted, punishment for a poor first half.
''Punishment for what? Punishment for not performing as well as he wished?'' manager Bobby Valentine said. ''We'd have a busload of people if we were doing that.''
With the defending NL champions 41-52 going into Monday night's game against Toronto, the guilty are too numerous to mention. But with Joe McEwing playing well and Tsuyoshi Shinjo back after a layoff of nearly a month, Perez was left without a spot.
When he was told to see Valentine before Monday's game, he didn't think anything was up. But then he found general manager Steve Phillips and senior assistant GM Omar Minaya also waiting to speak to him.
''When I saw them together, I knew something was up,'' Perez said through a translator. ''Shinjo was activated and somebody had to go.''
The 24-year-old outfielder, considered a bright prospect after a strong postseason, was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.
''I couldn't see a young guy like Timo in July sitting and playing every four, five days,'' Valentine said. ''I think he's just got to have his swing back.''
After he came up from the minors last Aug. 30, Perez made a quick impact. Perez hit .294 in the division series against San Francisco last year and .304 against St. Louis in the NL championship series, then slumped to .125 (2-for-16) against the Yankees in the World Series.
He cost the Mets with a blunder in Game 1 of the World Series, failing to run hard from first on a drive by Todd Zeile, thinking it was a home run, and getting thrown out at the plate.
It didn't get better this year. Perez injured his right shin March 3, strained his left groin April 8 (going on the disabled list until April 27) and sprained his right shoulder June 13. He is hitting just .247 with two homers and 19 RBIs.
''I haven't seen everything,'' Valentine said. ''I haven't seen some of the things other people have seen. ''But because he's done certain things, I have to believe it's there.''
Phillips said Perez took the demotion ''like a professional.''
''I'm not the first baseball player who's gone down and back up,'' Perez said. ''That's the nature of the sport we play.''
Shinjo, 29, is hitting .281 with five homers and 32 RBIs. He was on the disabled list since June 20 because of a strained left quadriceps. He spent the weekend on a rehabilitation assignment with Brooklyn of the Class A New-York Penn League and went 2-for-7 with an RBI.