3 Mets contracts we immediately knew were a mistake

Fans can live up to their name and be fanatical. They can also realize a mistake the front office made before the ink dries on a new contract. The New York Mets have signed some players who immediately looked like a poor match.

The fans aren’t always right with their immediate assumptions about a player. In these three cases, the evidence was there.

1) NY Mets fans knew the Oliver Perez contract was a bad idea

The Mets had a way to escape Oliver Perez after the 2008 season. A horrific first 7 starts for them in 2006 should have been enough. Because he did pull things together for a good 2007 and solid 2008 campaign, the team decided it was worth bringing him back.

Perez signed a three-year deal worth $36 million in 2009. This was great money back then for a pitcher. It’s not even that out-of-line in today’s world for an MLB pitcher in the middle or back of a rotation.

Over the last three seasons, Perez had gone 28-30 with a 4.52 ERA. Atrociously wild at times, he was about to get even worse.

Perez would go 3-9 with a 6.81 ERA in 112.1 innings of work on this new deal. He made only 21 starts and 10 relief appearances. The Mets wouldn’t even let him find redemption. Before the third season with the club even began, they released him.

All of the warning signs had been there with Perez. The Mets may have been hoping that those struggles were partly because of his age. Luckily, this wasn’t a particularly long contract. It was also during a time period when there wasn’t much else to cheer about. Perez was one of many problems with the ball club.