PORT ST. LUCIE — Oliver Perez might want to hit the treadmill and eat a few more salads.
After the $36 million lefty gave the Mets a putrid spring-training performance yesterday, pitching coach Dan Warthen suggested that Perez returned last week from the World Baseball Classic with extra flab and could use more energy on the mound.
“He’s out of shape,” Warthen said after the Mets’ 10-6 Grapefruit League loss to the Tigers.
“He came into camp in good shape. I thought he was throwing the ball very well when he left camp. I was a little reticent when he left here [for the WBC], and my worries have come to fruition.”
Warthen said Perez is about the same weight as last season, but the lefty added a few pounds after leaving to pitch for Team Mexico earlier this month. The 6-foot-3 Perez is listed at 205 pounds.
“The better body shape you are, the easier it is to get your arm in shape, and I think he has gotten himself out of [shape], even though the weight is about the same as last year,” Warthen said. “He still is not the same guy, the energetic guy, even the life around the clubhouse is not the same.”
Perez was a mess yesterday, allowing six earned runs on five hits and six walks over 3″ innings, on a day Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado returned to the lineup for the first time since the WBC.
For Team Mexico, Perez struggled, allowing seven earned runs in 6″ innings over two starts, but the Mets were hopeful he was back on track after he fired three shutout innings against the Orioles upon his return to camp.
Not so fast.
“It was one of those days you just want to forget what happened, and continue to work,” Perez said. “That was not good for me, this game, because we’re close to the season.”
Perez was long gone from the clubhouse when Warthen spoke to reporters about the lefty not being in shape, but it’s an issue Perez will likely have to address as the Mets move closer to his first regular-season start, in two weeks.
Add John Maine’s recent woes into the mix, and manager Jerry Manuel has two starting pitchers he’ll be closely monitoring before the team breaks camp.
Manuel said it never entered his mind that Perez’s WBC hiatus might be a detriment to the Mets, but maybe it should have.
“I always thought the competition was the best thing for baseball, to play the game,” Manuel said. “To be involved in [the WBC], I thought was a good thing. We’ve just got to pay close attention to him the rest of the way and make sure we get it back on track.”
Warthen said the fact Perez pitched only twice in 19 days for Team Mexico was part of the problem, because the lefty is so dependent on replicating his delivery to ensure he keeps the same motion. Warthen indicated Perez is probably 10 days behind schedule.
Perez didn’t seem bent out of shape over his latest outing — even if he is bent out of shape.
“I’ve got two more starts,” Perez said. “So I have to keep working, trying to throw all my pitches in the spot I want to be, and everything is going to be OK.”
Tigers 10 Mets 6