Over the last month it has become increasingly obvious that there is a difference between what the front office says and what the front office does. The generic argument, which is generic and will be mostly ignored rest of the way out in this article, is that a front office has to balance putting a good product on the field and recognizing that it is a business, a business that in New York for the most part can be reckless and know that there is still a large enough fan base to attend games, buy merchandise, and tune into the cable network.
The first example of the two-headed front office came with the Cliff Lee trade. After Lee was traded, it became clear that the Mets were never really serious, and it was almost a front to the fans to make them seem like they were interested in Lee. This was excusable then because while championships are invaluable, one cannot trade players that will be involved in that championship run (Niese, Davis).
However today brings the most bizarre move of all. Re-activating Perez. The only reason to re-activate him is because of the money that he is owed for the rest of the season. He has had such a negative impact on this team in the locker-room and on the field because he doesn't perform as an athlete and he doesn't perform as a responsible teammate. The Mets best option at this point would be to cut him lose, and then bring up another pitcher (Gee, Misch) to cover until they can get a starter in a trade. In fact, Gee or Misch would be better than Perez. There is no place for Oliver on a championship roster because as he has shown in his rehab starts, he's not ready.
This move by the office is even more confusing when you include their argument for clubhouse guys on the team (Cora, Francoeur). While there is some truth in their argument, its all for naught when they bring in players like Castillo, GMJ and Perez in the clubhouse. Why would you do that? It's counter productive to the entire the argument for your reasons to bring in veterans on the team.
Time will tell if the front office actually has the best intentions in mind, but until Wilpon gets his hand out of Omar's pot, and until Omar can let Jerry construct his rosters and until Jerry can make responsible moves, this season could start to really spiral.
