The Nats signed Brad Hand, so he won’t be the answer to the Mets search for a lefty. We have mentioned Wilson, McGee and Doolittle as potential options, but how about bringing back another old “friend”? Should the Mets bring back Ollie?

Yes I get it Mets fans. Ollie’s days with the Mets ended terribly. After his struggles he didn’t want to work on regaining his form in the majors. Instead Ollie sat in the bullpen doing nothing until the Mets ran out of pitchers and he had to step in after not pitching for over a month to end the Mets season, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of Mets fans.

However, since being a permanent relievers, Oliver Perez has found success in the bullpen. Ollie is a free agent, a lefty and coming off succesfull seasons, all the things the Mets could use in the current bullpen.

Over the past three seasons, the 39 year old has been terrific. He has pitched to a 2.67 ERA over 91 innings of work. In those 91 innings, he allowed just 68 hits and 25 walks (8 intentional), good for a 1.02 WHIP. His ERA+ stands at 173, way above the league average. Ollie is still able to strikeout 10.4 per nine, without his high velo fastball.

In 2020 he held lefties to a .480 OPS, while being fairly good against righties as well (.627 OPS). Obviously it was just 18 innings, so let’s look at his latest full season.

In 2019 he had more issues against the righties as righties had a .889 OPS against Ollie. He was still very good against lefties, which is his trademark. When you use Ollie in the right spots, he can be very valuable for your bullpen. With May, Lugo and Diaz all there, he shouldn’t be needed in the later innings all the time.

Let’s bring back Ollie!

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