WFNY Podcast – 2012-09-05 – Browns and “Fan Mail”
September 5, 2012Box Score: Indians 1, Tigers 7
September 5, 2012In an interview with FOX Sports’ Jon Morosi, Cleveland Indians All-Star closer Chris Perez was asked to discuss the difference between his team and the Detroit Tigers. He obliged, and rather handsomely.
“Different owners,” said Perez.  “It comes down to that. They (the Tigers) are spending money. He (Ilitch) wants to win. Even when the economy was down (in Detroit), he spent money. He’s got a team to show for it. You get what you pay for in baseball. Sometimes you don’t. But most of the time you do.”
The payroll of the Cleveland Indians is roughly $50 million shy of their division rival Tigers. When asked for specifics, Perez, once again, provided. The Indians, in contention near the All-Star break, went on to win five games in all of August due to an utter collapse by the pitching staff coupled with a relative inability to produce runs and now sit 15.5 games back in the AL Central.
“You can’t miss,” Perez said. “You have to be right. That’s why I say it’s not just ownership. They don’t make the trades. It’s the GMs. It goes hand in hand. The GMs can only spend the money the owners give them, but they pick who they spend it on or who they don’t. They pick. The owners don’t pick.
“Josh Willingham would look great in this lineup. They didn’t want to [pony] up for that last year. That’s the decision they make, and this is the bed we’re laying in.”
Perez has been a sounding board for the duration of the 2012 season on topics ranging from attendance woes to the Browns and LeBron James.
[Related: Indians 3, Tigers 2: What a Real, Live Baseball Team Looks Like]
37 Comments
Good for you, Chris Perez… I was expecting this article to make me mad.
So the Indians little yappy dog that they never discipline has finally turned and snapped at them.
Man, it’s good to here him officially say it on record, but he knows he’s going to get traded. He’s hammering management (owner/GM), so this won’t (actually will) end up well for him.
This classless jerk is just begging the front office to get rid of him. Since they didn’t discipline him after that embarrassing episode in Oakland, he’s going to keep pushing. Friend of mine said we should trade him to Oakland. That way he could spend more of time with his fan buddy there.
I’ve lost all respect for this clown because he obviously has no respect for anyone else. Self-centered punk.
He forgot one component: The players. The talent on this team doesn’t equate to World Series, but it also doesn’t equate to a 5-24 August. Tell your teammates to take some of the responsibility too, Chris.
I hear that Perez has also ripped his mother because she’s not pretty enough. He’s embarrassed to be seen with her. How much can one man take?
I think his pointing at the GMs does implicitly point the finger at the players too. By saying Josh Willingham would look great in the lineup, he’s more or less saying that there are guys in the lineup who can’t cut it.
It’s actually refreshing to hear him hammer them now, rather than on the way out the door per usual in sports.
Bingo. He’s got valid points here, but this team played like garbage for a month and some of that has to be on the players.
and I was just wondering what he thought, about this and a whole range of topics.
Save your money, Christopher, all of it. Cause you’re always one pitch away from the end of Jock Life and that real world is awaitin’, baby, with some narsty surprises. Like employers who won’t appreciate your refreshing candor. Only wish your beloved cameras and mics could be there to record your reaction when that happens. Who knows, you may get your first shocking taste on your next team. Save your money and you can sit on your deck forever and hold court for your neighbors with your John Rocker-ness until they’ve had enough. And then you can talk to the dog.
I’m guessing a lot of the players feel this way. It would help explain the post-trade deadline collapse.
Chris Perez went on to say:
“And, if you have such budget constraints, then you cannot overpay for closers. I mean what is this FO doing paying me $4.5mil/year. That is probably going to go up to $7mil or so next year. With Pestano sitting there, there is absolutely no way any competent FO would have me on this team next March.”
True. He’s also hammering his teammates a bit, but it’s true, they just don’t have enough to compete when multiple guys starting have no business even being on an MLB roster.
oh, and a non-trivial point is that Cot’s has the opening day payroll of the Tigers at $68mil more than the Tribe. But, that includes Grady (insurance covers most) and Carmona-Hernandez at $2.5 (I think this ended lower too?), while the Tigers added payroll during the season.
So, the Tigers are likely at least $75mil more than the Tribe in payroll this season (but there are more reasons than “ownership is cheap”).
This just in: Chris Perez has just slammed the Make-a-Wish Foundation because it’s never done a single thing for him.
This moves Chris past Albert Belle just-plain-angry crazyterritory and into Milton Bradley crazy-enough-to-hurt-my-value-as-a-player crazyterritory.
well, let’s all hope that he never gets to Delonte West afraid-anytime-hear-news-on-him-that-something-tragic-happened crazy.
Breaking news: Chris Perez was spotted urinating on the statue of Bob Feller this afternoon. The outspoken “reliever” explained that Feller never, ever had 30 Saves in a season, so what the hell’s so special about him.
I will agree with CP this time. But Perez needs to keep his mouth shut and just focus on playing baseball. If you don’t like playing in cleveland go play somewhere else.
Small market teams with miserly owners will NOT win. Period. Perez is just frustrated that he’s stuck with, what amounts to, a AAA team in terms of performance, talent, and record. The MLB, if it wants to survive, could take a few notes from the NFL model. Profit sharing across the board and the basic idea that a competitive league makes more money for everybody instead of the predictable horse race that is the MLB. Not that MLB is going away, it’s just been this stagnant pool of heavily invested teams destroying underpaid teams with few exceptions for a long long time. It’s boring and very bad for the game in terms of tradition and entertainment.
It sounds like he wants to be traded. They ought to keep him right where he is for opening his mouth or trade him to some team that’s in the basement where he’ll never have a chance to win anything. What a big mouth crybaby he is. Take your millions and shut up already.
This just in: This evening Larry Dolan offered Chris Perez the General Manager’s job, but Perez turned it down, saying, “What the hell does an ignorant loud-mouth like me know about running a baseball team?”
Irony could not be reached for comment.
Getting back in the fans good graces, by repeating the same thing we have been saying all season.
well, still think he went too far when he said pops couldn’t sack up for a trophy wife, and how can they expect anybody to eat a cold lunch when he just worked out for 90 freakin minutes. But hey. he’s got a point and at least someone’s saying it.
The Dolans are not misers. They are over their heads financially, Those are very different things.
He is a genius. He wants out, and he is making his wish come true. Very smart guy. Doesn’t mean I like him, but he is smart. He’ll get his wish…
At this point, no one is going to be able to discipline him but himself. It took Milton Bradley a long time before he looked in the mirror, and he still couldn’t get it all together.
And everyone knew that he wasn’t going to be back. There wasn’t much point to trying to get him to figure it out. Just hope that you can ship the problem off to someone else before he does anything dumber.
Shocking. Chris Perez has turned from idiot to hero when his nonstop mouth finally bumbles over something that the fans wish were true.
Uhhmmm, Chris, if the playoffs started today the Tigers would be in the same place as the Indians, sitting at home. If the Tigers played in the West they would be in last place. In the East, next to last place. The problem with blowhards is that they love the controversy their comments cause but they rarely will stand by them when even mild examination proves the absurdity of their claims.
What do fans “wish were true?” That the Dolans are cheap? That the Tigers spend more than the Indians to field a better quality team? Those aren’t “wishes”…those are pretty well known facts.
That its as simple as finding a new owner who will empty out his kids savings accounts. Good luck finding one to buy this team.
I like what Chris said , he has only said what alot of the fans have been saying, I like people who can say what they mean instead of double talking like cleveland front office every year same old crap, only players they brought in this year players no other team would have signed if anyone needs to go its the clowns that put this so called team together!!!!!!!
We’re hearing that Chris Perez blasted a waitress at the team’s hotel in Detroit because he ordered medium pulp for his orange juice and it looked like he received only moderate pulp.
CP is one subway ride from becoming John Rocker.
Go away Steve Dolan just go away!!!!
With respect to all the Oakland talk, if you’ve read Moneyball, that’s exhibit A for why Billy Beane would never trade for him.
but if you only watched the movie, then you saw how excited Beane got over Ricardo Rincon 🙂
(I obviously agree with you and it’s where I tried to go with my the A`s don’t trade ‘for’ pitchers. should have gone further on that comment)