According to the daily news pitching coach Dan Warthen had this to say about Oliver Perez and his participation in the WBC;

"He came into camp in good shape. I thought he was throwing the ball well when he left, but I was a little bit reticent when he left here, and my worries have come to fruition," Warthen said. "I think he needs the camaraderie of people that push him.

"I think he's out of shape, the arm is out of shape. It's a combination. Since he's come back we really haven't seen the life out of the hand, the ball is just not jumping out right now....I think he's gained a little weight and needs to start pushing himself a little more."

I'm guessing Warthen isn't a big fan of the WBC to begin with, then again what pitching coach is?

Perez threw 92 pitches over 3.2 innings, gave up 6 runs and walked 6 during Wednesday's loss to the Tigers.

According to Warthen, Perez wasn't doing his workouts on off days during the tournament.

The bigger question here is Oliver Perez who was just signed to a 36 million dollar contract, goes to play for Mexico in the WBC, how is it that he isn't doing his workouts to get in shape for the regular season? You know the one that actually matters.

This is why teams don't want their pitchers in the WBC. Nobody on team Mexico is looking out for the Mets interests in getting Ollie ready for the season... the guy only pitched in 2 games over a 19 day span, and in one of those games he threw 85 pitches before finally being yanked.

Ollie better be ready for the opening week of the season. Maybe this criticism from Warthen will motivate him a little bit. Of course, Warthen has already shown himself to treat pitchers differently than Rick Peterson, which is probably a change for the better.