I had no idea that former Mets outfielder Timo Perez was still playing baseball, but apparently he is — or at least was — because he was just suspended for violating baseball’s drug program, presumably for PEDs. He and three other minor leaguers — Oakland outfielder Mitchell LeVier and minor league free agents Oscar Rodriguez and Kelvin Santana — were handed 50-game suspensions yesterday.
Perez was a semi-regular Mets outfielder for a handful of years in the early 2000s, but he was best known for his base running exploits n Game 1 of the 2000 World Series. He was on first base when Todd Zeile hit a long fly ball that Perez thought was a homer, which caused him to slow down into a trot. The ball hit off the outfield wall, however, and his lollygagging caused him to be thrown out at home. The Yankees ended up winning that game by one run in 12 innings so, yeah, it kind of stung.
Perez is 36 now. He hasn’t played in the bigs since 2007. He hit .304 with Toledo this year and became a free agent at the end of the season. Probably academic now, though, as my guess is that his career is over with this suspension.
