Perez signs minor-league deal with Nats

JUPITER, Fla. -- Not only has Oliver Perez found employment with another team, he's landed back in the National League East.

Sort of.

Perez, released by the Mets on Monday, signed a minor-league contract Wednesday with the Washington Nationals, who assigned him to camp for Triple-A Syracuse.

"I'm not surprised," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "I'm surprised there wasn't a couple of other clubs. Lefthanded. A guy with his experience and with his background of getting lefthanded hitters out, I'm not surprised he got a shot. And I wish him all the luck."

It's no shocker it was the Nationals who took a flier on Perez, who is now the 11th client of Scott Boras in their organization. It's a list that includes Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth and Pudge Rodriguez.

The Mets are still on the hook for the $12 million owed to Perez for the final season of his three-year, $36-million contract. But if Perez makes it to the majors, he will receive the minimum salary and save the Mets roughly $410,000.

Based on how Perez looked in spring training, the odds are against that happening any time soon. He flunked a brief audition for a starting role and then failed in spectacular fashion as a lefty specialist, teeing up back-to-back home runs Saturday in his final appearance for the Mets.

Perez, 29, suffered from a mysterious lack of velocity, which touched 87 mph at its peak but mostly hovered in the mid-80s this spring. The Nationals are hoping that a reunion with Spin Williams, his former pitching coach with the Pirates, will help him regain his fastball. Williams is now the minor-league pitching coordinator for the Nationals.

"We're no smarter than anybody from that standpoint of trying to get the guy better," Williams told The Washington Post. "But I had a pretty good rapport with him. He's struggled as of late, but he's still young enough. It'll be interesting to see where he's at. See if we can give him [something] different."