Rieber: Perez vs. Pavano: Who was worse?

Tale of the Tape: Oliver Perez vs. Carl Pavano

They were two of the least productive contracts in Mets and Yankees history. But which one was worse?

Perez: 3 years, $36M contract / Pavano: 4 years, $39.95M
Perez: 3-9, 6.81 ERA / Pavano: 9-8, 5.00
Perez: $12 M cost per win / Pavano: $4.4 M
Perez: 31 appearances / Pavano: 26
Perez: $1.16 M cost per appearance / Pavano: $1.54 M
Perez: 112.1 innings / Pavano: 145.2
Perez: $320,484 cost per inning / Pavano: $274,268
Perez: 99 strikeouts / Pavano: 75
Perez: $363,363 cost per strikeout / Pavano: $532,666

Verdict: It cost more per appearance for Pavano to take the mound for the Yankees, but Perez’s wins cost twice as much. Perez’s contract was worse.

Gardner's yearly project

It happens every spring: Brett Gardner tries to learn how to bunt for base hits and promises to incorporate it into his game in the regular season.

So we asked Gardner the other day: Haven’t his coaches always tried to turn him into a slash-and-bunt-and-run guy?

SEE PHOTOSThe 3,000 hits club

“That‘s who I am,” he said. “That‘s who I‘ve always been.”

So we asked, a little more delicately: Why doesn’t he know how to do it better by now?

“It’s not something I did a lot,” he said. “I take that back. In college, we bunted a lot as a team. Got a lot of hits, but did a lot of sacrifice situations. So I bunted a lot in college and a decent amount my first couple years in the minors leagues. It was something I got really, really comfortable with and got away from. I wish I would have never got away from it.”

If Gardner is really going to bat leadoff instead of Derek Jeter against righthanders, he needs to maintain or better his .383 OBP from 2010. Laying a few down and beating them out would definitely help.

Can Emaus miss?

If Brad Emaus wins the Mets’ second base job, it won’t be because he’s had a boffo spring. It’ll be because the Mets don’t have a better option and they project him to be a good offensive player who can take walks.

“This decision is not going to be made exclusively on what happens this spring, but also what we project based on a whole body of work over a period of time," GM Sandy Alderson said.

Want a projection? That’s what the folks at Baseball Prospectus do every spring in their annual book, which we tear through as quickly as we can after it arrives.

Emaus, who has never played above Triple-A, is projected as hitting .267 with 13 HRS, 61 RBIs, a .341 OBP and .414 SLG for the Mets in 2011.

Something tells us the Mets would take it.

Jury’s out on Bonds trial

Two things we keep hearing about the Barry Bonds trial: Why should sports fans care (they shouldn’t) and why is the government spending so much money on a perjury case?

Well, the government is spending a lot because Bonds is wealthy and has good lawyers. He is able to fight the charges in a way that a less wealthy defendant could not. Which is his right, especially if he is innocent of lying to the BALCO grand jury.

But does the cost of prosecuting Bonds mean the government should give up? Not according to Michael McCann, the director of the Vermont Law School’s Sports Law Institute.

“If the government didn’t prosecute someone that they believe knowingly lied under oath and in a high profile manner, it would suggest that perjury is not being enforced in terms of what’s required of people when they testify under oath,” he said. “I think the same is true of the Roger Clemens case. There’s something to be said for when the government goes after a high profile person. It’s not only deterring and punishing the defendant, it’s also providing general deterrence because we’re all watching this.”