Perhaps the greatest moment of offseason lunacy came when Scott Boras was shopping his client Oliver Perez around with the aid of a glossy prospectus that made him out to be the Second Coming. There was a chapter in there that referred to him as "One of the Top 5 Left-Handed Starting Pitchers." He was alternately referred to as "Big-Game Ollie," and "Durable Ollie." Last, but certainly not least, there were charts in the thing used to argue that Ollie was just like Randy Johnson and Sandy Koufax.

Of course the basis for the comparison was that, at the same age, all of three of these guys had serious control problems, but that didn't stop Boras from suggesting that Perez was poised to turn the corner and become a Hall of Fame talent.

Yesterday Perez was charged with eight runs on five hits and five walks in 4 1/3 innings. This following a spring in which he gave up five homers in two games during the WBC and struggled mightily after rejoining the Mets.

Perez is 27. That's how old Sandy Koufax was when he won his Cy Young and MVP award in 1963 (though he was darn good in 1962 as well). As such, I hope our friend Oliver can figure it out this year, because I'd hate to see Scott Boras' reputation for straight-shooting and veracity sullied in even the slightest of ways.