Larry Brown Sports

Cleveland Indians closer Chris Perez is one of the more emotional players in baseball. There are times when his emotions get the best of him, but his fiery personality has made him one of the better relievers in baseball over the past few seasons. That being said, Twitter is not always the best place for someone who is clearly bothered by the things fans say to him.

On Saturday, Perez blew a save against the Seattle Mariners but ended up getting the win after his teammates bailed him out. He then gave up a solo home run in the ninth inning of a tie game against Seattle on Monday, but Cleveland went on to win in extra innings. Following that outing, Perez disappeared from Twitter.

As Pat McManamon of FOX Sports Ohio pointed out, Perez was blasted on Twitter all weekend following his sub-par performances. Followers hurled all the usual “I can say this because I’m hiding behind a computer” insults his way before Perez had apparently had enough.

Perez is not the first noteworthy athlete to abruptly leave Twitter and he certainly won’t be the last, but his exit serves as a reminder that even professional athletes get sick of hearing negative comments from fans. Sometimes it’s just not worth it.

Losing is not fun. It’s something that every professional athlete has to go through at some point in their career, and very few enjoy it. Some are able to handle it better than others. Others are like Indians closer Chris Perez.

Perez, who has been nothing shy of a completely d-bag to reporters and the Indians front office all season long, remained in a horrible mood after notching his 37th save of the year in a 4-3 win over the White Sox on Tuesday. Here are some examples of his postgame chat with reporters, courtesy of the Plain Dealer:

Reporter: How did it feel to play the spoiler today?

Perez: ”I could care less. I’d rather be playing for something.”

Reporter: How have you managed to stay sharp between save opportunities?

Perez: ”I’ve had a lot of practice this year.”

Reporter: What’s been your routine because you wouldn’t expect to go six, seven or eight games between save opportunities?

Perez: ”Have you watched us this year? We haven’t been in seven or eight games in a row.”

If the last part seems like it was completely unnecessary,  that’s because it was. Perez ended his media session with reporters when he said, “It will be a fun last couple days of the season when I’m allowed to talk again.”

Does this guy need the whambulance or what? The Indians have had some bad seasons and Perez has been pretty good during them — we get it. But there are plenty of guys on losing teams who find a way to grind it out without ripping their own fans or cursing at fans on the road. Perez obviously feels he is bigger than the team. If I worked in the Indians’ front office, I’d be dying for the offseason to get here so we can get rid of this guy.

H/T Hardball Talk
Photo credit: David Richard-US PRESSWIRE

Chris Perez is not afraid to speak his mind. Since the start of the season, the Indians closer has emerged as one of the most outspoken players in all of baseball. When you take an outspoken person and combine him with a 5-24 record in the month of August, you’re asking for trouble. Whether the Indians front office has been asking for it or not, Perez decided to give it to them following Cleveland’s most recent loss to the Tigers.

When asked why Detroit has been able to find success and the Indians have not, Perez told Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com the following.

“Different owners,” he said. “It comes down to that. They (the Tigers) are spending money. He (Tigers owner Mike Ilitch) wants to win. Even when the economy was down (in Detroit), he spent money. He’s got a team to show for it. You get what you pay for in baseball. Sometimes you don’t. But most of the time you do.

“You can’t miss. You have to be right. That’s why I say it’s not just ownership. They don’t make the trades. It’s the GMs. It goes hand in hand. The GMs can only spend the money the owners give them, but they pick who they spend it on or who they don’t. They pick. The owners don’t pick. Josh Willingham would look great in this lineup. They didn’t want to (pony) up for that last year. … That’s the decision they make, and this is the bed we’re laying in.”

This is the same Perez who cursed out an A’s fan before a game earlier this season, so we know he isn’t shy. It’s also the same Perez who ripped the Indians fans for booing and not showing up to games, so it sounds like he is just unhappy with the overall situation in Cleveland. Perhaps dealing him would be a good place for the front office to start fresh.

H/T MLB.com
Photo credit: David Richard-US PRESSWIRE

Indians closer Chris Perez is one of the more emotional players in baseball, and we saw yet another unique example of that on Monday before Cleveland’s game in Oakland. During warmups, Perez walked over to the stands and got into it with an A’s fan. Players are typically advised not to engage in this sort of behavior since it gives the fan exactly what he or she wants, but according to Perez he has heard it from the same guy for years and finally grew tired of it.

Here is the video of the exchange, which contains some very NSFW language:

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Chris Perez earned his MLB-best 20th save over the weekend, and it may have been his toughest of the season. On paper, it looked like a nice easy 4-1 win over the Cardinals where he had to do very little to secure the lead. As you can see from the video above, Perez’s usual celebration antics were toned down a bit on Saturday just before he projectile vomited all over the field. It was pretty hardcore stuff.

After the game, Perez wrote on his Twitter account that the sickness was the result of warm water not settling well in his stomach. As you may know, the Indians closer has irritated a lot of people this season with his fist pumping and chest pounding after recording saves. While you never want to see somebody get sick on the mound, I’m sure there was a handful of players from across the league who couldn’t help but smirk a bit when they saw the highlights.

Thanks to SI Hot Clicks for the story

The fact that players around the league continue to complain about the antics of Indians closer Chris Perez is not a surprise. The more saves he converts, the more animated Perez is going to be. After saving 36 games for the Indians last year, Perez already has 17 this season. He has blown only one chance. Like many other closers around the league, he isn’t shy about showing emotion when he takes the mound. The Royals — particularly catcher Bryan Pena — are the latest team to get their jock straps tangled up over it.

After striking out Jarrod Dyson for the final out of his save Monday night against Kansas City, Perez waved his hand in front of his face in a “you can’t see me” motion. Dyson admitted it bothered him but said the best thing he could have done was let his bat do the talking. Pena held back a bit less.

“That’s just a sorry guy looking to be loved,” Pena said according to the Kansas City Star. “Nobody pays any attention to him so he has to do stuff like that. You don’t see guys who people know, guys like Mariano Rivera, do that, do you?”

You don’t see Rivera doing it, but Perez certainly didn’t invent fist pumping and going crazy after converting a save. Neither did Jonathan Papelbon, and we’ve all seen how he reacts. Similar to the way he handled himself against the White Sox earlier this season, Perez let the complaining go in one ear and out the other.

“I really don’t care,” he said. “The way I look at it is, every time I pitch, they’re trying to get me. And if they’re not, it’s on them. They should try to get me every time. If (Dyson) took offense to it — oh, well. It happened. It’s the same as if a hitter hits a home run, and he comes back to the dugout and does all the hand-slapping stuff (with teammates).”

The more opponents complain about it, the more Perez is going to do it. The only way to stop it is to score runs off of him. Clearly he is not concerned with what winning with class means.

Photo credit: Eric P. Mull-US PRESSWIRE

On Thursday night, Indians closer Chris Perez pitched a scoreless 10th inning to help Cleveland defeat Seattle by a score of 6-5 in 11 innings. The fans were not all that thrilled with his performance, however, as Perez allowed two runners to reach base and heard some boos because of it. After a dominating performance on Saturday in which he struck out the side in the 9th to preserve a 2-0 Indians win over the Marlins, Perez let reporters know how he feels about the fans in Cleveland.

“It doesn’t bother me, it p—-s me off,” Perez said when asked about the fan reaction he received on Thursday. “I don’t think they have a reason to boo me. I was tired of getting booed at home so I figured I’d better throw some strikes (on Saturday). You can quote that.

“They booed me against the Mariners when I had two guys on. It feels like I can’t even give up a base runner without people booing me. It’s even worse when there’s only 5,000 in the stands, because then you can hear it. It pisses me off.”

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