Author: Unknown

Two anonymous Mets players say they are tired of left-hander Oliver Perez’s continued struggles (0-3, 6.25 ERA, 32 walks in 26 innings) and hope the club either demotes him to Triple-A or releases him. Perez is in the second year of a three-year, $36 million contract and has the right to refuse a minor-league assignment.

Player A told the Post: "You tell him you go to Triple-A or that’s it, you are finished."

Player B told the Post: "At some point you have to cut bait. You owe him a lot of money, but for what?"

Manager Jerry Manuel pulled Perez from the rotation two weeks ago but doesn’t have the confidence to use him in any role but mop-up duty. Perez allowed three runs in two innings his last appearance, in relief Saturday.

The Angels hope 1B Kendry Morales, who broke his left leg celebrating a game-winning grand slam Saturday, can return by September if everything goes well with his surgery and rehab. Morales will have surgery once the swelling subsides and then spend four to six weeks on crutches. After that, it’ll be a matter of regaining leg strength and baseball timing.

In the interim, manager Mike Scioscia said he would use catcher Mike Napoli and reserve infielder Robb Quinlan at the position (backup outfielder Michael Ryan also has gotten a start). But GM Tony Reagins said he is interested in making a trade for a first baseman to make a run at the injury-riddled, up-for-grabs AL West.

According to ESPN, the most likely viable trade targets are the Diamondbacks’ Adam LaRoche, the Astros’ Lance Berkman, the White Sox’s Paul Konerko, the Indians’ Russell Branyan and the Brewers’ Prince Fielder.

Comcast Sports reported that Red Sox infielder Mike Lowell is available, although Boston radio station WEEI reported the Angels have not expressed interest in him.

Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran, still progressing slowly from offseason knee surgery, might not be ready to return to the lineup until mid-July.

General manager Omar Minaya told the New York Daily News that Beltran still hasn’t been cleared to resume "full baseball activities" and will need 4-6 weeks from the point when he is cleared to do so until the time he can make his 2010 Mets debut.

Beltran is doing some running and taking some swings but isn’t doing any sprinting.

Beltran hit .325 with 10 homers and 48 RBIs last season, but he was limited to 81 games.

Cardinals righthander Kyle Lohse likely will need surgery to repair a rare forearm condition, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

A specialist diagnosed Lohse as having extreme compartment syndrome, a condition in which the sheath covering a muscle in the pitcher’s forearm fails to allow it to expand.

No other major league pitcher is known to have suffered from the condition, which usually is associated with distance runners and motocross riders. In those cases, the recovering time from surgery is usually around seven weeks. However, the surgery could sideline Lohse anywhere from two months to the rest of the season, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Lohse’s alternative would be to convert to a reliever so he would be required to throw fewer pitches.

The newspaper speculated that the Cardinals will explore trade and free-agent options to replace Lohse in the rotation.

Lohse, whose forearm problems date back to last May, is 1-4 with a 5.89 ERA in nine starts this season.

Sporting News Audio is a weekly series of conversations with Sporting News experts during the MLB season. In this installment, Tom Gatto talks about the frontrunners for MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year awards one-fourth of the way through the season.

The Dodgers have reportedly inquired about two of the top starting pitchers that could be available in this summer’s trade market. The L.A. Times is reporting that the Dodgers have contacted the Seattle Mariners about Cliff Lee and the Houston Astros about Roy Oswalt.

According to the report, both teams said they aren’t ready to deal their aces, but will keep the Dodgers in mind if they make a move. Both teams are in last place in their respective divisions. Dodgers owner Frank McCourt said he would consider adding to the payroll on a case-by-case basis. The franchise’s finances are in flux while McCourt goes through divorce proceedings.

Lee, who is set to become a free agent at the end of the 2010 season, would be the cheaper option dollar-wise than Oswalt, who is under contract through 2011 and has a club option for 2012. Lee was acquired by the Mariners from Philadelphia in the offseason. Oswalt has spent his entire 10-year career in Houston, but recently asked management to trade him to a contender.

Another day, another ETA for Nationals pitching prospect Stephen Strasburg.

MLB.com, citing a team source, reports the Nats plan to have Strasburg debut during the club’s June 8-10 home series against the Pirates. The website reports the actual date will be announced less than a week in advance.

On Tuesday, reporters speculated Strasburg would make his first start June 4 at home against the Reds.

Strasburg is scheduled to start for Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday. Given the latest speculation, he would make one more start for Syracuse, at Buffalo on June 3, then be ready for the Pirates series.

Rangers creditors offered the team $40 million in financing today, a surprise move in bankruptcy court intended to in part remove Major League Baseball from the process.

The team needed financing in place by the end of the day Wednesday to meet payroll of $3.8 million, the team’s attorney, Martin Sosland of Weil Gotshal & Manges, told the court in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Rangers filed for bankruptcy Monday after reaching a stalemate with creditors that refused to allow the team’s sale to proceed because they think there is a higher offer. The Rangers’ parent company — Tom Hicks’ Hicks Sports Group — defaulted on its debt on March 31, 2009.

On Day 2 of the hearings in Fort Worth, which have lasted far longer than insiders expected, lawyers for the Rangers said they preferred debtor in possession financing offered from MLB, but the creditors, represented by Andy LeBlanc of Milbank Tweed, contested it by offering $40 million.

In response, MLB increased its financing from $11.5 million, which would have taken the club only through to August, to $21.5 million. And MLB agreed to lower its interest rate from 5.75 percent to around 1.5 percent, matching the creditors’ loan proposal.

The reason the creditors wish to lend the money is they believe MLB’s debtor in possession terms would facilitate the sale to Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg, the buyers who have been trying to close on the team since January. Both men were in the courtroom. But the creditors told the court on Monday that they believe there are higher offers for the club, and want the auction re-opened.

In order to do that, they need time. The creditors’ financing would match the $21.5 million and the rate, plus buy out what MLB is owed for funding payroll last year, thus removing the league as a creditor, though not necessarily as a party to the proceedings.

"We upped the ante," LeBlanc told the court.

Rangers CFO Kellie Fischer testified that the team preferred MLB’s financing because the team was comfortable with the league. She also testified that commissioner Bud Selig has been intricately involved in the sales process. Selig’s No. 2 executive, COO Bob Dupuy, was in the courtroom.

The key difference between MLB’s and the creditors’ debtor in possession financing, once MLB matched, is that MLB would not consider it a default if the Rangers were unable to meet the commercial terms set out in the bankruptcy plan. That is a big issue for the lenders, who believe it would allow the Rangers to spurn higher offers.

The hearing dragged on through the day today before Judge D. Michael Lynn of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, who was to make a decision on which debtor in possession financing is acceptable.

The next major hearing is scheduled for June 15.

This story first appeared in SportsBusiness Journal, a sister publication of Sporting News.

Dodgers right fielder Andre Ethier could rejoin the lineup as soon as Sunday, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Ethier was projected to be sidelined up to six weeks by a broken pinkie finger, but his timetable has been advanced because of a splint he can wear while hitting.

Although manager Joe Torre hinted that a Sunday return might be optimistic, the team will make a decision after Ethier faces righthander Vicente Padilla in a simulated game Saturday, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Ethier, who has experienced no problems in live batting practice, leads the majors with a .392 average and ranks among the National League leaders with 11 homers and 38 RBIs, despite being sidelined since May 14.