You wouldn’t expect WFAN’s Howie Rose to mince words regarding Oliver Perez’ refusal to accept a minor league assignment (“his behavior towards his employers and his teammates has morphed from desultory to criminal”), but after the mega-frustrating lefty proved ineffective yet again in a mop-up role last night, the Mets’ mouthpiece went further than some of his print peers, suggesting the Collective Bargaining Agreement itself is as flawed as Perez’ work ethic.

What the owners really need to do is revisit this provision of the CBA during the next round of negotiations. It is rather astounding that they ever agreed to a system which prevents them from exhausting every conceivable method of rehabilitating a struggling player. This is not about getting out from under an onerous contract. It™s about having the right to find any way possible to get at least a fraction of their money™s worth, whether the petulant, overpaid player likes it or not.