Cleveland Sports Forum

Cleveland Indians pitcher Chris Perez sincerely regrets verbally blasting an Oakland A's fan before the game yesterday ... this according to a team rep who tells us the GM has already spoken with Chris about the incident.

In case you missed it ... Perez -- a 2-time MLB All-Star -- snapped on an A's fan who had been taunting him about being a crappy relief pitcher. Among Perez's comebacks -- "you piece of sh*t ... get your d*ck out of your mouth."

Now, a rep for the Indians tells us the General Manager, Chris Antonetti, has already spoken with Chris and discussed the situation in full.

After the conversation, the team believes "Chris certainly regrets what he did."

We also spoke with a rep for Major League Baseball who told us the office is aware of the video and insists the incident is "currently under review."

MLB adds, "When unfortunate situations arise, we always investigate the circumstances to the best of our abilities and evaluate whether disciplinary measures are appropriate."

The Indians are scheduled to play Seattle tonight -- and the team rep tells us Perez is currently expected to play if needed.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com#ixzz248eeK0Vv

Me, me, me Perez is part of the problem.

If Antonetti has a deal on the table for numbnuts, pull the trigger.

I've attended about 75% of The Cleveland Indian games at Oakland going back to the 2001 season, and sat in that general location on the field by our bullpen most every time. I've never witnessed an A's fan calling out an Indians player for verbal harassment like that before. It's usually a pretty subdued section with many of the seats belonging to season ticket holders.

That's about the same spot I watched Cliff Lee tirelessly sign autographs for Oakland kid fans and chat with mostly Oakland fans during batting practice. I was chatting with Ellis Burks when he did same in his Tribe tenure. Same thing with Jensen Lewis.

I know the on field security guy who intervened as he has manned that spot for nearly every game I attended. I'm really surprised the fan was allowed to go on for so long without security or an usher in the stands intervening.

I guess maybe the fact the A's are in a playoff race gave the fan brain muscles to go down to the field and challenge Perez.

Why he chose Chris Perez is a mystery.

That is the area however that had the chair throwing incident I think when Texas was in Oakland a few years back.


It's probably a good thing for me I moved away from the Bay Area earlier this year. If I had been in the stands in my normal vantage point, I likely would have made the video.

It's probably a good thing for me I moved away from the Bay Area earlier this year. If I had been in the stands in my normal vantage point, I likely would have made the video.

CALI/FLA: When I first saw the video, I thought it was your usual spot, and wondered what you would have said to that loudmouthed fan, had you been there.

husker wrote:Sell, Dolan, sell. While there is still a market. NOW.

So there is a market now? How many people would want to buy this team?

J.R. wrote:It's probably a good thing for me I moved away from the Bay Area earlier this year. If I had been in the stands in my normal vantage point, I likely would have made the video.

CALI/FLA: When I first saw the video, I thought it was your usual spot, and wondered what you would have said to that loudmouthed fan, had you been there.

I do know I would have moved closer to the fan to make certain he wasn't going to try to get physical with our players. I probably would have been counseling Chris Perez to walk away as he approached and let the dumb instigation go as just a stupid fan being stupid.

I do wonder where some of our bullpen coaches were as the exchange started and continued. Usually in visitor batting practice there are coaches in the pen getting things set up for the game and it would have been impossible to not note that fan.


In a partial defense of Chris Perez and the short fuse, we were 7-22 in the month before last night. Now we are 7-23 going back to July 19.

Chris Perez is a complete jackass. How many more things does he have to do ?

No matter what the fan did, Perez needed to back off and shut up. Swearing at a customer. Smart.

Dump this jerk.

August 20, 2012
BP Unfiltered
Fact-Checking the Chris Perez Profanity-Laced Tirade
by Ben Lindbergh


Before Sunday's game, Cleveland Indians closer Chris Perez took a break from shagging flies, ambled over to the right-field foul line, and cursed out an A's fan. You'd think Perez would've known that players rarely come out ahead in public player-fan confrontations. Then again, this is only his fifth major-league season, so maybe he's still getting the hang of the whole heckling thing. Here at BP, we don't condone cursing at fans, but we do place a lot of importance on evidence-based arguments. That's why we've decided to evaluate Perez's responses based not on whether he was wise to make them, or even on the quality of his cursing, but on whether his spittle-flecked statements were supported by facts.

​Statement:

Perez: "I got more saves than your whole f****** team does, so why don't you go look at those stats, you f*****."

Verdict: True! Chris Perez has 32 saves. The Athletics, as a team, have 31 saves. If saves determined the standings, the Indians would be in first place, as opposed to fourth place, where they are at the moment. But that wouldn't matter much to Chris Perez, because:

​Statement:

Fan: "Oh, what's the standings? Oh, we're ahead of you."
Perez: "I don't give a f***. I don't give a f***."

Verdict: Quite possibly true! Perez probably cares about winning, at least in the sense that it leads to saves, but he also probably takes some pleasure in the suffering of Indians fans. On the whole, winning is a wash.

​Statement:

Fan: "What's your salary? Who gives a s***? How many blown saves you got?"
Perez: "Four. Was I an All-Star again? Was I an All-Star again?"

Verdict: True! Chris Perez has four blown saves, and he was an All-Star again this summer. (He was also an All-Star in 2011.)

From a PR standpoint, Chris Perez is a team's worst nightmare. From a fact-checker's perspective, though, Perez is pretty much perfect.

Ben Lindbergh is an author of Baseball Prospectus.
Click here to see Ben's other articles. You can contact Ben by clicking here

Chris Perez has saved 91 of 103 in the past three seasons for this team.

He just turned 27, and there is no reason to believe his future as a closer is anything but bright, and likely going to be better.

He seems to be the only player on the roster, and maybe the only person in the organization, who is deeply fired up and emotional about how this team does.

I like a closer who is full of piss and vinegar.

Dumping him would be a classic Shapiro organizational move.

He is gone this off season.

Blows my mind that anybody would continue to try and apologize for that scum bag.

Is somebody trying to apologize for that A's fan? Or are you referring to the guy/gal who recorded it on video?

Now that I've seen the actual video .... WHO FREAKING CARES. This crap goes on every day. Investigations, meetings with Antonetti, blah blah blah That's all MLB trying to convince somebody (I have no idea whom) that professional baseball is some kind of pure paragon of pristine, polished professionals.

Jeezum crow, Choo might have KILLED somebody when he was DUI. That's much worse than swearing at a fan. Dump his ass! NOW!

I just don't know what TFinFla sees in Perez. He must like the hair.

Keep Brantley, Kipnis and Cabrera and dump the rest of the team and I wouldn't lose a bit of sleep.

If we can trade Perez for a proven RH batter, I say do it.