Irate Perez Issues Ultimatum Over Rehab Assignment

Furious at being designated for a rehab assignment at triple-A Las Vegas to begin the season, Carlos Perez tried a scorched-earth policy, directing an expletive-laced tirade at the Dodgers on Monday. The enigmatic left-hander even threatened retirement.

“There’s always something new here, and I’m getting tired of it,” Perez said. “I’m . . . ready [to pitch], that’s why I’m upset. They better wake up. I don’t want to eat . . . like the last two years. Nobody is going to . . . with me like the last two years. Nobody . . . with me this time. I never get upset about this job. But when I get mad I get mad.”

Perez had surgery on his left shoulder to remove a bone spur in September and is beginning the third and final year of a $15.6-million contract that will pay him $7.5 million this year.

Perez, 30, believes he deserves the No. 5 spot in the Dodger rotation, even though he pitched only 5 2/3 innings in Grapefruit League play. He is 2-0 with a 4.76 earned-run average, three strikeouts and a walk in three appearances, and opposing batters are hitting .261.

The Dodgers want him to begin a routine today that will have him pitching every five days as a starter and throwing for Las Vegas on April 6.

“I hope Carlos forces our hand [and pitches well enough for Las Vegas to make us call him up], I really do,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “That would increase our resources as far as areas to go to.

“But I have no interest in getting in a tiff [with Perez] in the newspapers.”

Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone agreed.

“We don’t think he’s ready, from a health standpoint, to perform at the major league level yet,” Malone said. “He’s had a very abbreviated spring, and we think it’s in his best interest to continue to pitch to make sure he’s 100%, so when he is given the opportunity at this level he can get people out.

“He should understand we’re doing what’s best for him. We have to make the decisions that are best and sometimes particular players don’t understand it.”

The Dodgers can keep Perez on a rehab assignment until May 6, but he must be on the 25-man big league roster after that or he could then reject an option to the minors and become a free agent. The Dodgers would still owe Perez $7.5 million for this season.

Perez said he won’t stay in the minors until May 6 and won’t come back to the Dodgers in a relief role. He has intimated that he wants to put up big numbers this season so he can sign another lucrative contract as a free agent afterward.

“I don’t want to pitch as a . . . reliever,” he said. “ . . . I’m not going to be [at Las Vegas] a month. They better do something. If they’re going to do something, they better do it before a month.”

Perez came to the Dodgers in a seven-player trade with the Montreal Expos on July 31, 1998, and won four consecutive complete games, two of them shutouts, in September. But he has faltered since Malone signed him to the big-money deal before the 1999 season. He has a 7-18 record with a 6.28 ERA over the last two seasons in 47 outings, 38 of them starts.

“They better find [a spot for me in the rotation],” Perez said.

And if they don’t?

“I got an agent out there,” he said. “I’m getting tired of this. I’m getting tired of playing ball. I might retire after this year. I’m thinking about it.”

Notes

The Jesse Orosco back-to-back situational-pitching experiment has been delayed. The 43-year-old reliever was supposed to pitch on consecutive days ending Monday, but will now throw today against the Houston Astros and Wednesday against the New York Mets. . . . In the Dodgers’ 4-4 10-inning tie with the Montreal Expos, Andy Ashby gave up two runs on six hits in six innings.