PORT ST. LUCIE — Jerry Manuel announced today that John Maine, Jon Niese, Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez will follow Johan Santana in the rotation when the season begins next week.

The most surprising aspect is Perez slotting into the fifth spot, with Niese third. Manuel said his decision was based more on matchups –– he would rather have Niese face the Marlins than Pelfrey or Perez — than spring training performances.

“It’s actually something I had considered during the winter, just because of the schedule when it came out,” Manuel said. “I knew at the end of spring training I would do some juggling with [the rotation].”

Perez has an 8.66 ERA this spring, the highest among the five starters, but Manuel said he isn’t fretting yet.

“Ollie is healthy, and the other thing is he has control, just not necessarily the command we would hope to see,” Manuel said. “It’s been a different kind of spring for pitchers … for trying to evaluate the pitching.”