The Cubs have signed free agent right-hander Williams Perez to a minor league contract, tweets FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. Perez had been available since the Braves released him Dec. 8.
[RELATED: Updated Cubs Depth Chart]
The 25-year-old Perez saw fairly extensive action the past two seasons in Atlanta, where he made 34 appearances (31 starts) and logged a 5.18 ERA, 5.3 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over 170 1/3 innings. All 11 of Perez’s appearances came via starts in 2016, and his results were unsightly (6.04 ERA) despite the fact that he paired a high ground-ball percentage (57.1) with a quality walk rate (2.52 per nine innings).
Perez’s new organization has one of the majors’ top rotations on paper with Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks, John Lackey and either Mike Montgomery or Brett Anderson, though the need for more depth is obvious. The Cubs are cognizant of that, having added Perez, swingman Casey Kelly (another ex-Brave) and Eddie Butler in recent days.
Good signing. Iowa Cubs should be favorites to win the AAA World Series now
I agree
Good signing, because Anderson will probably get hurt and this guy will either take his spot or Montgomery will and he will slot into the bullpen. I remember him with the Braves and I believe that he wasn’t half bad
And Perez won’t get inured? Lol. It’s going to be interesting to see how that rotator cuff holds up. One of those injuries that’s hard to predict career wise. I’m not really sure you can expect much of anything. This is more of a low rise maybe high reward for 18 signing.
Might spend a decent chunk of the year in Mesa.
The other half was really bad.
The other half was real bad.
Not rave
What? Totally rave!
But how was the other half?
Current Iowa rotation could be Rob Zastryzny, Eddie Butler, Jake Buchanan, Aaron Brooks, Williams Perez, and/or Casey Kelly.
Not bad for emergency callups.
The bullpen might be Felix Pena, Jose Rosario, Jack Leathersich, Dylan Floro, Brad Markey, with a few other options.
Their biggest problem would be a corporate disregard for 1B/DH.
Plenty of options on the main roster if Rizzo gets hurt for any period of time. No need to call up a purely 1B AAA guy.
I get why the Cubs do it. But using a spare IF at 1B doesn’t help Iowa very much.
Or Tennessee.
That’s why their Double-A and Triple-A teams struggle. Other teams have 1B/DH. The Smokies/I Cubs? Not so much.
Who cares that the minors teams are hurt? They are there to develop players for the big league club.
probably because you can take just about anyone from anywhere else on the diamond and drop them at 1B and get average defense. 1b is a ‘dump’ position, just like LF.
though i will point out that their ‘option b’ if Rizzo goes down is probably some combination of Bryant, Baez and a call-up of Candalerio, so i’m not sure why you’d think there’s a ‘corporate disregard’ for the position.
Well, the Cubs had a pretty good advanced 1B/DH prospect in Dan Vogelbach until they traded him in a package to acquire Mike Montgomery from the Mariners last July. A primary reason they dealt Vogelbach was because he was blocked by Anthony Rizzo on the Cubs roster. The “poor man’s” version of Kyle Schwarber will now get an opportunity to DH and play 1B in the A.L. where he profiles best.
Wasn’t Perez one of those Atlanta can’t miss prospects? Y’know…like ALL of their farm system…..
Not even close dude. throws low 90s
Perez was never a high ranking prospect, barely cracked the organizations top 20. Nice try at being snarky though.
No, he was never well known and barely ranked at all as a prospect. Way to show that you’re a jacka** who doesn’t actually know that much.
While I was making a joke, you should know that “throws low 90s” doesn’t mean you suck. Because there’s a guy name Greg Maddux who threw low 90s and someone named Kyle Hendricks who does the same now.
he was an overachiever that was never thought of as much of a prospect. and if he didn’t get hurt, he could have had a decent career as a good 4th, 5th starter. You only think he has a can’t miss prospect because he owned your team in the few starts he had against them! j/k he wasn’t that good against the mets.
No, he was always just a bridge-gap type guy. While living in Atlanta, I’ve seen him be really good, and really bad. He can give you innings in a pinch. Not a bad depth signing.
Who is Mark Montgomery?
Mark Montgomery is Head Basketball Coach at Northern Illinois.
I guess they’re counting on him giving a few spot starts for the Cubs when he’s not recruiting Chicagoland for hoops prospects.
Cubs got plenty coming up in 2018 stick to the plan
Christaina Villonanove 1b
Villa signed elsewhere. SD, I think.
Yep.
Cubs are overrated.
Beats being poorly-run.
i know right? they only won the world series… clearly it’s all hype…
If you’re going to make no sense at all, please do not comment. Just go back to your hole.
Yeah, its not like they even won the World Series or anything…oh wait.
But they won it in 7 games so they actually are only the 10th best team in the league tbh
Not a move I would have considered