Former Indians closer Chris Perez has opted out of his Minor League pact with the Brewers, reports MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy (on Twitter). With the decision, Perez is again a free agent, so the CAA client will be able to field offers from any of the 29 other clubs.
Perez, still just 29, struggled a great deal in his six appearances in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. In 7 2/3 innings, he allowed eight runs (9.39 ERA) on 14 hits (one homer) with an unsightly 3-to-4 K/BB ratio.
Over the past two big league seasons, Perez saw his stock drop considerably, posting a combined 4.31 ERA in 100 1/3 innings between Cleveland and the Dodgers. That mark lines up in a near-perfect manner with his 4.32 xFIP in that time, although FIP (which doesn’t normalize his homer-to-flyball ratio as xFIP does) feels that his ERA should’ve been a bit north of 5.00. In those 100 1/3 innings, Perez averaged 8.3 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9, though it’s worth noting that he did rediscover his previously diminished velocity in 2014, averaging 94.2 mph on his heater.
From 2010-12, Perez was a serviceable ninth-inning arm for Cleveland, pitching to a 2.84 ERA (138 ERA+) with 7.9 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 180 1/3 frames. That strikeout rate isn’t as high as one would hope to see out of a shutdown closer, though it’s skewed by what appears to have been a fluky 5.9 K/9 in 2011. Perez’s relative youth, velocity and 133 career saves should allow him to latch on with another club in spite of his 2015 struggles at the Triple-A level.
He can’t pitch in AAA so rather then adjust and rebuild his value, he wants to become a free agent.
Sounds like Chris Perez.
Hard to understand why any team uses/places teams in the PCL, other than they are located close to them for quick recall of player purposes.
Cannot trust offensive numbers for hitters and even worse for pitcher numbers. Worst league of them all, as far as attempting to judge how a player may perform, followed by the California league (A Ball). Dinky stadiums (both) that should have asterisks by every category of players for both.
Since quality major league players have been coming out of there for over 100 years, I’d suggest that some major league teams sent out qualified scouts with 2 eyes that could distinguish which players inflated statistics were just that, and which players were for real – as opposed to scouting by statistics.
Don’t think the Red Sox had a problem with that Wiliams guy they got from San Diego, or the Yankees with the DiMaggio fella. But more recently, last year Joc Pederson had nice stats, even won the PCL MVP. Dodgers seem to like him in the OF this year.
Any minute now , Braves sign Chris Perez to minor league deal
Braves to a minor league deal. They need some help in the bullpen so maybe Roger can fix him