The Reds have acquired left-hander Cionel Perez in a trade with the Astros, as officially announced on the Reds’ Twitter feed. Houston will pick up minor league catcher Luke Berryhill in their end of the swap.
The move opens up a 40-man roster spot for the Astros, so the Michael Brantley signing could be officially announced at any moment. For the second time in two days, the Reds picked up a reliever from a team looking to clear a 40-man spot, after Cincinnati acquired Hector Perez from the Blue Jays so Toronto could accommodate George Springer (whose deal is now official) on the roster.
Perez, 24, has pitched in each of the last three seasons, amassing a 5.74 ERA, 23.1K% and 10.3K-BB% over 26 2/3 career innings as a big leaguer. Armed with a mid-90s fastball, Perez misses his fair share of bats but control has been an issue — particularly in 2020, when he issued six walks in just 6 1/3 innings of work. He was a fairly high-profile international signing out of Cuba back in December 2016, but didn’t get much of a consistent look in Houston, as the Astros frequently shuttled Perez back and forth between their active roster and Triple-A (or to the alternate training site, in 2020).
While a small sample size, Perez has been significantly better against left-handed batters (.630 OPS in 39 PA) over his MLB career than against righty swingers (.825 OPS in 78 PA). The three-batter rule will prevent the Reds from utilizing him as a true lefty specialist, but he does provide some southpaw depth for a Cincinnati team that is heavy in right-handed pitching. Amir Garrett is the only other left-handed reliever on the Reds’ 40-man roster, so opportunity exists for Perez to win a job in Spring Training.
The Reds selected Berryhill in the 13th round of the 2019 draft. A product of the University of South Carolina, Berryhill’s professional career thus far consists of only 32 Rookie League plate appearances in 2019, as the minor league shutdown last season kept Berryhill off the field.
Sounds like a “make 40 man roster space” move.
tim815:It states as much in the article. Reading is fundamental.
Another rocket scientist
I always though Cionel was pretty promising as an Astros fan. Hope the best for him and the reds with this trade.
Me too. I liked him a lot and thought he could be an asset out of the pen. Understand the move though and good luck to him.
Any relation to Damon Berryhill?
Gotta be his son, right?
No, but he’s Manny Machado’s brother in law.
Actually I think that Luke is Damon’s kid.
Related to Manny? Surprised the White Sox didn’t get him then……….
According to gamecocksonline Luke Berryhill is the son of Larry and Kelly. Not a common last name for sure.
No.
Uh… are they only looking at guys named Perez … that’s 2 in a couple days
Rosie may be next.
Rosie Perez would be a nice addition in “short relief”. I’m in favor.
Cornering the market. Get your Perez’ while you can
Next they sign Melido and Carlos (RIP to Pascual).
Oliver is still available, but unfortunately for them, they have no chance of getting Salvador.
a catcher named Berryhill, eh?
My thoughts exactly… what are the odds?
They’re also “deep in talks” to bring Tony back in some capacity… More to come
another shrewd deal by the reds. help everyone fill their 40 man rosters by taking people no one wants. they are clever these reds officials. what a waste of a year 2021 could be. also do not forget we need to locate marty perez.
Tricky Dick wasted all his money and half his prospects in the last 2 years. Pandemic hit. Revenues got cut and he made a lot of terrible financial decisions. Reds were an organization that could’ve had a 3-4 year window and instead got a 1 season run at the playoffs. One of the worst roster management situations I’ve ever seen.
So Dick Williams didn’t properly forecast a 100 year pandemic? Good point. And you know that only got a 1 year run at the playoffs how? Wow, your crystal ball is epic on both counts.
Even if they win the central – they’ll never compete w any other team in playoffs. Blow it up and start over. If they can get a good returns for Castillo Gray and Suarez, mix that in with current crop, and then pick 4 x in top 50 this draft – that’ll be a well rebooted system
Perez isn’t a throwaway. Many Astros fans hate to see him go. Small in stature but throws hard from the left side. He has potential and unless you think Berryhill was going to provide major league innings of significance for your team, this isn’t a bad gamble by your club.
The Reds are a wreck. They let Hernan Perez sign with the Nats last week. The one that got away!
Wow Perez kind of skyrocketed through the minors but hasn’t really gotten much of a chance in the majors since then. He does seem to have some solid underlying stats (K rate) and solid ERAs in the minors. He looks like a guy who has the potential to be a legitimate LH reliever in the majors sooner rather than later. Or who knows he seems to have been a SP in the minors and while my guess is RP is more likely I suppose it’s also not out of the question he could wind up being given a chance to start at some point as well.
Wow Perez also completely dominated the Cuban league as a 17 and 18 year old. I mean really was just lights out and at such a young age. I realize it’s obviously much lesser competition than in the US but there are still some very good hitters he would have had to face and he really dominated and at such a young age. Very impressive. Now it’s time to see if he can translate any of that prior success to the majors.
Works for both sides. Command issues haven’t gone away for Perez and he has no path to the Majors with Houston. If Cincy can help those command issues he’s a late-game southpaw with plus stuff. Meanwhile Houston cleared a needed spot and needs some catching prospects in the system.
Good take. I always like Perez and never felt he got the best opportunity in Houston. He has plus stuff from the left side. He can be a useful pitcher in the majors still in my opinion. Just needs the right opportunity. From an Astros standpoint I understand why we did this, but don’t like losing Perez.
Why are the reds blowing it up after 1 pandemic shortened season of contention? It doesn’t make sense to trade off prospects and sign guys to big deals just to give up the year after.
$
It’s extremely disappointing considering that they could have been the NL Central favorites, had they just stayed the course and continued trying to compete. Losing Bauer wasn’t reason enough to tear the entire team down. But yeah, $$…
2tone, what have they blown up? No NL Central team has had a signing in excess of $1 MM this offseason. They sign a SS and they immediately become the division favorites.
Championship !!!
The Reds are looking to sign Trevor Bauer Perez too. And maybe Marcus Semien Perez.
I like both Perez signings. With our pitching coaches, they will be molded into good major league pitchers. Just wait.