The Orioles announced this evening that left-hander Cionel Perez has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. He’ll report to the minors and be utilized as a non-roster depth option going forward.
Perez, 29, came up to the big leagues with the Astros back in 2018. He ultimately didn’t get much run with the club, serving as an up-and-down piece for Houston across three seasons with the club where he posted a 5.74 ERA in 26 2/3 innings of work. An equally disappointing and short-lived stint with the Reds followed in 2021, but ahead of the 2022 season Perez was plucked off waivers by the Orioles and placed into their bullpen mix for the coming year.
Once given regular reps on a club that entered the year still in the midst of a rebuild, Perez began to blossom. The lefty enjoyed the best season of his career in 2022 as he pitched to a sterling 1.40 ERA (278 ERA+) with a 2.80 FIP in 57 2/3 frames. A 23.5% strikeout rate and a 9.0% walk rate were both solid figures, but what made Perez truly stand out was his ability to keep the ball in the park. A 51.3% ground ball rate proved to be a big part of that, but Perez’s 4.3% home run to fly ball ratio appeared unsustainable from the jump. That made it far from surprising when his results regressed the following year, though he still remained an effective reliever with a 3.54 ERA and 3.84 FIP in 65 appearances.
Things started to take a turn for the worse last year, however. Despite peripheral numbers that were generally about the same or better as compared to 2023, Perez’s 2024 season saw his ERA balloon all the way up to 4.53. Perez’s strikeout and walk rates had slipped incrementally over the past two years and now sat at a lackluster 19.3% and 11.8%, respectively. While his 55.8% grounder rate and continued ability to avoid allowing home runs was enough to inspire some optimism about the possibility of a return to form in 2025, those hopes were quickly snuffed out by his early-season performance. Perez pitched to an 8.31 ERA with a 5.71 FIP across 21 2/3 innings of work this year before the Orioles decided to pull the plug last week.
Between those brutal results and a $2.2MM salary for 2025, it’s hardly a shock that no club opted to claim the lefty off waivers and try to help him improve his results going forward. Perhaps a club will view him as a low-cost reclamation project in the offseason when he won’t come with such an expensive price tag, assuming he hasn’t already turned things around by then. For now, Perez figures to attempt to get right at the Triple-A level in hopes of being utilized in the big league bullpen once again later this year. The floundering Orioles are appearing increasingly certain to sell at least some pieces at the trade deadline, so if the club fails to turn things around it’s not hard to imagine Perez getting another opportunity after the trade deadline if Baltimore parts ways with some of the pitchers currently in their bullpen mix.
The first step to fixing a problem is admitting that you have a problem so he had to lay his pride aside so that he fix his issues.
I would love to see him return to that 2022 form. But in his career, 8.4 hits per 9, 4.9 walks per 9. Not good ratios, I hope he bucks the trend but its not been good the past few years.
His FIP ihigher than his ERA, suggesting that he is likely not a bounce back candidate, at least not to his ‘22 form. In a short sample size from this year, the ERA is higher than FIP so it suggests somewhat of a bounce back is possible over the long term THIS season, but likely landing in the 3.5-4 area. If he can limit walks, while keeping the ground ball rate above 55%, he should be able to land at the lower end of that range, but his ‘22 season is probably an outlier. I would not bet on a bounce back to anything other than depth, honestly.
Not happening, just a mirage!
He wanted to pitch a tent in Norfolk and relieve his career.
Tides team motto: “we don’t drink , we don’t smoke, Norfolk, Norfolk”.
I have seen enough, pass, please.
The Os and Hyde have been susceptible to focusing on what a guy did for them at one time versus the player they are now. Keeping Perez this season and letting Coulombe sign elsewhere was a significant mistake by Elias and the organization.
Lots of people here complain about the Rogers trade but despite a hot start for Stowers they gave up two insignificant pieces and the jury is still out on Rogers. He just has his first healthy performance since the trade and was outstanding.
Rogers, if he can stay healthy, will be fine.
hindsight is 20/20 on Coulombe. his injury, diminishing pitch speed and other stats pointed towards a downturn in his effectiveness this year. he out performed the expectations and was excellent until his recent injury. relievers are consistently fickle as they break or lose their stuff as suddenly as they are lights out. it’s interesting that this MLB Rumor item was posted near the time when the Jorge Lopez DFA in DC was posted.
if you recall, many O’s fans were sharpening their pitchforks when he was originally traded in his All Star year for a number of pieces that have been an overall major plus for the Birds while Jorge lost his groove and outside of a short time in Chicago, hasn’t been a shadow of the pitcher he was as the Baltimore closer in his breakout year.
i think it’s easy to say some trades are total failures when you measure them at one short period of time and without a longer time frame to consider. I’m hoping that the Rogers for Stowers/Norby trade might continue to look better for Baltimore as Rogers finds his groove again and Stowers regresses to the mean some.