The Braves are designating left-hander Martin Perez for assignment, as Walt Weiss told reporters (including Chad Bishop of the Atlanta Journal Constitution). He’s being replaced on the active roster by southpaw Dylan Dodd, who is being recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett.
Perez, 35, is now in the 15th season of his MLB career. He was signed by the Rangers out of Venezuela and made his pro debut all the way back in 2008, but didn’t make it to the big leagues until 2012. Since then, he’s spent his career pitching to more or less league average results as a back-of-the-rotation starter and swing man. He signed with the White Sox last year but spent most of the 2025 season on the injured list with elbow and shoulder issues. For the few outings Perez was able to make last year, he was effective with a 3.54 ERA and 4.24 FIP in 56 1/3 innings of work.
That wasn’t enough to get him a big league deal headed into his age-35 season, but he did latch on with Atlanta on a minor league pact. Though he didn’t initially make the team out of Spring Training, early injuries in the rotation led Atlanta to select Perez to the majors to help eat innings. He did so capably, offering 14 1/3 innings of five-run ball across three appearances for the Braves prior to his DFA. He’s struck out just six in that time, but the results when healthy lately have been solid. He’s posted a 3.46 ERA and 4.46 FIP between the White Sox, Padres, and Braves since getting traded to San Diego at the 2024 trade deadline.
Of course, that hardly makes him a true-talent 3.46 ERA pitcher at this stage of his career. Perez has a long history of volatility when it comes to his results, which has resulted in him making an All-Star appearance in 2022 while struggling to even stay within the range of league average in other years. Taken together, Perez has a career 100 ERA+ across more than 1600 big league innings and should be expected to produce more of that back-of-the-rotation, innings-eating work as long as health permits.
That could make the lefty an intriguing option for any number of teams struggling with pitching injuries in the early going. The Blue Jays, Cubs, and Astros are among the teams that have sent multiple key pitchers to the injured list in recent weeks, and any of them might be willing to roll the dice on Perez and his modest salary in the $3.5MM range. All of those clubs entered 2026 as expected contenders, but even a non-contending club like the White Sox could pick Perez up and slot him into the rotation to help stabilize their rotation after Shane Smith‘s struggles led to him being optioned to the minors this past week.
If Perez does not get plucked off waivers by another club, he could accept an outright assignment to the minors with Atlanta, where he would wait for his next opportunity with the club. Another option would be to elect free agency and test the open market. With that said, Perez might benefit from accepting an outright given that the Braves have their own pitching needs and will surely call upon him again in relatively short order if he stays with the organization.
For now, however, his roster spot will go to Dodd. The lefty has a career 5.68 ERA in the majors but posted a more respectable 3.60 ERA in 35 innings as a relief arm for the Braves last year. He figures to serve as a long reliever for Atlanta in the coming days, a role where he should prove valuable in the short-term while Atlanta uses upcoming days off in the schedule as an opportunity to utilize a four-man rotation. As noted by Mark Bowman of MLB.com, the Braves won’t need a fifth starter until April 21 given the structure of their upcoming schedule. At that point, Perez could rejoin the MLB roster if he’s still in the organization.
Astros need to sign him.
I have to say I didn’t have someone clamoring for Martin Perez on my Bingo card.
Astros need anyone who is healthy
This is shaping up to be one of those years where 6-10 kids who are not ready get called up just to fill spots
Dodd is beyond ready to be called up.
This isn’t Dodd’s first time in the Majors.
Apparently I need to clarify that I was responding to the Astros comment; despite the fact that my response lies directly beneath the Astros comment.
My first thought as well.
Free Didier!!
Why ain’t we shipping Suarez off!
Right! Perez was quite a bit better than Suarez. Still not good but Suarez is garbage.
Perez didn’t do bad while up. Perhaps Strider’s return is imminent.
They said not til early May.
he’s been limiting hard hits and barrels and is well above average in not issuing free bases. no, he doesn’t really miss bats to close out a PA with a K but as a lefty… he’ll do pig, he’ll do. With the Orioles down 12 players to the IL… go get’em Elias.
Why DFA him? Low 3 era low 4 FIP he is what they need on the team.
I am going to guess that he has concerning peripherals so they jettisoned him now to prevent what they think will be meltdowns in the future and go with the young guy who may have meltdowns in the future.
My guess is they’ll bring Fuentes up when they need another starter in late April. Strider is on track to return in early May, Waldrep probably sometime in June, Schellenbach probably around the break. They have Ritchie in AAA who’s going to get called up eventually this year. And Dodd is a former starter who could probably go 1 time through lineup in a bullpen game in a pinch. I personally would’ve DFA’s Payamps and pushed Perez to the ‘pen, but I don’t know if there were some behind the scenes logistics which prevented that from happening.
The Blue Jays will grab him.
Would have rather seen Suarez, he’s awful.
Braves making confusing moves.
Not really that confusing. They preferred some of their other not great pitchers over not great Perez. They probably bring up Fuentes when they need a 5th starter again in a week and a half, and then Strider is due back in early May.
He ruined the new republic
Padres on line 1
I just need somebody to sign Lovelady