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Rich Hill Still Planning To Pitch This Year

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Rich Hill continues to throw in hopes of signing soon, he tells Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Cotillo adds that multiple teams — including one from the AL East that is not the Red Sox — have shown interest in the 45-year-old lefty.

Hill told The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser in January that he planned to continue pitching. There haven’t been any definitive reports within the past three months, but Hill evidently still hopes to reach the big leagues for a 21st consecutive season. Last year, he waited until the middle of August to agree to a minor league contract with the Red Sox (on what was his eighth different deal with Boston). The Sox called him up a couple weeks later but released him after 3 2/3 innings.

Last year’s late signing was deliberate. Hill wanted to spend time with his family early in the season, while the later signing would theoretically keep him fresh and allow him to prioritize a deal with a potential playoff team. That didn’t really work out as hoped, as Hill didn’t get much of a look on a Boston team that was only a fringe contender. He has previously suggested he could pursue more of a traditional full-season schedule this time around, though he obviously remains unsigned nearly a month after Opening Day.

Twins Release Matt Canterino

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The Twins released righty Matt Canterino, according to the MLB.com transaction log. That was the likeliest outcome when Minnesota designated the injured pitcher for assignment last week. Canterino underwent season-ending shoulder surgery midway through Spring Training.

Injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers. The Twins therefore needed to trade Canterino or release him after the DFA. A trade of a pitcher rehabbing shoulder surgery seemed unlikely. Assuming he goes unclaimed on release waivers, Canterino will become a free agent. The Twins can look to bring him back on a two-year minor league contract, though the former second-round pick will have the ability to explore other opportunities.

Canterino was once one of Minnesota’s most promising young arms. The Rice product ranked in the top half of Baseball America’s ranking of the organization’s top 30 prospects every season between 2020-24. A mid-90s fastball and plus slider gave him a chance at a mid-rotation role or potential leverage work out of the bullpen.

He just hasn’t been able to stay healthy for almost his entire professional career. Canterino battled elbow issues early in his minor league tenure. That was a precursor for 2022 Tommy John surgery. He missed two seasons recovering from that procedure. Minnesota added him to the 40-man roster during the 2022-23 offseason so as not to lose him in the Rule 5 draft, but he hasn’t thrown a regular season pitch since then. They were hopeful that he’d return from the elbow problem this year. The shoulder issue arose during Spring Training and will cost him yet another season.

Canterino has been very effective in his intermittent stints. He has a 1.48 ERA with a 39.1% strikeout rate over 85 career minor league frames. He’ll turn 28 in December.

Looking Ahead To Club Options: NL Central

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MLBTR continues our division by division look at next year’s team/mutual option class with the NL Central. Virtually all of the mutual options will be bought out by one side. Generally, if the team is willing to retain the player at the option price, the player will decline his end in search of a better free agent deal.

Previous installments: player options/opt-outs, NL West, AL West

Chicago Cubs

  • Shota Imanaga, LHP (team has three-year, $57MM option covering 2026-28; if they decline, Imanaga has $15MM player option for 2026)

Imanaga signed a somewhat complex four-year, $53MM deal when he made the jump from NPB during the 2023-24 offseason. Next winter, the Cubs need to decide whether to trigger a three-year, $57MM option for the 2026-28 seasons. That’d come with respective salaries of $20MM, $20MM and $17MM. If the Cubs decline their end, Imanaga would be able to decline a $15MM player option for ’26 and test free agency.

It’d almost certainly take an injury for that to happen. Concerns about how Imanaga’s stuff might translate against MLB competition proved unfounded. The southpaw finished fifth in NL Cy Young balloting during his first major league season. He turned in a 2.91 earned run average across 173 1/3 innings, striking out a quarter of opponents against a 4% walk rate. The punchouts haven’t been there through this year’s first five starts, but he takes a 2.22 ERA into tonight’s appearance against the Dodgers. He’s getting whiffs on an excellent 14% of his pitches, so he’ll likely finish off a few more strikeouts moving forward. Imanaga’s deal looks like a bargain, and the Cubs should happily sign up for another three seasons at a $19MM average annual value unless he suffers an injury.

  • Colin Rea, RHP ($6MM club option, $750K buyout)

Rea reunited with Craig Counsell in Chicago after the Brewers declined his $5.5MM club option. It actually worked out slightly to his financial benefit. The righty collected a $1MM buyout from Milwaukee and secured a $5MM guarantee with the Cubs. He’s playing this year on a $4.25MM salary and will make at least a $750K buyout on next year’s club option. That’s valued at $6MM, so it’ll be a $5.25MM decision.

The Cubs had Rea work in long relief to begin the season. He has stepped into the rotation since the Justin Steele injury. The 34-year-old righty is out to a strong start, allowing two runs through his first 13 2/3 innings. He has punched out 12 while only allowing one walk in 56 plate appearances. Rea had held a rotation role in Milwaukee for most of last year, posting a 4.29 ERA through a career-high 167 2/3 innings. As a mid-30s swingman with league average whiff rates, he’s never going to break the bank, but the option price is reasonable for a capable #5/6 starter.

Turner’s option is mostly an accounting measure designed to push back $2MM of his $6MM free agent guarantee by a few months. Option buyouts are paid at year’s end, while the money would have been evenly distributed throughout the season had it simply been a $6MM salary. It’s unlikely that the Cubs would want to sign up for a $10MM salary covering Turner’s age-41 campaign even if he repeats his solid 2024 production.

The 17-year big league veteran has posted 11 consecutive above-average offensive seasons since his 2014 breakout with the Dodgers. His power numbers have declined with age, but he put up a strong .354 on-base percentage in 139 games between the Blue Jays and Mariners a year ago. Turner’s start on the North Side hasn’t been good. He’s hitting .147 without an extra-base hit over 14 games. He’s taken six walks against nine strikeouts but will obviously need to make more of a slugging impact.

Cincinnati Reds

Cincinnati took a buy-low flier on Barlow, a former closer who was released by the Guardians shortly before the playoffs. The righty had fallen quickly down the depth chart in Cleveland. He carried a 3.52 ERA with a 32% strikeout rate into the All-Star Break. Barlow allowed a near-6.00 ERA while striking out just 19% of batters faced in the second half. A fastball that typically sat around 93 MPH had dropped to the 90-91 range.

The early tenure in Cincinnati has been mixed. Barlow has gotten his velocity back, averaging 93 on both his four-seam and sinker. He’s getting whiffs on a huge 15.3% of his offerings, nearly two percentage points above last year’s level. The stuff is certainly more encouraging, but the results haven’t followed. He has a pedestrian 9:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio while allowing five runs on eight hits through 9 1/3 innings. He was limited to a $2.5MM guarantee last offseason. He’ll need a more convincing rebound for Cincinnati to retain him on what amounts to a $5.5MM call.

Hays signed for $5MM after being non-tendered by the Phillies. The righty-hitting outfielder has been a capable regular for most of his career, but his production dipped last season while he battled a grueling kidney infection. A Spring Training calf injury delayed his team debut until last week. Hays has been on tear since his return, connecting on three homers while hitting .406 in 34 plate appearances. He has a hit in all seven games, including three straight multi-hit performances against his old teammates in Baltimore over the weekend.

Suter, who grew up in Cincinnati, joined the Reds on a $3MM deal during the 2023-24 offseason. He posted a 3.15 ERA through 65 2/3 innings and signed a $2.25MM extension at the start of last winter. The 35-year-old southpaw is out to a customary start. He has managed 9 2/3 frames of three-run ball despite striking out just four of 38 opponents. Suter’s stuff is never going to jump off the page — he’s sitting in his typical 85-88 MPH range with his fastballs — but he avoids hard contact and is aiming for his seventh straight sub-4.00 ERA showing. Assuming he continues on his usual pace, the Reds should want him back on a $2.75MM decision.

Milwaukee Brewers

Milwaukee made a big investment by their standards in signing Hoskins to a two-year, $34MM contract during the 2023-24 offseason. The longtime Phillies first baseman had missed his walk year after suffering an ACL tear during Spring Training. The Brewers expected Hoskins to recapture his consistently above-average offensive form after a healthy offseason.

That didn’t happen in year one, as he hit a career-worst .214/.303/.419 across 517 plate appearances. Hoskins still managed 26 homers, but the overall offense was essentially league average. It wasn’t attributable to lingering knee discomfort. Hoskins did his best work early in the season, carrying an .813 OPS through the end of May. He hit .203/.285/.395 over the season’s final four months and bypassed an opt-out opportunity.

Hoskins has gotten out to another strong start this year. He’s batting .270 with a trio of homers and what would be a career-low 20% strikeout rate over his first 75 trips to the plate.

Milwaukee signed Peralta to a $20MM extension just before Spring Training 2020. He was mostly unproven at the time, but it only took one more season before he developed into a top-of-the-rotation starter. This quickly became one of the more team-friendly contracts in baseball. The deal included respective $8MM club options for 2025 and ’26, which would have been Peralta’s first two free agent years had he gone through arbitration.

The 28-year-old righty has been the clear staff ace since Milwaukee traded Corbin Burnes. He posted a sub-4.00 ERA in each of the five guaranteed seasons of the contract. Peralta has rattled off another 28 1/3 frames of 1.91 ERA ball through his first five starts this year. Unless he suffers a significant injury that’d threaten his availability for next season, the Brewers are going to rubber-stamp the option.

Quintana signed late on a $4.25MM pillow contract after finding a weaker market than he expected. The net present value was actually just under $4MM, as Quintana agreed to defer the $2MM buyout on his ’26 mutual option. The Brewers aren’t going to exercise their end of the $15MM option for what would be the veteran lefty’s age-37 season. It looks like they got great value on the one-year deal, though, as Quintana is coming off a 3.75 ERA showing for the Mets. The late signing delayed his team debut, but he has fired 12 1/3 innings of one-run ball over his first two starts.

Woodruff underwent shoulder surgery late in the 2023 season. The Brewers re-signed him to a backloaded two-year deal with a $17.5MM guarantee. They knew he’d spend all of ’24 rehabbing. They’ve taken his progression carefully and didn’t push him during Spring Training. Woodruff began a minor league rehab stint on April 12. He has made a pair of rehab starts and could be back with the big league team in the next couple weeks.

Note: William Contreras’ arbitration contract contains a $12MM team option for next season. He’s excluded from this list because he’d remain under arbitration control if Milwaukee declines the option, as they did with Devin Williams last offseason.

Pittsburgh Pirates

  • None

St. Louis Cardinals

  • None

Latest On Blue Jays Rotation

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The Blue Jays optioned fifth starter Easton Lucas to Triple-A Buffalo before Monday’s loss in Houston. They recalled reliever Josh Walker in his place, thus leaving them with a four-man rotation.

An off day on Thursday allows them to skip the fifth starter this time. Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis will follow Kevin Gausman, who pitched tonight, in the Houston series. José Berríos will take Friday’s series opener against the Yankees, while Gausman and Bassitt will be back on regular rest to finish the weekend in the Bronx.

Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet relays word from manager John Schneider that the Jays will return to a five-man rotation after that. An off day next Monday would have allowed them to stick with a four-man staff into the end of next week, but that’s apparently not the plan. An optioned pitcher must stay in the minors for at least 15 days unless they’re being recalled as the corresponding move for an injured list placement. Barring injury, Lucas won’t be back for at least a couple weeks.

The 28-year-old Lucas entered this season with 14 career MLB appearances. All of those had come in relief. He was pushed into the starting five with Max Scherzer battling renewed thumb discomfort that sent him to the injured list. Lucas fired 10 1/3 scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts over his first two big league starts. He was bombed in each of his next two outings, however. The Braves put up eight runs (including a trio of homers) in his third appearance. He couldn’t get out of the second inning during Sunday’s start against the Mariners, who put up six runs. The overall result is a 7.41 earned run average through 17 innings.

Scherzer doesn’t seem especially close to a return. The future Hall of Famer provided a mildly positive update on Monday, saying a second cortisone shot has allowed him to better grip the ball (via Hazel Mae). Scherzer was able to throw off flat ground during pregame warm-ups at Daikin Park, but he doesn’t appear to be nearing a rehab stint.

It leaves the Jays in a difficult spot once they go back to a five-man rotation. The decision to turn to Lucas in the first place pointed to the team’s lack of depth beyond their Opening Day starting five. Jake Bloss, acquired in last summer’s Yusei Kikuchi trade, has three major league starts to his name. He has been hit hard over his first four Triple-A starts this year, allowing a 7.31 ERA with a below-average 17.5% strikeout rate. Aside from Lucas, prospect Adam Macko — who underwent meniscus surgery in February and hasn’t pitched this year — is the only other starter on the 40-man roster. Lefty Eric Lauer, who owns a 5.68 ERA through his first four Triple-A starts, is their most experienced non-roster depth option.

Jose Siri To Miss 8-10 Weeks

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The Mets will be without Jose Siri for 8-10 weeks, president of baseball operations David Stearns told reporters on Monday (link via Tim Healey of Newsday). It was clear that the center fielder would be out for a while after he was diagnosed with a left tibia fracture last week. He suffered the injury when he fouled a ball off his leg.

It had been a frustrating start for Siri even before the injury. The righty-hitting outfielder collected just one hit in his first 20 at-bats. He has drawn four walks and stolen a couple bases, but he’d punched out eight times over 24 plate appearances. Siri’s glove is much more his calling card. He’s coming off a .187/.255/.366 showing over a career-high 130 games as a member of the Rays. The Mets acquired him in an offseason trade despite those numbers because he’s one of the best defensive center fielders in the game.

Tyrone Taylor has taken over as the primary center fielder. He’s out to a very tough start offensively, batting .211/.237/.298 through 59 trips to the plate. Taylor is a solid defender, albeit not to Siri’s level. The Mets called up speedster José Azocar as a fifth outfielder. While Azocar isn’t likely to push for regular playing time, the Mets could turn to one of their middle infielders on the outfield grass. Luisangel Acuña has been a full-time infielder in the majors but topped 250 innings in center field in Triple-A last season.

More interestingly, the Mets are toying with the idea of getting Jeff McNeil some center field reps. He’s getting work in at the position during his minor league rehab assignment. McNeil could be back from his season-opening IL stint by the end of this week. He has 16 career innings as a center fielder. He’s unlikely to play there on a regular basis but could be part of a larger timeshare.

“I imagine Jeff is going to do what he always does,” Stearns told reporters (via Healey). “He’s going to bounce around. He’s going to play some second. He’ll fill in for the corner outfielders when needed. We’ll see how the center field thing goes; I think he’s excited about that. So there are plenty of at-bats to go around here, and Jeff will certainly get his share.”

Siri is on the 10-day injured list for the time being. The Mets can move him to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot whenever that need arises.

D-Backs Notes: McCarthy, Barrosa, Puk, Alexander

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The Diamondbacks are optioning Jake McCarthy to Triple-A Reno, per the MLB.com transactions log. John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM in Phoenix suggests that Jorge Barrosa is likely to be recalled tomorrow to replace McCarthy in the outfield.

McCarthy has had a terrible start to the season. He has managed just three hits in his first 41 at-bats. The 27-year-old is coming off arguably the best year of his career. McCarthy hit .285/.349/.400 with eight homers and 25 stolen bases through a career-high 495 plate appearances last season. He earned the Opening Day assignment in center field as a result. His slump quickly cut into his playing time, as Alek Thomas has gotten the nod in center for five of the past six contests.

A good contact hitter, McCarthy has continued to put the ball in play. He has only fanned in six of 47 plate appearances, but he’s simply doing no damage. He only has one extra-base knock, a double, with five hard-hit balls (ones with an exit velocity of 95 MPH or better) on the season. McCarthy has never had imposing batted ball metrics, but the results became too much to ignore. He will be able to play every day in Reno rather than work in a fourth outfield role as he tries to get on track.

That’ll seemingly afford an MLB opportunity for the switch-hitting Barrosa. He made a brief major league debut last season, collecting three hits in eight games. He hit .270/.360/.421 over 75 Triple-A games last season. The Venezuela native is out to a stronger start in 2025, batting .295/.362/.495 with a trio of homers over 105 plate appearances in the Pacific Coast League.

Elsewhere on the roster, reliever A.J. Puk is scheduled for an MRI today (link via ESPN’s Jesse Rogers). The southpaw landed on the 15-day injured list on Saturday with inflammation in his throwing elbow. The Snakes will presumably provide a return timeline after getting the imaging results. Puk has been brilliant since the D-Backs acquired him from Miami at last summer’s deadline. He owns a 1.78 ERA with 55 strikeouts through 35 1/3 frames in an Arizona uniform.

On the other side of the injury ledger, Arizona activated Blaze Alexander from the 10-day IL and optioned him to Reno on Sunday. The 25-year-old infielder suffered an oblique strain early in his camp and only appeared in two Spring Training games. He played eight games on a rehab assignment. Rookie Tim Tawa and speedster Garrett Hampson are splitting the second base playing time with Ketel Marte on the injured list. Alexander would probably have gotten those reps had he been fully healthy throughout camp, but he’ll remain in Triple-A for the time being.

Cubs Acquire Drew Pomeranz From Mariners

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8:14pm: While the team announced that Pomeranz would report to Triple-A Iowa, that’s evidently a temporary assignment. Patrick Mooney and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic report that the Cubs are likely to call him up on Wednesday.

7:47pm: The Cubs officially announced to media (including Marquee’s Taylor McGregor) that they’ve acquired Pomeranz for cash considerations.

6:10pm: The Mariners are trading reliever Drew Pomeranz to the Cubs, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The veteran southpaw had been pitching in Triple-A with Seattle. According to Rosenthal, Pomeranz’s deal contained an upward mobility clause that required the Mariners to either call him up or trade him if another team was willing to offer him a big league roster spot.

That suggests the Cubs will call Pomeranz up for what’d be his first major league appearance in four years (assuming he makes it into a game). He was very briefly in the big leagues last season, as he spent four days on the Giants’ roster last May. San Francisco skipper Bob Melvin didn’t get him into a game before he was designated for assignment and outrighted off the roster. Pomeranz elected free agency upon clearing waivers and sat out the remainder of the season.

The 36-year-old signed a minor league deal with Seattle in December. He was granted his release at the end of Spring Training but promptly returned on a new non-roster pact. He has allowed six runs, five of them earned, through 9 2/3 innings with their Tacoma affiliate. Pomeranz has given out eight free passes (six walks and two hit batters) but he’s punched out 14 of 43 opponents. He’s getting swinging strikes at a decent 11.8% clip while working with a 92 MPH fastball and a low-80s knuckle-curve.

Chicago was intrigued enough by the stuff to give Pomeranz a look despite the wobbly command. He has some familiarity with skipper Craig Counsell. Pomeranz had a breakout half-season in Milwaukee while Counsell was managing the Brewers in 2019. He recorded 45 strikeouts in 26 1/3 innings after a deadline trade with San Francisco. That led the Padres to sign him to a surprising four-year, $34MM free agent deal the following offseason. The investment didn’t work, as injuries and the shortened 2020 schedule limited him to 47 appearances over the life of that contract.

According to the MLB.com transaction log, the Cubs optioned Jordan Wicks to Triple-A Iowa. That’ll apparently be the corresponding active roster move. They’ll need to add Pomeranz to the 40-man roster as well, though they can move Justin Steele to the 60-day injured list to open that spot.

Giants’ Casey Schmitt Diagnosed With Grade 2 Oblique Strain

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The Giants will be without infielder Casey Schmitt for around a month after imaging revealed a Grade 2 strain of his left oblique, manager Bob Melvin informed reporters (including Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). Schmitt landed on the 10-day injured list over the weekend and will be out well beyond the minimum.

Schmitt broke camp as a righty-hitting utility player. There haven’t been many reps available behind Willy Adames, Matt Chapman and Tyler Fitzgerald. Schmitt has consequently platooned with lefty-swinging LaMonte Wade Jr. at first. Both players have struggled, leading to a combined .125/.211/.250 slash out of the position. Only the Rockies have gotten worse numbers from their first basemen.

A former second-round pick, Schmitt owns a .217/.260/.363 batting line in 414 MLB plate appearances. That includes a 4-23 start this year. He has yet to take a walk while going down on strikes nine times. A month-long absence probably won’t necessitate a move to the 60-day injured list, but any kind of setback could bring that into play.

Schmitt’s IL placement was the first in-season move the Giants have made. They’d avoided any kind of roster shuffling amidst the team’s strong opening three weeks. David Villar, who was outrighted off the 40-man roster late in Spring Training, was reselected in Schmitt’s place. Villar drew into yesterday’s lineup against Angels southpaw Yusei Kikuchi. He’ll probably take the lesser side of the first base platoon with Wade. Top prospect Bryce Eldridge is on the minor league injured list with a wrist issue and hasn’t played this season, so Wade should have a fairly long leash.

Tigers Recall Jace Jung

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Jace Jung is back in the big leagues, as the Tigers recalled the third base prospect from Triple-A Toledo. Detroit optioned Ryan Kreidler in a corresponding move.

It’s the second major league call for the 24-year-old Jung. Detroit selected his contract last August. The 2022 first-round pick got regular run at third base down the stretch. He reached base at an excellent .362 clip over his first 94 big league plate appearances. Jung struck out 29 times without hitting a home run, though. The Tigers made a run at Alex Bregman over the offseason, confirming they weren’t firmly committed to Jung as their starting third baseman going into this year.

Once Bregman signed with Boston, Jung projected as the starting third baseman entering camp. He didn’t perform during Spring Training, hitting .121 with one longball in 14 games. The Tigers optioned him midway through camp. With Matt Vierling on the injured list, they went with a nearly even playing time split between Andy Ibáñez, Javier Báez and Zach McKinstry. They’ve used McKinstry in right field over the past few days.

Báez seems likely to join him in the outfield. He’s starting in center field tonight against Padres righty Randy Vásquez. Chris McCosky of The Detroit News relays that Báez is likely to play regularly in center for the near future. That’d push Riley Greene back to left field while leaving third base to a Jung/Ibáñez platoon. Kreidler had started 14 games in center field this season, but he’s out to an untenable .105/.190/.105 start at the plate.

Jung brings a lot more offensive upside than Kreidler offers. He’s a .257/.379/.467 hitter over parts of four seasons in the minors. He put his underwhelming spring behind him and was off to a strong start to the year in Toledo. Jung has three homers with a .239/.409/.463 slash through 88 plate appearances. He has fanned 22 times while drawing 20 walks — the second-most of Triple-A hitters.

An outfield of Greene, Báez and McKinstry was certainly not Detroit’s plan entering Spring Training. They’ve needed to adapt with four outfield options (Vierling, Parker Meadows, Wenceel Pérez and Manuel Margot) on the injured list. It seemed Kerry Carpenter might join them after he departed yesterday’s game with right hamstring soreness. Carpenter is not playing tonight but was not immediately placed on the injured list, as he remains day-to-day.

White Sox Place Martin Perez On 15-Day IL

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TODAY: The White Sox placed Perez on the 15-day injured list due to what was described as inflammation in his throwing elbow.  Jared Shuster was called up from Triple-A to take Perez’s spot on the active roster.

APRIL 18: Martín Pérez departed tonight’s loss in Boston after three innings. The White Sox announced that the lefty experienced forearm soreness that prompted his departure. Pérez said postgame that he’ll go for imaging on Saturday (link via LaMond Pope of The Chicago Tribune).

“I feel sore. I was just trying to be smart and tell them to get me out of the game and see what I got. We have to wait for the MRI tomorrow,” he told reporters. “In the third inning, I started feeling kind of fatigued a little bit. But I feel bad because I don’t want to be in this situation. I want to keep pitching and competing but it is what it is. Wait and see what it’s going to be and the decision and move on.”

Pérez signed a one-year, $5MM free agent deal to serve as a veteran presence in an otherwise young rotation. Tonight’s start was his worst of the season, as he gave up four runs on five hits and a couple walks without recording a strikeout. Pérez had managed quality starts in two of his first three outings. He carries a 3.15 ERA across 20 innings. His 21.7% strikeout percentage is around league average, but he has walked more than 13% of batters faced.

Davis Martin, Jonathan Cannon and rookies Sean Burke and Shane Smith have joined Pérez in the season-opening rotation. That quintet has made all 19 starts. Pérez and Smith, a Rule 5 pick out of the Milwaukee system, are the only two who have managed decent results. Owen White, Nick Nastrini, Jairo Iriarte, Justin Dunn and Chris Rodriguez make up the rotation at Triple-A Charlotte.

All five have some major league experience. White, Nastrini and Iriarte are on the 40-man roster (as is lefty Jared Shuster, who has moved to multi-inning relief in the minors). Dunn easily leads the Charlotte rotation with 27 strikeouts, but he has also given up a team-high four home runs and has allowed nearly five earned runs per nine. Someone from that group would probably get the call to step into the rotation if Pérez requires an injured list stint. The Sox could also consider building Rule 5 pick Mike Vasil, who is working 2-3 inning stints in mop-up relief, for rotation work.

Mike Clevinger also seems set to join the Charlotte rotation. The Sox outrighted the veteran righty off their 40-man roster this afternoon. Clevinger has the service time to decline the assignment in favor of free agency. Bruce Levine of 670 The Score reports that the Sox intend for Clevinger to build back up as a starter in Triple-A, so it appears he’ll accept the outright and remain in the system. The 34-year-old moved to the bullpen to begin this year. He gave up five runs with eight walks and three strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings before being designated for assignment.

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