Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom has a difficult offseason ahead of him, but his first decision will be an easy one. The Red Sox will almost certainly bring back Martin Perez by exercising his $6.25 million option for 2021.
Perez, who turns 30 next April, has earned a spot in next year’s rotation, which could include the likes of Chris Sale, Eduardo Rodriguez and Nathan Eovaldi. After tossing six scoreless innings against the Yankees on Friday night, the southpaw owns a 3.88 ERA in 11 starts this season (including a 3.57 ERA and .211 opponents' batting average in his last 10 outings).
Though some of Perez’s peripheral stats (an American League-leading 27 walks, a 4.80 FIP and a 1.259 WHIP) are less than encouraging, the lefty has done exactly what the Red Sox wanted him to do when they signed him in December. According to Statcast, the veteran currently sits in the 90th percentile for opponent’s exit velocity and the 88th percentile for opponents' hard hit percentage, meaning he’s once again limiting hard contact better than the wide majority of major-league pitchers.
When the Red Sox signed Perez last December, they did so hoping he’d slot in as their fifth starter behind Sale, David Price, Rodriguez and Eovaldi. With Price traded to the Dodgers and both Sale and Rodriguez out for the season, Perez has had to assume a greater role in the rotation.
“We love what he’s doing,” manager Ron Roenicke said last week." When Nate (Eovaldi) went down (with a calf strain), we put it all on Martin’s shoulders to try to get us deep in games. When we signed him, he certainly wasn’t thinking that way and we weren’t thinking that way. I love what he’s doing, and if we can work (his option) out, great."
In a short, 60-game season, Perez has kept the Red Sox in games he has started and gone (relatively) deep into ballgames whenever he has pitched. The lefty has gone at least five innings in nine of his 11 outings, eating valuable innings for a team that has gotten virtually no length from most of its starters this season.
In his last outing, Perez was at his best, holding the Yankees to three hits over six scoreless innings while striking out seven. Though the Red Sox lost, their starter was dominant.
“Great fastball. Great location,” Roenicke said. “Mixed in the off-speed well. That’s as good as a fastball as you can have locating it inside most of the time, but running it away when he needed to. The cutter was really good. It was a big game for him that we really needed. It was pretty fun to watch him pitch.”
As Bloom surveys the market for starting pitching, he’s unlikely to find a value better than Perez. Locking him in by picking up the option seems like a no-brainer.
“Any decision that they’re going to make after the season, I’m going to respect,” Perez said. “Obviously, I want to stay here. I like the organization and all the staff and the coaches and everybody. We just have to wait until the season is over to wait to see what they want to do.”
***
10 observations from the last week in baseball
1. Yairo Munoz looks like he has a spot on the Opening Day roster next year. His season is done due to back spasms.
2. The Yankees have won 10 in a row, so Red Sox fans can’t even enjoy their struggles anymore.
3. It’s clear the Red Sox are horrible, but the fact the Yankees are one win away from a clean 10-0 sweep in the season series is borderline unthinkable.
4. Tough to declare the winner of a trade after a single month, but Brandon Workman has a 6.94 ERA in his first 12 series with the Phillies. Don’t be shocked if the Red Sox bring him back in free agency this winter.
5. It’s all but certain Nick Pivetta will start for the Red Sox on Tuesday. The people of Twitter were not happy to hear that the Red Sox manipulated his service time clock.
6. A friendly reminder: John Henry has not spoken publicly about the Red Sox since mid-February.
7. Good for the White Sox for reaching the postseason for the first time in 12 years. A small-market team in a big-market town,
8. Jon Lester is a free agent this winter, so here’s a reminder he already opened the door to a Red Sox reunion. And yes, it makes a ton of sense.
9. Am I crazy for thinking a Sale/Rodriguez/Eovaldi/Perez/Houck/Pivetta/(Insert Addition Here) rotation at some point next year is actually really good? These Red Sox may not be as far off from contention as you think.
10. That 60-game sprint really did go by quickly. Who knows what the 2021 season will look like?
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September 20, 2020 at 05:00PM
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Boston Red Sox have easy decision to start offseason: Bringing back Martin Perez | Chris Cotillo (MLB Noteboo - MassLive.com
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