I’m more than happy to take the Twins’ side on most of the things they have done this offseason, but I am finding it difficult to find anything to be positive about this acquisition over. Let’s run through the three things I look at before I say “OK, I’m ok with that deal”.
- How well did he do last year? Really bad! In 22 games, including 15 starts, he had a 6.22 ERA and struck out only 5.5K/9. What’s worse, is that his best season was in 2013, and it’s been pretty bad ever since.
- How have his peripherals look? Not any better! While his FIP and xFIP were better than his ERA, they were still only 5.72 and 4.98, respectively. He hasn’t produced a sub 4.00 FIP or xFIP. And then on top of that, the other luck stats didn’t go his way in 2018. He needs to be entirely lucky if he is going be effective at all,
- Does his signing impact the team in any other way? It does! I was a little down on Nelson Cruz signing, because of the chance that Tyler Austin would be jettisoned. Still, points #1 and #2 bear out for Cruz. Perez will take up a spot in the rotation that would have otherwise gone to one of the young prospects that would have otherwise been given their first full season of work in the rotation. Instead, the Twins will have to drop someone from their 40 man roster, because, yeah, the Twins gave Perez a Major League deal.
The reports are that the Twins like his pitch mix, and his ground ball rate, but even if that were the cast, a big league deal is cringeworthy.
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