Martin Perez, the lefthanded starting pitcher who was with the Texas Rangers through 2018 and then pitched for the Minnesota Twins in 2019, is joining the Boston Red Sox, per reports. He reportedly has agreed to a one year, $6 million deal with a $6.25 million club option for 2021.
Perez, who turns 29 in April, was a long-time promising Rangers pitching prospect who appeared to be ready to fulfill his promise when he had a solid 2013 season and started out strong in 2014. Perez then had a few bad games, underwent Tommy John surgery, and has never been the same, with his changeup — his out pitch pre-surgery — never returning to form.
There was a bit of hue and cry early in 2019 when Perez was having success with the Twins, with Rangers fans bemoaning that he went elsewhere and succeeded after having been mediocre in 2015-17 and awful in 2018 for Texas, but Perez ended the season with a 5.12 ERA and a 4.66 FIP for Minnesota, resulting in a 0.2 bWAR and a 1.9 fWAR.
For the BoSox, Perez will presumably be replacing Rick Porcello, who departed in free agency, in the rotation. Boston has also been rumored to be shopping Chris Sale, David Price and Nathan Eovaldi, all of whom have large contracts with at least three years to run, in an effort to get under the luxury tax line for 2020.