Perez officially accepts QO, Santana traded to Braves

The Texas Rangers have announced that pitcher Martin Perez has officially accepted the qualifying offer which the team tendered him. As a result, Perez is now under contract with the Rangers for the 2023 season at $19.65 million.

Perez and outfielder Joc Pederson of the San Francisco Giants are the only two players in MLB who accepted the qualifying offer. Anthony Rizzo signed a two year deal with the New York Yankees, who had made a qualifying offer to him. Tyler Anderson has reportedly agreed to a three year, $39 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels, which means he’s rejected the qualifying offer he received from the cross-town Los Angeles Dodgers. All other players who received the QO rejected it, and other than Rizzo and Anderson, no deals appear to have been reached by any of those players.

Perez was reportedly negotiating with the Angels, among other teams, and the 3/$39M deal Anderson agreed to is probably around what Perez was discussing with Anaheim.

In addition, the Rangers have traded Dennis Santana to the Atlanta Braves for cash considerations. Santana is arbitration-eligible and out of options. He was outstanding for the Rangers in the first half of 2022, but fell apart in the second half, resulting in an overall season line that was not good.

The 40 man roster now stands at 34. The deadline for adding players to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft is 5 p.m. Central tonight, so there will be numerous players added to the 40 man shortly.