Rangers move Perez to bullpen

Martin Perez has been moved to the bullpen for the time being. Per the beats, Bruce Bochy said today that the Texas Rangers will have Perez in the pen for the time being in a long relief role.

With the addition of Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery, the Rangers suddenly had a surfeit of starters. Nathan Eovaldi went on the injured list this past weekend, which opened up a spot for one of the new additions. One of Perez, Andrew Heaney and Dane Dunning appeared likely to get moved to the pen as a result — Perez, it turns out, is the odd man out.

There will need to be another decision made before too long, as both the team and Eovaldi have said that they expect him to be on the injured list for just the minimum 15 days. At that point, the Rangers could move Dunning or Heaney to the bullpen, or could go with a six man rotation to try to manage workloads. Or, of course, there’s the possibility of someone getting hurt and needing to go to the i.l., which would open up a spot that way.