PITTSBURGH — The Pirates bolstered their largest space of concern, signing left-hander Martín Pérez to a one-year contract, the membership introduced on Friday. The deal is price $8 million, a supply instructed MLB.com.
Pérez — like Marco Gonzales, whom Pittsburgh acquired from the Braves earlier within the offseason — is the kind of beginning pitcher who suits the Pirates’ wants proper now as a veteran presence with a constructive clubhouse affect and a capability to ship 30 or extra begins in a season.
Pérez is just one yr faraway from his lone All-Star season, 2022, when he put up numbers that arguably ought to have garnered him an American League Cy Younger Award vote. He went 12-8 on a Rangers workforce that completed 68-94, a far cry from its World Collection title run in 2023. Pérez’s 196 1/3 innings in ’22 have been the fifth most within the American League, and his 2.89 ERA was the eighth lowest within the AL.
Round that season, although, Pérez appeared in additional than 30 video games every in 2021 and ’23, however he was utilized in a extra versatile function, making solely 22 begins in ’21 and 20 begins in ’23. Final yr, Pérez had a 4.45 ERA in 141 2/3 innings with a 1.405 WHIP.
Earlier than his breakout in 2022, Pérez had a 4.71 ERA in 10 seasons. It’s kind of odd for a beginning pitcher to indicate such marked enhancements in a single season after a decade of comparatively constant outcomes, but when the Pirates see Pérez regain that kind, he would supply a pivotal enhance for a workforce which many gamers imagine is just some key items away from contending for a playoff spot.
The Pirates’ rotation has been hampered by accidents. JT Brubaker won’t return to the rotation till after Opening Day on account of Tommy John surgical procedure, and Johan Oviedo is anticipated to overlook the season because of the identical operation. Mitch Keller and Oviedo have been the Bucs’ solely two full-time beginning pitchers by season’s finish in 2023, so having two veteran starters is big for a still-young workforce.
