Rangers To Begin Martin Perez Negotiations
The Texas Rangers and pitcher Martín Pérez are set to begin negotiations for a new contract this week, according to general manager Chris Young.
Young made the comment during his final press conference of the 2022 season. The Rangers have made it clear for months that they want Pérez back for 2023. Pérez has expressed his desire to return on multiple occasions.
Now, it comes down to making a deal. Young didn’t put a timetable on getting one done. Pérez is a free agent.
“Martín has been a tremendous leader, a tremendous competitor and has tremendous work ethic,” Young said. “The way he prepared day in and day out. He took the ball every day he was supposed to and I can’t say enough about the season he had and we are very intent on bringing him back.”
Pérez, who broke in with the Rangers in 2012 and played for them for his first eight seasons, returned on a one-year, $4 million deal in 2022 and ended up becoming the Rangers ace. He went 12-8 with a 2.89 ERA, which was among the best in the American League. He threw 196 1/3 innings, just two off his career high. He did have a career-high 169 strikeouts. He also made the All-Star Team for the first time.
While he was consistent all season, his May was something to remember, as he earned both Rangers Player of the Month and American League Pitcher of the Month honors.
Pérez went 4-0 with an 0.64 ERA (three earned runs in 42 1/3 innings) in six starts in May, and the Rangers were 6-0 in those outings. It was the second-lowest ERA in club history for any month by a Texas pitcher with at least five starts (Yovani Gallardo, 0.54 in June 2015).
As part of that, in an eight-start stretch from April 23 to May 31, Pérez went undefeated with six or more innings in each outing while allowing no home runs and no more than one earned run in each start. According to STATS LLC, the only other pitchers to compile those statistics over an eight-start span since earned runs became an official statistic in 1913 are Hall of Famers Walter Johnson (1913-14) and Bob Gibson (1968).
Those are just some of the reasons the Rangers see him as part of their plan in 2023 and beyond. Same goes for reliever Matt Moore, who falls into that same category of a veteran left-hander who provides quality pitching and leadership.
“It’s as much from the performance side as it is the culture side and these guys are established veterans who have been through the grind of the season,” Young said. “They've had success they've seen the hard times as well. They're they set great examples for our young guys.”
Young said the Rangers are in the market for starting pitching this offseason. That could be through free agency, through trades, one-year contracts, long-term contracts or all of the above. Young believes it was the team’s biggest personnel deficiency. Besides Pérez, the only other Rangers starter with a .500 or better record was Jon Gray, who went 7-7 in the first year of his four-year contract with the Rangers. He lost nearly two months to injuries. But, at times, Gray pitched behind Pérez in the rotation and the pair were a quality one-two punch.
The rest of the rotation? Well, it was spotty at best. That’s why Young is less worried about the timeline and more worried about keeping Pérez for next season.
“Our focus is to try to get him back,” Young said.
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