Perez signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Pirates on Monday, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Analysis: Perez accepted a qualifying offer from the Rangers last offseason following his surprising 2022 campaign, but he struggled to repeat his performance in 2023, collecting a 4.45 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 93:49 K:BB over 141.2 frames. He also posted one of the lower ground ball rates of his career at 45.5 percent. Perez will turn 33 in April and a rebound in Pittsburgh in 2024 seems unlikely.
Martin Perez Used in relief Sunday
Perez was credited with his second hold of the season in Sunday's 9-8 win over the Mariners after striking out a batter and allowing two earned runs on one hit and two walks over 1.2 innings out of the bullpen.
Analysis: After Perez delivered 4.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen Wednesday, manager Bruce Bochy told Jeff Wilson of RangersToday.com that the veteran southpaw might be a candidate to fill the vacant No. 5 spot in the rotation. The open spot in the rotation comes up Tuesday against the Angels, but after throwing 40 pitches in relief Sunday, Perez no longer looks like a realistic option to start for Texas. The Rangers could end up treating Tuesday's contest as more of a bullpen day, with the likes of Andrew Heaney, Jake Latz and Cody Bradford presumably available to cover multiple innings, if needed.
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