Red Sox sign Jose Peraza

Hank Scorpio

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Seems to have a bit of upside going off of his 2018 season, but he was pretty bad in 2019.

Looks like he might be the new Brock Holt, with his experience at 2B/SS/OF.
 

Tyrone Biggums

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This is a pretty good deal. I like it. Had a really good 2018 and is 25 years old. Could be a steal.
 

j44thor

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Hmmm.. In even # years his OPS is about .750 in odd # years it is close to .625.
Good thing they are only on the hook for his 2020 and not his 2021 season.
 

curly2

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Right-handed hitter, can play several positions, not a lot of pop and hardly ever walks. Sounds like Eduardo Nunez, pre-injury.
 

johnnywayback

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why? Brock is a better player. The only benefit is he can play SS, and hes 5 years younger.
Those are two pretty good reasons to prefer Peraza over Holt, a third being that Holt may well get a much more lucrative deal.

A bit from Fangraphs:

In late May, Peraza started to turn his season around, and he batted .268 over his final 242 plate appearances. Though he saw regular playing time for stretches, he never regained the job security he had in 2018. That could change depending on where he winds up in free agency, but that alone doesn’t mean he will recover his fantasy value. Though Peraza increased his batting average over the final two-thirds of the season, his speed game disappeared. He stole three bases in six attempts and did not have a single infield hit. In contrast, Peraza recorded 32 infield hits between 2017 and 2018.

While Peraza’s average sprint speed dipped from 28.8 to 28.0 feet per second, he was still in the top third in average sprint speed (min. 100 opportunities). So contrary to what his steal and infield hit totals might suggest, his speed is far from gone. Better yet, his xBA from May 28 forward was .290 — 22 points above his actual batting average.
 

Hank Scorpio

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why? Brock is a better player. The only benefit is he can play SS, and hes 5 years younger.
Brock is probably going to have an AAV 2-4M higher than Peraza, and at multiple years - and neither player figures to be a regular starter.

I’d love to have Brock back, but given the crunch, it’s extremely unlikely.

But on that note, even Peraza at $3M seems like an unnecessary luxury. Maybe Bloom sees something in him.
 

sean1562

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i think the possible upside is worth the risk. we all know what brock can do and he is getting old. maybe we can get the 2018 peraza? these types of signings are the most interesting with the new GM. gotta trust that he knows how to evaluate the talent that is out there
 

The Gray Eagle

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$3 million for this guy? Unimpressive. We have plenty of potential utility infielders in the organization already. And we could probably get someone about the same level as Peraza for a couple million less later in the offseason.
 

chawson

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Interesting. Peraza’s a very very good contact hitter with elite speed who suddenly couldn’t hit breaking balls last year, which could have been bad luck.

These are just hastily grabbed from Statcast, but his BA should bounce back fine.

2018 (by pitch type)
FB: .301 BABIP (vs. all fastballs and sinker)
Br: .336 (vs. sliders and curveballs)
Off: .264 (vs. changeups and splitters)

2019
FB: .314
Br: .192
Off: .293

His launch angle is oddly very high (17.1) for a low power guy. With some luck, he could do to the Monster what Didi did to the Toilet’s short right field porch. He’s also a plus fielder at all infield positions. I’m into it.
 

nvalvo

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Peraza's up and downs have been more exaggerated in his performance against RHP.

OPS v LHP 2015-19: .779 .773 .655 .774 .744
OPS v RHP 2015-19: .125 .754 .609 .728 .506

(Some of those are tiny samples, as is typical for splits.)

If Chavis actually has a reverse split, as he had last year and in some of his minor league seasons, the two could make a pretty righteous 2B platoon.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
He puts the ball in play, he's fast, and he's a pretty good middle infielder. That more or less exhausts the list of his virtues, but he could be an adequate 2B for us with a modest BABIP bounceback. This seems like exactly the kind of move they needed to make to put together a reasonably competitive lineup while getting under the tax limit.
 

Rich Garces Belly

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Does anyone think Peraza could be play CF after a Bradley trade? That would allow Chavis to play 2B and sign a Moreland/Travis type for short money at first.
 

sean1562

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To a certain extent we just have to trust that bloom is a good talent evaluator. All I know about this guy is stuff I pull off the internet. I’ll give him a few seasons to prove he can identify talent that we can’t see
 

allmanbro

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Does anyone think Peraza could be play CF after a Bradley trade? That would allow Chavis to play 2B and sign a Moreland/Travis type for short money at first.
I'm going on other internet commenters, but it doesn't sound like Reds fans think he's anything more than an emergency OF. Still really valuable positional flexibility though. Worst case, his speed makes him a pinch runner, and he's a possible defensive replacement for Devers (or JDM when he starts in left), and generally utility guy. This seems reasonable to me. Add in that he's 25 and has had a relly good year in MLB, I don't see what's worth complaining about. He's a useful piece who also has some upside.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Is he under Sox control for 3 seasons or 1? I see the contract is for 1 year but the whole service time thing. If it's 3, this deal has serious upside.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Is he under Sox control for 3 seasons or 1? I see the contract is for 1 year but the whole service time thing. If it's 3, this deal has serious upside.
Being non-tendered by one team doesn't negate the requirement of six years of service to voluntarily enter free agency. So they have him for three years if they want him.
 

joe dokes

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Could you highlight the chief points for those of us who don't subscribe? TIA.

. . . .
There were 207 big leaguers who had at least 400 plate appearances last year. Peraza had the second worst OPS (.631) and, in the calculations of Baseball-Reference.com, had a -0.9 WAR, meaning that he cost the Reds nearly a win relative to a replacement-level player.
. . . .
It wasn’t that long ago that Peraza appeared to be a standout prospect. He was a consensus top-100 selection entering both 2015 (while in the Braves system before a mid-year trade to the Dodgers) and 2016 (after the Reds picked him up from L.A. in a three-way trade).
The Reds had him start 2016 in Triple A, but called him up in mid-May. While he struggled initially to find his big league footing, Peraza — after an August demotion to Triple A — had a dominant finish to the season, hitting .366/.387/.484 over the last six weeks of the season to close the year with a .324/.352/.411 line as a 22-year-old.
. . . .
Peraza performed poorly against that backdrop in 2017, hitting .259/.297/.324. He did steal 23 bases and showed some baseball skills that had become somewhat less relevant during the homer explosion of recent years.
. . . .
In 2018, however, Peraza seemed to blossom. At 24, he emerged as Cincinnati’s everyday shortstop and added power to his game, hitting .288/.326/.416 with 14 homers, 49 extra-base hits, and 23 steals in 29 attempts, an overall profile that made the comparisons to Phillips seem within reach.
But his 2019 struggles were magnified by some bad luck. According to Baseball Savant, his batted ball profile suggested an expected batting average of .269 and slugging mark of .361, but his actual marks were .239 and .345.
At a time when the Red Sox are reining in their spending, the team felt that Peraza’s 2018 season shouldn’t be overlooked, particularly given how he might be impacted by playing at Fenway Park and in the America League East parks. If his 2019 spray chart of fly balls was overlaid at Fenway Park, it appears that as many as 10 balls that resulted in doubles or outs would have been threats to leave the yard.
If Peraza can become slightly more selective in his age-26 season, then his ability to make contact — he swung and missed at just 7.9 percent of pitches last year, a whiff rate that placed him among the top 20 percent of hitters in the game – could yield an uptick in hard contact.
. . . .
At the least, the righthanded Peraza has shown sufficiently consistent production against lefties — a .297/.333/.406 line in his career, and a .287/.336/.407 line even in his 2019 down season
. . . .
 

Rich Garces Belly

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The article seems to suggest he is going to be at the very least a solid utility player and had an unlucky season last season.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
It would be a head-scratcher for a team trying to get under the tax limit to spend even as paltry a sum as $3M on a utility player when their roster already features a couple of sub-$1M utility guys and they have a gaping hole on the right side of the infield. This is our starting 2B, unless a miracle happens with Pedroia.
 

Rich Garces Belly

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It would be a head-scratcher for a team trying to get under the tax limit to spend even as paltry a sum as $3M on a utility player when their roster already features a couple of sub-$1M utility guys and they have a gaping hole on the right side of the infield. This is our starting 2B, unless a miracle happens with Pedroia.
Tampa always seems to value positional versatility more than most. If for $3 million the Red Sox got the rights to a young player with solid upside (hopefully) who can play 2B, SS, 3B, LF, CF, and RF and coming off an unlucky season then I’m impressed. If he is the everyday 2B, then I am not as confident in the signing.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
Tampa always seems to value positional versatility more than most. If for $3 million the Red Sox got the rights to a young player with solid upside (hopefully) who can play 2B, SS, 3B, LF, CF, and RF and coming off an unlucky season then I’m impressed. If he is the everyday 2B, then I am not as confident in the signing.
If he's not the everyday 2B, who is? Chavis? And if Chavis is the 2B, who's the 1B?
 

EricFeczko

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It would be a head-scratcher for a team trying to get under the tax limit to spend even as paltry a sum as $3M on a utility player when their roster already features a couple of sub-$1M utility guys and they have a gaping hole on the right side of the infield. This is our starting 2B, unless a miracle happens with Pedroia.
Even Peraza's performance in 2019 is still better than every sub-$1M option that played 2nd last year.
27768

Even as a 80 wRC+ player, he'd be equivalent to the production by the red sox 2B last year. Though our poor production was uplifted by brock holt's average performance. Given his age and recent increase in power, there's a good chance he bounces back and has a 280/320/400 year with a 20 SB and 30 2B.


If he's not the everyday 2B, who is? Chavis? And if Chavis is the 2B, who's the 1B?
Alternatively, wilmer flores? Yeah, there's not a lot of great options at 1B. I'm not sure Chavis is much better than moreland, though he is cheaper.

Schoop would've made a ton of sense for this team, and detroit got him for only 6 million.
27769


As a result, I think you're right -- this is a cheap buy. Chavis plays 1B, and we have a rotating cast of bench infielders.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
Most likely someone who is not currently on the roster.
But again, if they're thinking of Peraza as a utility guy, why bother signing him if you then still need to sign someone else? There doesn't seem to be any evidence of Zobrist-like supersub potential in his resume. While it's certainly realistic to expect him to improve on his 2019, we shouldn't exaggerate his upside. His career wRC+ of 79 -- less than 25% of which is made up of his 2019 -- is worse than Lin's (90) and not a whole lot better than Hernandez' (67). The 2018 that everybody's banking on was a slightly below-average year (96). Even in the minors his best wRC+ in a season of 100 or more PA was a BABIP-goosed 129 in A+.

His offensive ceiling appears to be that of a league-average hitter--which is fine for a full-time 2B with decent defense. It's also fine for a utility guy, with the difference that paying $3M for a full-time 2B with league-average offense and decent defense is a great bargain, while the same amount for a part-time utility guy with the same skills is just kind of market rate. And it's odd for a team that's trying to cut payroll drastically to be making market-rate signings for fringe roles.
 

Minneapolis Millers

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I think they like Peraza as a possible starter. They also like his position flex, so UT is likely plan B. Probably also like that he’s controllable beyond this year if he takes to Fenway and hits on some of his potential.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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But again, if they're thinking of Peraza as a utility guy, why bother signing him if you then still need to sign someone else? There doesn't seem to be any evidence of Zobrist-like supersub potential in his resume. While it's certainly realistic to expect him to improve on his 2019, we shouldn't exaggerate his upside. His career wRC+ of 79 -- less than 25% of which is made up of his 2019 -- is worse than Lin's (90) and not a whole lot better than Hernandez' (67). The 2018 that everybody's banking on was a slightly below-average year (96). Even in the minors his best wRC+ in a season of 100 or more PA was a BABIP-goosed 129 in A+.

His offensive ceiling appears to be that of a league-average hitter--which is fine for a full-time 2B with decent defense. It's also fine for a utility guy, with the difference that paying $3M for a full-time 2B with league-average offense and decent defense is a great bargain, while the same amount for a part-time utility guy with the same skills is just kind of market rate. And it's odd for a team that's trying to cut payroll drastically to be making market-rate signings for fringe roles.
It would seem they envision him as a direct Holt replacement. Holt covered second more than anyone else and occupied the same roster as Chavis and Hernandez and Lin (and Nunez) at various times, but ultimately was a utility player. Holt made $3.5M last season. Peraza signed for $3M plus incentives. To me, the only way this really looks bad is if Holt signs somewhere for less than he made in 2019 (which is unlikely).