The Cincinnati Reds have non-tendered infielder Jose Peraza according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
Infielder José Peraza non-tendered by #Reds, sources tell The Athletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 2, 2019
The move comes as both a surprise and a non-surprise. Jose Peraza was so in demand by the Cincinnati Reds that they had tried trading for him twice. The second time was a charm when he was acquired along with Scott Schebler and Brandon Dixon in a 3-team trade that also saw the Reds send Todd Frazier to the Chicago White Sox.
Jose Peraza was projected to get a raise to $3.6M for the 2020 season according to MLB Trade Rumors. That is a lot of money for a bench player who is coming off of a season where they hit .239/.285/.346. While Peraza played in 141 games for Cincinnati in 2019, his playing time decreased when the Reds had a healthy roster. He lost his starting gig at shortstop and slid over to second base early in the season. But that job only existed because Scooter Gennett was injured. And even then he began to lose playing time to Derek Dietrich. Later in the year second base Josh VanMeter also started taking away time from Peraza in the lineup at the position.
Jose Peraza does some things well. He’s good enough defensively to handle shortstop, second base, and center field. And he’s also capable of playing left field if you ask him to. He’ll also provide speed on the bases, though he only went 7-for-13 on the bases in 2019. But in 2017 and 2019 he was among the absolute worst hitters in Major League Baseball that got any sort of significant playing time. His 62 OPS+ was the 9th worst rate in the league among 273 players with at least 300 plate appearances.
This makes Jose Peraza a free agent, able to sign with any team that he so chooses.
Moose?
Moose.
Moose sighting confirmed with two eye witnesses!
Just read on MLBTR that the Reds signed him for 4 years.
I saw that. Surprised. But pleasantly though.
They have signed Moustakas. I guess there’s no need for Peraza anyway.
Hard to dislike the Moose signing. It is big dollars, but that bat should play nice in the middle infield. Keep chasing Didi and Wheeler, maybe a cheap OF bat, and this could shape up to a nice offseason!
Moose 4 for 64 mill. Reds are in.
Moose a great signing
The Moose is loose in Cincy!!
any news on Gausman?
Feel like Moose should have been the backup plan but I don’t really like leaving Senzel in CF. Maybe they struck out on other options already that we don’t know about.
I think Didi is still on the table as is adding a catcher and another OF.
I do think saying that Peraza was good enough to handle centerfield and capable in left may be a little generous. Like The Moose signing.
This move makes Galvez the shortstop. No need to spend more money there.
This was more than obvious coming. If he was coming back, he shouldn’t be getting anywhere near the playing time that he was getting.
The Brewers have certainly taken a hit so far in the offseason. Moustakas is the third Brewers free agent to leave along with Grandal and reliever Pomeranz , This should also be a positive for the Reds.
Per MLBTradeRumors.com : Travis Jankowski agreed to pay cut with the Reds, After earning $1.165MM in 2019, he’ll bepaid $1.05MM in 2020 if he makes the team.
Doesn’t he get it either way?
Arb salaries are only 20% guaranteed I believe.
An average defender at shortstop is actually a very good defender. 95% of the players in professional baseball can’t actually do that. Being able to actually play enough defense at shortstop in the Major Leagues, even at a sort-of-average level, is high level defense.
That makes zero sense.
If you’re referring to Doug’s point, I have to disagree: it makes a lot of sense.
Please elaborate. 95% aren’t even average? Only 5% are average, above average, and elite? The other 95% are below average or terrible? Maybe I didn’t read it correctly, but that makes no sense to me.