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.