Hernán Pérez outrighted; declares free agency (Latest: will start 2016 season in minors; post 67)

[djoctagone]

hernan perez outrighted and he declares minor league free agency. the roster stands at 35.

[AKCheesehead]

I thought he might possibly get a crack at 2016 3b or utility infielder. Hopefully he doesn't come around to bite us some day.

[3and2Fastball]

Hernan Perez is awfully young (24) and awfully versatile to be giving up on, especially for someone who isn't even arbitration eligible until 2018

 

He was clearly a Melvin pickup and now someone Stearns is saying goodbye to. Perhaps an early indication of the type of players Stearns wants or at least does not want. The Brewers under Melvin really had too many guys with an OBP just 20-30 points over their BA and the old paradigm is that is just not sustainable to great offense.

[MNBrew]

Perez's good glove counts for plenty but not nearly enough to outweigh his approach at the plate, which is atrocious. He's superfluous and very easily replaceable.

 

He wasn't good at all the bigs for Detroit, who wasn't exactly a good team.

 

I'd guess Daniel Fields was mainly an emergency grab when the Brewers' OF depth was in rough shape, which makes me wonder if he's the next to go. If he wasn't good enough for Detroit, it's not like they're talent-rich compared to MIL these days.

[reillymcshane]

Hernan walked 5 times in 272 plate appearances last year. He had a .257 OBP to go with 1 HR and 59 strikeouts. He was bad last season. We can't naval gaze over guys like this. Sure he could get better. But if the club doesn't see him as part of the future, cut the cord now and let other guy have a chance.

[brewmann04]

i agree if he was not going to be part of the solution then move on with the next man up for the 3rd base spot. IMO next year thirdbaseman is not on the 40 man yet.

[And That]

Perez looks like he should be/could be a good hitter. He definitely looks the part at the plate, and he plays pretty good D as well. It wouldn't surprise me to see him turn into a utility guy with a longish MLB career. That said, the Brewers shouldn't be protecting utility guys right now (I'm looking at you, Herrera and Peterson).

 

Not that Perez was much, but the Brewers are almost hilariously thin at third base right now. Nate Orf in 2016?

[pacopete4]

Yadiel River here we come!!

[Thurston Fluff]

I'd rather they kept Herrera as the main guy at third instead of Rivera. Herrera was close to league average offensively and his 4.8 Fielding Runs Above Average was top 10 among third baseman with at least 250 plate appearances. Granted that is small sample size for defense but he does look the part on defense as far as I could tell. Rivera's main attribute was being a good defender which plays better at shortstop than third. I would rather he get sometime in AAA and see if his offense can catch up to his defense there. He would also get to play third in the minors as that might be his best route to the majors if his offense comes around.

[pacopete4]

I'd rather they kept Herrera as the main guy at third instead of Rivera. Herrera was close to league average offensively and his 4.8 Fielding Runs Above Average was top 10 among third baseman with at least 250 plate appearances. Granted that is small sample size for defense but he does look the part on defense as far as I could tell. Rivera's main attribute was being a good defender which plays better at shortstop than third. I would rather he get sometime in AAA and see if his offense can catch up to his defense there. He would also get to play third in the minors as that might be his best route to the majors if his offense comes around.

 

I think Herrera is a nice stop gap there as well but I also think it would be worth it to give Rivera a chance. He's young and not going to stick at SS with Arcia on the way.

[DuWayne Steurer]

The thing is ...... walking is a skill that can be learned. You can't teach someone to be fast, or teach someone how to throw a ball really really hard, but in some cases, a guy can learn to be a more patient hitter. It's not unheard of. I'm not saying it's easy, or common, but it's not impossible. Perez isn't too far away from being a pretty useful utility type player. He's a decent defender, and he does hit well (although with little power). I just hate to give up on someone his age who has showed at least some promise.

[And That]

Perez has talent and potential, no doubt, and I personally would have dumped Peterson first. However, would you rather hold on to Perez and risk losing a Jacob Barnes or Jorge Ortega? It's probably a closer call than people generally give Perez credit for, but I still go with protecting the upside of the guys in the minors.

 

Also should mention, the Brewers are more than free to re-sign Perez, if they can come to a deal.

[Jenkins5]

If walking is a skill set that can simply just be taught to any ball player, there wouldn't be so many players who wash out or struggle for whole careers to walk. This goes to show Stearns values guys who are willing to get on baseball....can't complain about that. With 600 PAs he would have deeply struggled to walk 10 times.... That is terrible. Michael Reed can walk that much in a week

[LouisEly]

Rivera had a .629 OPS in the minors last year with 60% of his PA's in Colorado Springs. I think the choice here is Hernan Perez and his .281 OBP/.646 OPS (not a huge sample) vs. Rivera projecting at what, .525 OPS, if that? It's not like Rivera walks a ton either - he walked 27 times in 514 PAs in the minors last year. As for being "younger", Rivera is less than 14 months younger. (Jacob Barnes is actually a year older than Perez.)

 

I hope that the Brewers are making their decisions based on % of pitches outside of the strike zone swung at than walk rate. Walk rate is deceptive, in that if a player has very little power pitchers would rather groove one over the heart of the plate and make him hit his way on that pussyfoot around with the corners and walk him. Players that have a lot of power walk a lot because pitchers are more careful with them, taking their chances with trying to hit the corners.

[dlk9s]

I thought he might possibly get a crack at 2016 3b or utility infielder. Hopefully he doesn't come around to bite us some day.

I'm not going to be losing any sleep over it.

[Outlander]

If it was between Rivera and Perez I think Rivera having multiple option helped. I don't know if I would have kept Perez over Herrera but Counsell seems to really like him so maybe Stearns is trying to work with Counsell.

[jerichoholicninja]

If walking is a skill set that can simply just be taught to any ball player, there wouldn't be so many players who wash out or struggle for whole careers to walk. This goes to show Stearns values guys who are willing to get on baseball....can't complain about that. With 600 PAs he would have deeply struggled to walk 10 times.... That is terrible. Michael Reed can walk that much in a week

 

Agreed. I see it posted all the time that patience can be taught. It probably can be slightly improved upon but guys don't go from a .280 OBP to .330 because of an increase in walk rate.

[DuWayne Steurer]

If walking is a skill set that can simply just be taught to any ball player, there wouldn't be so many players who wash out or struggle for whole careers to walk. This goes to show Stearns values guys who are willing to get on baseball....can't complain about that. With 600 PAs he would have deeply struggled to walk 10 times.... That is terrible. Michael Reed can walk that much in a week

 

Agreed. I see it posted all the time that patience can be taught. It probably can be slightly improved upon but guys don't go from a .280 OBP to .330 because of an increase in walk rate.

 

I'm the one that said walking is a skill that can be learned. I also gave the caveat that it's not automatic, but it's also not impossible.

 

A guy that comes to mind is Richie Sexson. He walked 6 times in his first 195 big league PA's. He walked 34 times in his first full big league season. Later on he would become a guy he would regularly walk 60+ times (topping out at 98). I also fully understand it's easier to walk when you display power, as Sexson did, in spades.

 

I realize Hernan Perez is not Richie Sexson..... it's just that Sexson is a guy who came to mind.

 

I'm certainly not losing sleep over losing Perez, I just liked the guy's toolset. Good defense, decent hit ability, and versatility. If he could learn to walk a bit, and OBP .300 - .315 he's a quality utility guy. If he develops a bit of power (not holding my breath on that one) even better. It's not a huge deal, he's basically a younger version of Elian Herrera..... not the type of guy that makes or breaks your roster, but a nice guy to have around at any rate.

 

I'm not sad he's gone, but I wouldn't have been sad to see him stick around another year either. Certainly would rather keep a guy like Perez than Herrera.

[reillymcshane]

Yes, players can develop greater patience in their career. I have no doubt Perez would be better than his performance last year. In the minors, he usually had a walk rate of around 4-7% - so eventually he very well could have reached those numbers.

 

But making dramatic changes is rare. We can always pull out the exceptions, which gives us hope, but for every player who never learned patience we can probably dig up a 100 others who never did (and thus we never heard of them).

 

To me, physically, Perez looked like he could be a better hitter (at least develop a little power) - he wasn't some stick figure middle infielder. But the club just has to make a decision - they looked at his likely path and decided there were better options.

[JohnBriggs12]

Rivera had a .629 OPS in the minors last year with 60% of his PA's in Colorado Springs. I think the choice here is Hernan Perez and his .281 OBP/.646 OPS (not a huge sample) vs. Rivera projecting at what, .525 OPS, if that? It's not like Rivera walks a ton either - he walked 27 times in 514 PAs in the minors last year. As for being "younger", Rivera is less than 14 months younger. (Jacob Barnes is actually a year older than Perez.)

 

I hope that the Brewers are making their decisions based on % of pitches outside of the strike zone swung at than walk rate. Walk rate is deceptive, in that if a player has very little power pitchers would rather groove one over the heart of the plate and make him hit his way on that pussyfoot around with the corners and walk him. Players that have a lot of power walk a lot because pitchers are more careful with them, taking their chances with trying to hit the corners.

 

Agree completely. Rivera's minor league numbers: .244/.289/.349. He did show some power back in Appleton in 2012, but hit just 2 HR in 514 AB's total last year. If they made this call based on a few weeks in AFL, well I'm doubly worried.

 

Perez hit 8th most of the time, a spot where aggression at the plate is good. He also had 15 doubles and 2 triples in essentially a half season of AB's. Spread over a full season that's 30 doubles and 4 triples.

 

I'm holding out hope the move was made to make room for a 3B they are eyeing in a trade. I'd hate to see them start the season with a career utility guy like Herrera or an unproven Rivera who's never hit in the minors.

[brewmann04]

going to have to look up if there a rule 5 guy that can play 3rd. But I can see a trade with Will Smith for a 3rd baseman.

[And That]

We won't know who's available (or who isn't) in the Rule 5 draft for a few weeks.

[reillymcshane]

It should be noted that we could still resign Perez. If we don't have any 3B candidates, he might be open to coming back if he's given a crack at the job.

[Outlander]

We will know substantially who is available in the rule 5 draft by November 20th. Guys could be removed after that date but rule 5 eligible guys cannot be added after it.

[JohnBriggs12]

It should be noted that we could still resign Perez. If we don't have any 3B candidates, he might be open to coming back if he's given a crack at the job.

 

Stearns was quoted as saying they will try and re-sign Perez. I imagine he'll wait and see where his best opportunity lies before deciding.