The Brewers are set to designate infielder Hernan Perez for assignment, The Athletic’s Robert Murray reports (Twitter link). A corresponding move has yet to be announced, though Tyler Saladino seems likely to fill Perez’s spot on the 25-man roster, as Joe Alexander (via Twitter) reported that Saladino and Keston Hiura left the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate in San Antonio prior to tonight’s game, and Hiura’s pending return to the big leagues has already been reported.
Perez has been a useful utility piece for Milwaukee since joining the organization partway through the 2015 season. Playing primarily as a third baseman and corner outfielder, Perez has seen time at every position on the diamond except catcher during his time as a Brewer (including six appearances on the mound as a mop-up reliever. Perez showed a bit of pop with 27 homers in 2016-17, though overall, hit just .261/.291/.402 with 42 homers over 1620 plate appearances for Milwaukee.
Perez was arbitration-eligible for the second time this past winter, avoiding a hearing by agreeing to a $2.5MM deal with the Brewers. A team claiming Perez off DFA waivers would be responsible for the approximately $1.15MM remaining in salary, though it could be more likely that Perez clears waivers and is signed as a free agent if released, or the Brewers could keep him in the organization by outrighting him to Triple-A.
The versatile Saladino can take over the backup infield duties for Perez and he also has limited outfield experience, though Ben Gamel’s role on the team as the lone proper backup outfielder takes on larger import. Overall, the Brewers are costing themselves some positional flexibility with today’s moves, given how both Perez and Shaw were options at a wider range of positions than Saladino and Hiura. (Shaw’s demotion, however, had a lot more to do with his lack of hitting than his fielding.) It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Brewers further shuffle their roster on the trade front as the club continues to chase the either NL Central title or a wild card berth.
I did _not_ see this coming.
The (insert your favorite team here) should make a claim on Perez.
Cubs should DFA Descalso and pick this guy up. Slash line is not that impressive, but way better than anything Descalso has done recently. Perez is younger, more versatile, better athlete, has postseason experience. He comes much closer to replacing Zobrist than Descalso does.
I’d rather have 38 year old Zo. Most or all Cubs fans would agree. Plus David Bote is in line to replace Zonirst not descalso. Especially after the Cubs finally trade addison. Russell next month.
Isn’t Zobrist unavailable after his divorce tho
perez is a great athlete. Some team will definitely pick him up
Mets should pick him up. At this point he’s better than Gómez or lagares.
But, can he pitch?
Yes he actually can
That’s crap! He can play any position.
But he’s not good at any of them.
Better then you
Are you kidding?! He’s actually a better than average outfielder, and has enough arm to play third and short too. You must never watch him play.
Why would I? He’s that type of player that talking heads mention he’s 0 for his last 45 and then some how hit a home run.
Completely untrue. HP is a strong defender virtually anywhere you put him. Great arm, great range. Craig C. said at one point he was the Brewers best defensive outfielder, that was before Cain arrived, but still pretty high praise for a guy who spent most of his career on the infield. That being said, he is not a great hitter, but no one in their right mind could believe Tyler Saladino is better offensively.
it appears there is a trade coming! they have 13 pitchers. brewers won’t go below that. can’t option pina as they need a back up catchers. no other position player has options! so my first assumption is a trade is done!
Please Please let it be Dubon as the one they are bringing up. I thought I read he was playing some outfield. Why Saladino him and Perez are exactly the same player except Perez can pitch and when he is playing it’s like having another coach out there. The only reason I see Perez being dfa is cause you need the 40 man roster spot to add a player.
Brewers have been very disappointing after last years great season. I don’t see them making the playoffs without additional starting pitching. Perez is an excellent bench guy but every time he got more chances he couldn’t deliver.
Wow.
REALLY don’t like this move!
The White Sox should be all over this if Tim Anderson hits the IL.
Was annoyingly good on the basepaths a couple seasons ago. It’s funny looking back and thinking about how Perez and Villar were going to be thorns in the sides of many NL teams for the foreseeable future; we just didn’t realize how nearsighted that vision of the future really was.
I don’t like it
Apparently Brewers fans don’t understand that Perez is going on one year straight of being a backup SS/2b since the Moose acquisition last deadline. Him being capable of playing 7 positions is irrelevant because Gamel takes all the OF innings and is a much better hitter plus he’s a lefty. Moose/Hiura at 3b/2b leaves SS as the only position for Perez to backup. So if Perez isn’t going to improve, like ever, offensively then he needed to be cut or traded because he’s the worst middle IF bat between AAA (Saladino/Dubon/Spangenberg) and MLB while also having the least amount of control and being the most expensive of that group. He’s insanely replaceable
The expense doesn‘t matter for this year.
Good job skipping over literally everything else. And if Perez is traded to another team and they take his salary then that’s 1M+ Stearns can now use toward a deadline acquisition’s salary. At the end of the day Perez is ridiculously replaceable and you can’t even argue against it. Full stop
I’m a Brewers fan and I agree, I think jettisoning Perez was overdue.
very much overdue. he can play all positions (not even well) and that makes people like him. this means counsell won’t force him into the lineup anymore. which is a huge win
Definitely. He’s versatile but has no reliable hitting ability.
I was starting to wonder if he had some dirt on Counsell cheating on his wife or something. Couldn’t understand why he was playing so much….
And Aguilar remains on roster? I don’t get it.
Aguilar has more control, makes 2M less and clearly has the better bat even though they’re both performing similarly offensively this year. Perez will never be more than he’s been whereas Aguilar has proved he can be a solid bat and is capable of being more than he’s been this year
I get what your saying but at the same time Aguilar slump is getting close to being almost a full year now so now what is the real Aguilar that we have. I think Brewer fans can live without Perez but at the same time I dont think Saladino is the one we wanted to see come up
Saladino is definitely not the one I wanted up. glad Perez is out though. real Aguilar is the one we have seen the past year, give thames a real shot man
Thames has 5 hits every day. Hopefully they test him soon and it’s positive. Same with agular. Both are juicing
Stop now your jealousy of this team Is starting to show its ugly head
I personally wanted Dubon up over Saladino but I also want Dubon to start over Arcia so there’s that. Saladino is a better player than Perez and we only need a guy to backup the IF – Saladino can do that. Most of Perez’s value came from playing 7 positions, which isn’t required anymore.
Aguilar’s 2017 was 265/331/837 and his 2nd half 2018 was 245/324/760 (obviously his 1st half was awesome and he overperformed). I think the real Aguilar is somewhere between those numbers and this year he’s stuck in a rut. But I disagree he’s on a one year slump. His 2nd half last year is better than anything Perez has done and while it’s not great it’s certainly better than a lot of bench players. Plus, he doesn’t have any options and has 3yrs cheap control still while Shaw had multiple options and plays a position Hiura does (Aguilar also gives us a backup 1b now that Shaw is in AAA as Grandal needs to catch). If Aguilar can turn it around a little bit in the 2nd half then all the better as he’ll help the team and with rosters expanding to 26 next year it makes even more sense to try to turn him around and keep him.
I’m a Cardinals fan, but Aguilar was a beast last year.
That’s because he’s cheating. He got his supplies from braun and Thames.
Whatever yes Braun got caught cheating what like almost 10 years ago. He paid the price and has passed every test since then. Move on . Thames has never tested positive so show him respect for his hard work.
Braun passed his test because he knows how to manipulate the system. And because thames is his teammate. He showed him, agular, Santana before he was traded to Seattle. Braun showed them all how to pass the system. Basically pay the courier to keep the sample in a refrigerator for 3 or more days.
I wouldn’t doubt if Herman Perez took something of Braun’s stash either.
Never tested that we know of. He played 3 years in the KBO. where I’m sure they dont test like mlb. If he was so great his original team would have kept him and gave him a chance. instead they fired him. The blue Jays would be playoff contenders if they never dfa”d him
Shaw has an option, and can’t refuse the assignment. Aguilar doesn’t, he’d have to clear waivers to remain on the Brewers. Someone would take a flier of Aguilar, year long slump or not. At this point, clearly the Brewers aren’t ready to take that gamble.
Wouldn’t mind the Cardinals taking him but they have Tommy Edman and Yairo Munoz.
Its about damn time, see ya in September shaw
Welcome to the Mets…at least this is what ‘should’ be announced. IF/OF flex with some speed. Oh, he’ll probably get more quality bullpen appearances than the current crop out there.
Lol. Brewer fans are crying over this. No more Herman Perez
No the Brewer fans will totally agree his production probably be replaced but as a person he has traits that these fans have grown to love
Fans love him because he plays every position and he’s a good clubhouse guy. That’s where it ends. Wanting “that” on the roster for “those” reasons is absurdity
Ok I’m excited to have Huira up but really wish Dubon came up he has been taking some at third heck then we could’ve even used Moose at first then
I miss Perez already. RIP