A native of the Dominican Republic, Perez began his MLB career with the Braves in September of 1998, just a few months after his 21st birthday. He appeared in ten games out of the bullpen, throwing 10 2/3 innings with an ERA of 4.22. He followed that up with a 1999 season that saw him make 18 appearances, 17 of those being starts, throwing 93 innings with an even 6.00 ERA. After missing the entirety of the 2000 campaign due to injury, he bounced back in 2001 and logged 95 1/3 innings with an ERA of 4.91.

Prior to the 2002 campaign, Perez and two other Braves were part of a huge trade, going to the Dodgers in the deal that sent Gary Sheffield to Atlanta. That year, Perez had the best season of his career, throwing 222 1/3 innings over 32 starts with an ERA of 3.00. He racked up 155 strikeouts and finished the season with a record of 15-10. He was selected to the National League All-Star team that year.

Perez went on to be a mainstay of the Dodgers’ rotation for another three and a half seasons before being dealt to the Royals in July of 2006. He and two other Dodgers were traded to Kansas City for Elmer Dessens. He pitched out of the Royals’ rotation for the remainder of that season as well as the 2007 campaign.

In 2008, he signed a minor league deal with the Nationals, eventually having his contract selected and making the Opening Day start for the club. He allowed a fourth-inning home run to Chipper Jones, which was the first long ball in the history of Nationals Park. That season would ultimately prove to be his last MLB action. All told, he finished his career having played in 252 games, making 221 starts, throwing 1,335 innings with an ERA of 4.46. He racked up 920 strikeouts, four complete games and two shutouts.

We at MLB Trade Rumors offer condolences to the Perez family, as well as his many friends, fans and loved ones.

• Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik told MLB.com's Greg Johns that he is aware that Milton Bradley was arrested and is monitoring the situation as he awaits more information.
• A baseball insider tells John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer that the Reds can't afford a $20MM player. That could make it difficult for the club to retain Joey Votto and Jay Bruce when their current extensions expire.
• Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com hears that Odalis Perez is nearing a $300K deal with a Korean team (Twitter link). The 32-year-old left-hander last appeared in the majors for the 2008 Nationals, when he posted a 4.34 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 159 2/3 innings.
• The Yankees appear to be focused on Andruw Jones, but Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports suggests it's too early to rule them out on another Scott Boras client, Johnny Damon (Twitter link).

• Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker talks about hard-throwing Japanese reliever Ryota Igarashi, perhaps the top free agent from the country for the 2009-10 offseason.
• I did a Q&A over at Coast to Coast Baseball.
• Some doubt with the sale of the Cubs to the Ricketts family: Tribune owner Sam Zell said, "We've made it very public that the Cubs don't fit into the long-term picture of the Tribune.  So if the Ricketts deal doesn't get done, I'm sure there will be other ones."
• In separate articles, Dan Uggla and Octavio Dotel comment on the possibility of being traded.
• Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle says Edgar Renteria was a good signing for the Giants, if you ignore the actual contract.  Eh?
• Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch discusses various third base trades the Cardinals could make.
• SI's Tom Verducci likes Freddy Sanchez for the Rays.  What's wrong with Willy Aybar and Ben Zobrist?
• Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution talked to Braves GM Frank Wren about the team's need for a bat.
• FanGraphs' Matthew Carruth asks: Where's Odalis Perez?

• Pedro Martinez is still homeless. While the complication may be in part due to Pedro's salary demands, it is surprising that nobody has signed him. Yes, his ERA was an unsightly 5.61 in 2008, but his 2007 stint was far better-2.57 ERA in 28 innings. His 87 strikeouts against 44 walks in 109 innings also suggests a pitcher who can help a team on the back end of a rotation. Given that it is Pedro Martinez, there is upside well beyond that, of course.
• Odalis Perez remains strangely unsigned after his even stranger signing that wasn't with Washington this spring. Perez turns 32 on June 7, and had a perfectly average 2008, with a 4.34 ERA in 159 2/3 innings. Obviously, those numbers could help any number of teams.
• Paul Byrd did what he always does in 2008-posted an ERA in the mid 4s (4.60 to be exact), struck out around four per nine innings, and kept his team in the game. Yet Byrd has yet to sign with anyone, either.

The lack of movement on these pitchers can't be due to overwhelming performances by all the starters currently employed. After all, there's Jamie Moyer and his 8.15 ERA, Carlos Silva and his 8.48 ERA, Oliver Perez and his 9.97 ERA… plenty of others at sixes and sevens, from Scott Olsen to Scott Kazmir. (Even as I type this, Moyer is giving up another home run. No, really.)

My suspicion is that teams view Martinez, Perez or Byrd as band-aid solutions. And that would be fine, normally. After all, band-aids have a rich tradition of stopping people from bleeding.

But the trade market for pitchers has the most top targets it's had in years. The Padres are already 10 games out, and Jake Peavy will likely hit the market. If Cincinnati fades, Aaron Harang could be available. If Toronto falls back to earth- and the smart money still has them finishing fourth- Roy Halladay could be someone else's ace by August. And Cleveland's Cliff Lee will be a prominent target as well.

There are even second-tier options that can help teams now and in the future, from Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie to Seattle's Erik Bedard.  And in the current economic climate, teams that fall out of the race may have even greater incentive to shed salary as soon as possible.

So it may well be that for veteran free agents, the market will only pick up once the trade deadline has come and gone. And with so many targets out there, once the deadline deals are made July 31, there may not be any place for Martinez, Perez or Byrd to land.

Berardino adds that the Marlins have a standing offer to southpaw reliever Will Ohman.

Perez is currently in camp with the Dominican Republic squad, preparing for the World Baseball Classic.  He told Brown that "nine or 10 teams" are interested in him and that he plans on using the WBC as an outlet to show he still has value.

The 31-year-old went 7-12 for the Nats last season with a 4.54 ERA.  He agreed to, then ultimately declined a $850K minor league contract from Washington just a few weeks ago.

"He would not return our phone calls and after talking internally with [manager] Manny Acta, [pitching coach] Randy St. Claire and the organization, we all feel it’s important that we want players that want to be here and help us win. We made that decision this morning," GM Jim Bowden said. "We left messages yesterday for his agent, we left messages for Odalis. Again I left messages for him this morning. They made their point pretty clear. We need to turn the page. We have a lot of pitchers in camp that are committed to helping us win."

The mandatory reporting date for all players was Sunday, February 22.  Perez, 31, agreed to a minor league contract worth $850K two weeks ago, but later decided he wanted more compensation.  Now he won’t see a dime from the Nationals. 

He is still expected to pitch for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, which starts on March 3.  A strong showing there could lead to a deal with a new club.

"I thought it best and I prefer to sit in my house if the Nationals do not show more appreciation for my work.  Appreciate my work means to increase the value of the contract and guarantee it. I will not accept any minor league contracts with no safeguards. I instructed my agent to report my position to the Nationals."

Bowden told Chico Harlan of the Washington Post that he dealt with a similar situation with Tony Fernandez in ’95.

"Our understanding is that he has an agreement which both MLB and the union considering binding, and we think the best course would be for [Perez] to come in and honor the agreement. I’ve known Odie a long time, he came up with me in Atlanta and he’s had a nice career for himself. I think this would be a very ill-advised and foolish way for him to conduct the next part of his career."

TUESDAY, 9:16am: Harlan says the mandatory reporting date for those participating in the WBC is today, and Perez intends to pitch in the tournament.  The Nationals have not been in able to get in touch with Perez, says Pete McElroy of MASN.

MONDAY, 6:23pm: Chico Harlan of the Washington Post talked to Nationals GM Jim Bowden, who says he has a "signed term sheet that has been confirmed by the players’ association" for Perez.  However, a source of Harlan’s says the MLBPA’s database of approved contracts does not show this deal.

3:47pm: Odalis Perez’s $850K minor league contract did seem light at the time.  Now word comes from ESPN’s Enrique Rojas that Perez has asked his agent to renegotiate the contract.  He regrets giving his verbal approval and will not supply his signature to the current deal.  Perez has yet to show up for Spring Training, saying:

"I thought it best and I prefer to sit in my house if the Nationals do not show more appreciation for my work.  Appreciate my work means to increase the value of the contract and guarantee it. I will not accept any minor league contracts with no safeguards. I instructed my agent to report my position to the Nationals."

While Perez says he’s not negotiating with other clubs, he added:

"I will play in the World Classic for the Dominican Republic and show everybody that I’m in great shape.  I hope to find a team that values me, otherwise I’ll go home."

This isn’t the first time Perez reacted childishly when he felt he wasn’t getting proper recognition.

9:07am: According to Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post, the Rangers signed pitcher Jason Jennings to a minor league deal. 

Jennings was a bust after the Astros acquired him for the ’07 season; he had surgery for a torn flexor tendon in his elbow in August of that year.  Sound familiar?  It’s the same injury Ben Sheets has.  Jennings was still able to get $4MM guaranteed from the Rangers before the ’08 season, reminding us how drastically the market has changed in one year.  Jennings had another flexor tendon surgery in May of ’08 (the first surgery "didn’t take.")  MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan notes that the Rangers had interest in Odalis Perez before he re-signed with the Nationals.  In a blog post, Sullivan looks at some other flexor tendon cases, with Andy Pettitte being the best one.

Perez, 31, finished with a 7-12 record last season, but he made 14 quality starts and wound up with a 4.34 ERA.  It was his lowest earned run average since 2004.  Manager Manny Acta had this to say about Perez at the end of last season:

"He has given us a lot of quality starts and the innings that we were hoping he would give us out of Spring Training. We think he could have easily won double-digits, almost 15 wins, with any type of help."

Leach confirmed with Jon Garland’s agent that the Cardinals "have called," but nothing has happened beyond that. Leach breaks down the chances that Andy Pettitte, Braden Looper, Randy Wolf, Odalis Perez, Ben Sheets or even Oliver Perez ends up in St. Louis.

The Cardinals appear unlikely to add a reliver or a second baseman.

• Manny Ramirez – Dodgers
• Orlando Cabrera – Athletics
• Derek Lowe – Braves/Mets/Cubs
• Adam Dunn – Nationals
• Bobby Abreu – Reds
• Ben Sheets – Rangers
• Orlando Hudson – Nationals
• Andy Pettitte – Astros (at less than $10MM)
• Jason Varitek – Red Sox (at less than $10MM)
• Ty Wigginton – Astros
• Ivan Rodriguez – Not much of a market, may have to take a minor-league deal with an invite to Spring Training if he’s not signed soon. Could he end up involuntarily retired, a la Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mike Piazza?
• Kevin Millar – Orioles
• Mark Grudzielanek – Padres
• Braden Looper – Brewers
• Garret Anderson, Eric Hinske, Ray Durham, Jim Edmonds, Paul Byrd, Odalis Perez – All of them (with the exception of Byrd, who may retire) are drawing little to no interest and may be without a club on Opening Day.

• According to MLB.com’s Bill Ladson, the Nationals are interested in free agent lefty starter Randy Wolf.  The Mets and Dodgers are also known to be in on him, while we haven’t heard much about the Brewers, Cardinals, or Orioles lately.
• The Washington Post’s Chico Harlan says the Nats want to acquire players who will still be in their primes in 2010 or 2011.  Adam Dunn and Orlando Hudson make sense, at the right price.
• The Nationals aren’t interested in Xavier Nady and don’t believe they "have a legitimate shot at trading for Nick Swisher."
• Odalis Perez remains under consideration, but isn’t a priority.