Rangers sign free agent LHP Martín Pérez to one-year contract
Surprise, AZ — The Texas Rangers today formally announced that the club has signed left-handed pitcher Martín Pérez to a one-year contract for the 2022 season.
Additionally, the team has signed outfielder Jake Marisnick, left-handed pitcher Matt Moore, and right-handed pitcher Brandon Workman to minor league contracts with invitations to Major League Spring Training camp.
Pérez, who turns 31 on April 4, will be making a return to the Rangers, the club which originally signed him in 2007 and where he spent the first 11 seasons of his professional career from 2008-18. He went 7-8 with a 4.74 ERA (60 ER/114.0 IP) over 36 games/22 starts with the Red Sox in 2021, his second year in Boston. Over his two years with the Red Sox, Pérez had a 5.58 ERA (57 ER/92.0 IP) and .871 opponent OPS figure at Fenway Park, along with 3.64 ERA (34 ER/84.0 IP) and .732 opponent OPS in road games. Since 2016, his first full campaign after returning from ‘Tommy John’ surgery, Pérez has the fifth-most starts (143) and innings (810.1) of any pitcher in the American League.
Pérez has four different 10-win seasons in his career, including three with Texas, one of which was a career-high 13 victories in 2017. With the Rangers, he has gone 43-49 with a 4.63 ERA (392 ER/761.1 IP) in 141 games/128 starts, ranking among all-time club leaders in starts (12th), innings (17th), and wins (T19th). While Perez has more outings in Arlington (76) than any other location, all of those appearances came at Globe Life Park in Arlington, as he has yet to pitch at the new Globe Life Field.
Marisnick, who turns 31 on March 30, split the 2021 season with Chicago-NL and San Diego, batting .216 (38-176) with 5 home runs and 24 RBI. He has spent the bulk of his career with the Houston Astros and has played in the Majors in each of the last nine seasons. He is a.228 hitter with 61 home runs, 207 RBI, and 77 stolen bases over 800 games in his MLB career with Miami (2013-14), Houston (2014-19), New York-NL (2020), Chicago-NL (2021), and San Diego (2021).
Moore, 32, is also returning to the Rangers, where he spent one season in 2018. He pitched for Philadelphia in 2021, going 2-4 with a 6.29 ERA (51 ER/73.0 IP) in 24 games/13 starts. A 2013 American League All-Star with Tampa Bay, Moore posted a career-high 17 wins that season. He also posted 7.0 shutout innings for the Rays in 2011 ALDS Game 1 against the Rangers at Globe Life Park in his postseason debut. Moore is 56-60 with a 4.64 ERA over 205 games/164 starts in his Major League career with Tampa Bay (2011-16), San Francisco (2016-17), Texas (2018), Detroit (2019), and Philadelphia (2021).
The 33-year-old Workman went 1-2 with a 5.46 ERA over 29 relief appearances with the Cubs and Red Sox last year. He began the season with Chicago-NL before a two-month stint with the Red Sox from June 3-July 28. He was designated for assignment on July 29 and elected free agency on August 1. In 2019, he posted career highs for saves (16), appearances (73), and strikeouts (104), posting the lowest opponent batting average (.123) in MLB history. He has a career 4.02 ERA with 9.4 strikeouts per 9 innings spanning 238 games/18 starts in the Majors with Boston (2013-14, 2017-20, 2021), Philadelphia (2020), and Chicago-NL (2021). Workman was born in Arlington, attended Bowie (TX) High School and the University of Texas, and still resides in Justin.
With today’s signings, the Rangers now have 63 players on the club’s Spring Training roster: 39 on the Major League roster and 24 non-roster invitees.