BREAKING: Pirates in Agreement With Free Agent Starter Martín Pérez

The Pittsburgh Pirates have added another piece to their starting rotation. They’ve agreed to a deal with free agent left-hander Martín Pérez. FanSided’s Robert Murray was first with news of the agreement.

The deal, which is pending a physical, is for one-year and $8 million, a source told Pittsburgh Baseball Now.

Pérez, 32, is a 12-year major league veteran. He spent the last two seasons with the Texas Rangers, where he was an All-Star in 2022 and won the World Series this past season. Pérez had a lengthy stint with the Rangers to begin his career from 2012-18. He spent the 2019 season with the Minnesota Twins and pitched for the Boston Red Sox from 2020-21.

In his career, the veteran left-hander has gone 85-81 with a 4.44 ERA (100 ERA+) in 288 appearances/243 starts. In 1,440.2 total innings, Pérez has amassed 1,002 strikeouts agaisnt 519 walks.

In 2023 with the Rangers, Pérez made 35 appearances, 20 of which were starts. He finished the year at 10-4 with a 4.45 ERA in 141.2 innings pitched. Pérez surrendered 150 hits, walked 49 and struck out 93.

In his All-Star campaign the year prior, Pérez went 12-8 with a sparkling 2.89 ERA across nearly 200 innings. That year, he finished fifth in the American League in innings (196.1) and eighth in ERA.

As evident by his lower strikeout totals, Pérez is a pitch-to-contact starter. While opponents are hitting .278 against him in his career, Pérez has done a good job of limiting the longball. For his career, he’s averaged 1.0 home runs per nine innings.

Perez’s deal is the same as the agreement between the Pirates and Rich Hill last offseason. Both signings represent the largest free agent contracts handed out by the club under general manager Ben Cherington.

It’s the second addition to the Pirates’ starting rotation this winter, along with Marco Gonzales, who was acquired from the Atlanta Braves during the Winter Meetings.

Both Pérez and Gonzales fit similar profiles as soft-tossing left-handers the Pirates have sought the last few seasons. In the cases of Tyler Anderson, José Quintana and Hill, the Pirates have had varying levels of success in their utilization.

Starting pitching help has been a point of emphasis for the Pittsburgh Pirates this winter, especially so with Johan Oviedo’s recent Tommy John surgery.