The Texas Rangers are apparently going for it in the 2023 season.
They brought in a manager who has won three World Series in Bruce Bochy.
They actually took him out of retirement to take over the squad.
They traded for starter Jake Odorizzi, and now they are paying a bit over market value for veteran left-hander Martin Perez.
“Rangers are planning to give Martin Perez the $19.65M qualifying offer,” MLB insider Jon Heyman tweeted.
At 31 years old, Perez had the best season of his life with the Rangers in 2021, with a 2.89 ERA and a 3.27 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) in 196.1 innings.
Rangers are planning to give Martin Perez the $19.65M qualifying offer
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 10, 2022
A Career-Best Season For Perez
His previous career-high in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) was 2.3 in 2016, and he shattered that with a 3.8 output this past year.
The fact that the Rangers are going to give him the qualifying offer, which is only good for one year, means they want to seriously compete this year.
He needs to accept it first, but since he made $4 million in 2022, he will likely say yes to the Rangers under those terms.
It should also buy the Rangers some time to 1) see how the league adjusts to Perez in 2023 and how good he can be; and 2) negotiate a long-term contract if they like what they see.
Perez is expected to lead a rotation that clearly needs more work if the Rangers are going to be relevant in 2023.
They not only have to compete with the AL West (and World Series) champion Houston Astros, but the Seattle Mariners are not going anywhere and the Los Angeles Angels could be factors in a hypothetical race, too.
For now, securing Perez’s return is a nice move.
NEXT: Jake Odorizzi Is Looking To Rebound In Texas Next Season