4 trade targets that could replace Max Scherzer

Martin Perez is a hot-and-cold starter who has been very hot early on in 2022.

Perez has been great for the Rangers in seven starts and 40.1 innings. He’s given up 30 hits, nine earned runs, 11 walks, and struck out 33 batters. His ERA is 2.01, his FIP is 2.42, his WHIP is 1.02, and his ERA+ is 188. 

Perez excels at limiting hard contact. He’s in the 90th percentile in barrel rate, 89th percentile in xSLG, 87th percentile in xwOBA and xERA, and 74th percentile in xBA. He’s not really a strikeout guy (46th percentile in chase rate, 41st percentile in strikeout rate, 37th percentile in whiff rate), but he is good at limiting walks (63rd percentile).

Perez is primarily a sinker/changeup pitcher, but he does like to throw his cutter as well. He does have a curveball and four-seamer as well, but they’re both show-me pitches that he uses less than 10% of the time. He has really good control of all his pitches, and if you go on his Baseball Savant page and look at his heat maps, he has the dark-red groupings that prove it.  

The Rangers are currently in third place in the AL West, behind the Astros and Angels, but ahead of the Mariners and A’s. They’re two games below .500, but six back in the division and the Mariners have been picking up steam and will likely overtake them soon. Perez is a free agent this winter, so he should be cheap and the Rangers should pull the trigger if a contender sends them an offer.