Minnesota Twins to decline 2020 option on Martin Perez

The Minnesota Twins’ southpaw started the season red-hot, but a second-half dive and an omission from the ALDS roster signaled the end was coming.

The Minnesota Twins were busy making the initial moves to bolster their starting rotation on Monday after extending a qualifying offer to Jake Odorizzi. While Odorizzi had the opportunity to accept a one-year, $17.8 million deal to stay with the Twins, fellow starter Martin Perez wasn’t so lucky as KSTP-TV’s Darren Wolfson reported the Twins will be declining his option.

As Wolfson mentions, this was a move that Twins fans had seen coming for months. Perez was white-hot to start the season going 7-1 with a 2.95 ERA in his first 11 appearances (eight starts). Just as it looked like the Twins had a steal on their hands, Perez’s reliance on his cutter backfired and as he failed to adjust, hitters teed off as Perez went 3-6 with a 6.29 ERA in his final 21 starts.

With Perez descending into a downward spiral, the Twins left him off of the American League Divisional Series roster against the Yankees and even with four members of the starting rotation set to test the market, the Twins decided to make Perez expendable.

While the Perez signing didn’t work out long term, there are some things that the Twins can take away from this. The Twins were able to get some use out of Perez in the short term and that could be a testament of the new wave of thinking from pitching coach Wes Johnson.

This may lead the Twins to take another gamble on a reclamation project later this winter, but with their search for impact pitching, Minnesota may also look to aim higher.