Last December, the Washington Nationals signed Oliver Perez to a two-year deal for $7 million as part of their bullpen makeover to be their lefty specialist. Perez had good moments at the plate, including a two-hit game against the Mets on July 7. However, he had a high ERA and was not even the team’s best left-handed reliever down the stretch.
In 64 games this season, Perez had a 4.95 ERA and had 46 strikeouts to 20 walks in 40 innings of work. His ten strikeouts per nine innings was the sixth highest of his career, but a full strikeout down from last season (11.