It’s been a very up and down season for veteran lefty Martín Pérez. After winning a World Series ring with the Rangers last season, Pérez signed a one year deal as a free agent with Pittsburgh.

He joined the Pirates as a veteran in a rotation that was set to see an influx of youth in the form of Jared Jones (who made the team out of spring training) and Paul Skenes (who was called up in May).

Pérez, who had an All Star campaign in 2022 with Texas, had cooled off quite a bit during the Rangers’ World Series season, but he was still seen as a reliable pitcher who you could get a decent amount of innings out of.

He wasn’t brought in to be the ace of the Pirates pitching staff, but as a middle of the rotation guy, hopefully the team could get a good return on their $8 million investment.

However, it has not gone all that well for Martín. Through 73.1 innings pitched for the Pirates, Pérez has a 1-5 record, 5.15 ERA, and 1.62 WHIP.

Last night was another rough start for Pérez, surrendering 9 hits and 5 earned runs as he was dinged for his fifth loss of the season in Pittsburgh’s 9-0 defeat in Milwaukee. He struck out 5 and walked 3 in his 4.2 innings of work.

Since returning from a month-long stint on the Injured List, Pérez has allowed 13 runs in 16.0 innings while on the mound for the Pirates. Though he put together a terrific July 4th performance (which the Pirates wasted and lost), he has given up 5+ runs in two of his three games back from the IL.

His struggles have prompted some discussion about a potential trade out of town. The trade deadline is just a few weeks away and Pérez is a rental. Despite being a lefty, his recent performance would have soured the market for him, making any return minimal if things keep going this way.

While trying to see if you could get anything back for Martín is a option, and one that I wouldn’t doubt the Pirates are going to explore, I am here to present another solution.

Move him to the bullpen.

Pérez has been a starting pitcher for the vast majority of his career. Of his 301 major league games, 256 of them have been starts. Last season, however, 15 of his 35 appearances for the Texas Rangers came out of the bullpen.

Around this same time last season, the Rangers were having a similar problem with Pérez, where he was becoming unreliable as a starting pitcher. The month of July saw him pitch 18.0 innings and record a 8.50 ERA in 4 starts. Opponents were batting .338 against him, and he had given up 4+ earned runs in 3/4 of those starts in July.

Texas then made the choice to relocate him to the bullpen, where the results were almost instant. Pérez recorded a 3.77 ERA in August, and 11.0 of his 14.1 innings were scoreless.

It ended up being a terrific fix for Pérez and the Rangers. His final two months of the regular season saw him exclusively a bullpen arm, and it paid off extremely well for both him and Texas.

As a starter, Pérez played 20 games and pitched 108.1 innings. He had had a 4.98 ERA, 1.523 WHIP, and 1.68 K/BB ratio. Opponents batted .288 against him and had an OPS of .809.

As a reliever, Pérez played 15 games and pitched 33.1 innings. He had a 2.70 ERA, 1.020 WHIP, and 3.00 K/BB ratio. Opponents batted .222 against him and had an OPS of .654.

Now, the Pirates find themselves in a tricky situation with Pérez, the same one that Texas found themselves in last year.

His poor performance as a starter has given away two games for the Pirates, and as the season drags along, Pittsburgh becomes increasingly in less of a position to sustain those kinds of losses.

The Pirates need to experiment with Pérez the same way that Texas did, by shifting him to a bullpen role.

Moving Pérez out of the rotation would leave a gap for the Pirates, but with Luis Ortiz stepping up in a big time way for the Bucs this year, Ortiz and Pérez can essentially swap places for now.

Ortiz owns a 2.95 ERA and 1.180 WHIP (both the best marks of his career) and has now started 2 games for Pittsburgh, filling in one of the starting rotation spots that have been vacated by the injured Jared Jones and Bailey Falter.

Other injured arms are also making a comeback. Although Josh Fleming technically started Tuesday night’s game in Milwaukee against the Brewers, Quinn Preister pitched 6.0 innings and turned in arguably the best game of his young major league career, allowing only 1 earned run and striking out 8 batters.

The Pirates have been very comfortable with Preister having a rotation spot this season since his initial call up, and that confidence only grew stronger after his last start.

Marco Gonzales, who has been on the IL since mid-April, is also nearing a return for the Pirates. He is currently in Indianapolis with the team’s Triple-A affiliate on a rehab assignment. Although things aren’t going particularly smooth for Gonzales as he rehabs through his forearm injury, it probably isn’t all that long before we see him back in the big leagues if he stays healthy.

The team is also confident that Jones and Falter won’t be out for extended periods of time. Although return dates are far from confirmed, they are expected to make returns a few weeks down the road.

So, the Pirates do have options to fill the gap that a Pérez shift would cause. In my mind, it’s worth a shot. Pérez last season was night and day between a starter’s job and a bullpen gig, and it would give the team another lefty in the bullpen.

It’s also not like this is a permanent, one-time only move. They can shift him back and forth as they see fit, but given what the move did for Pérez’s performance last season, the Pirates absolutely have to at least consider it.

(Featured photo by John Bazemore/AP)