The Other Side of the Argument on Salvador Perez

look at the facts

Just because you sign a contract extension doesn’t mean you can’t be shipped to the minors. In fact, I’d argue this makes it more likely he can be sent down, because even after he burns through his options, if he sucks, he can be DFAed and pass through waivers because no team will want to take on that financial commitment for a crappy player.

I think there is a downside argument here. The contract will be a stinker if Perez just isn’t cut out for MLB. That’s about the only way it can be a stinker (unless he blows out an ACL), but that is a very real possibility. Perez has kind of come out of nowhere. Just two years ago he was putting up decidedly mediocre to poor numbers in low A ball. Granted he was young and its a pitchers’ league, but the guy hasn’t exactly put up the kind of hitting numbers that make you certain as to to future success.

Is it possible that he performs worse in the next 5 years. We’ll never know, but sometimes the guy who is making the minimum will bust his ass off looking for his big payday down the road.
The Royals gave Perez his big payday (for him, not for baseball players) without the years of him busting his ass.

Or, maybe the contract eases his financial worries, clears his head, and allows him to play his best over the next 5 years.

This contract is a lottery ticket. A lot of people use that analogy for PTBNL, but it applies here as well. Best case scenario, the Royals will only be able to afford one super star player at a time. Now, that number bumps up to two, if Perez fills in his upside. I’m not saying that’s going to happen… but it could. And for Royals fans that’s awesome.

For to long, we have been forced to hope for an Alex Gordon type scenario. A player with a ton of talent, who manages to fuck it up just long enough, for the Royals to be able to sign them to a reasonable extension.

The fact that Perez is unproven is a feature, not a bug. That’s the entire reason the Royals were able to make this deal come together. I’d like to see more of this, not less. It’s the Major League equivalent of over slot spending in the draft.

His defense is so advanced that he does not have to hit that well to be valuable. All signs point to sal being very good defensively at a premium position, and if he is, a 270/300/410 or around there makes him very valuable especially under this contract.
He would have to completely flame out or be derailed by injuries for this not to work. This was a great low risk high reward extension from any angle

There isn’t a young catcher anywhere I’d rather have on this team than Sal Perez. It was a GREAT signing. Get over it and can the negativity.

To get you to write a positive article on Sal’s performance in 2012, at the end of the season, what stat line must he achieve?

Would a .275/.325/.430 line with 10 HR’s and quality defense (30% base stealers thrown out, very few passed balls, limited errors) satisfy you?

but when and more importantly why did Will change his name to “Freneau”

to present another side, this deal is good in every way. Perez would have made $480,000 this year no matter what, and unless he died or had a career ending injury, he would be on the MLB roster at least as a backup at least one more year. Worst case scenario, we waste what amounts to about $1.2 million per year.

Fangraphs points out that Jarrod Saltalamachia and Jeff Mathis went year to year for 5 years, and made $4.5 million and $5.4 million respectively, so if he does not have a career ending injury, and ends up being a fairly undesirable part timer, we lose about $400,000 a year, less than the major league minimum.

Geovany Soto went year to year and was pretty good, and made $8.9 million in 5 years, so if he reaches that level, we make a couple million.

After that it’s all team options, and that is team options for his 27, 28, and 29 year old seasons. We locked up a promising young player for at an important position for his entire 20’s (If we decide we want to exercise the options) for a guaranteed outlay of only $7million. That kicks ass! If that was lottery odds I’d be taking my paycheck to Quiktrip every week.

the guys a force in front of and behind the plate (no homo).

I’ve read many saying that Perez is a spectacular defensive catcher. This has been said using a wide variety of superlatives that basically describe him as super-terrific, elite defensive catcher; probably one of the best in the game. My question is, where do you get this from? Scouting reports? His MLB performance? “With your own eyes” evaluation?

I’m not saying he isn’t a good defensive catcher, but is he really super extra great one-of-the-best-in-baseball? Here is what the 2011 BA Prospect Handbook said about his defense:

Perez has slightly above average arm strength and threw out 42 percent of basestealers in 2010. He does a good job of framing pitches, handling velocity and calling a game.

My point here is that the consensus is that even if he hits very poorly, his super-elite defense will still make him pretty valuable. Is that true? Are his defensive skills and performance truly transcendant?