Cleveland Indians: 3 players you should be prepared to lose this offseason

Roberto Perez, C, Cleveland Indians

It’s been a rough season for Roberto Perez. Due to multiple injuries, the defending two-time Gold Glove winner has played in just 34 games this year for Cleveland. Even when he’s been healthy he hasn’t been the same player. After being error-free in 2020, Perez has four errors this season with a fielding percentage of .987, the lowest mark of his entire career.

Now, part of that could be due to the injuries and not finding chemistry with the pitchers. However, the last time he had that many errors was in 2018 when he had five and that came in nearly double the amount of innings behind the plate than he has this year.

To make matters worse, Perez can’t find his groove at the plate. While it’s a small sample size, he still is slashing just .136/.246/.318, the lowest average of his career. Normally bad hitting is something that can be overlooked for catchers, but Wilson Ramos has shown that there’s a better offensive option in-house right now.

Taking all that into account and it seems like Perez would be on a short-leash as is in Cleveland. However, he has a very hefty club option for next year at $7 million. Given his injuries this season and struggles on the field and I have a hard time believing that Cleveland would pick up that option. Especially when they could re-sign Ramos for much cheaper and get equal, if not better, production.