The Boston Red Sox made an intriguing move Wednesday to help bolster organizational depth.
Boston has been in the market for a third catcher this offseason to backup Connor Wong and Reese McGuire and reportedly got its man Wednesday as it signed former Cleveland Guardians, Pittsburgh Pirates, and San Francisco Giants backstop Roberto Pérez to a minor league deal, according to MassLive.com's Chris Cotillo.
"Roberto Pérez's deal is a minor league deal with an invite to major league camp," Cotillo said. "He gets $1.4M as a base salary in the majors, per source."
Pérez is an intriguing player to bring into the mix with upside. He joined the Giants ahead of the 2023 season but only appeared in five games due to a rotator cuff injury. The veteran was selected in the 33rd round of the 2008 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft and eventually made his big league debut with the team in 2014.
The 34-year-old spent the first eight seasons of his career with Cleveland and racked up two straight Gold Glove Awards in 2019 and 2020. Since the end of the 2020 campaign, Pérez has appeared in just 70 games at the big league level but if he's healthy he could be a very solid depth option.
At this point, Wong and McGuire still are likely to be the Red Sox's two options at the big league level, but Pérez could eventually find his way back there. If he's healthy and can impress in the spring and at the minor league level, it wouldn't be too surprising to see him in Boston at some point.
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