Martín Pérez returns as safety-net starter, but what’s the larger Red Sox plan?

Where is this going?

The Red Sox on Saturday agreed to terms with Martín Pérez, which was fine. It was good, even. Pérez pitched well last year, the team obviously needed help in the rotation, and the front office saved some money by playing the market and reading it correctly. It was a good move.

But Martín Pérez, quite literally, does not make this team better than it was last season, so what’s the endgame? Pérez feels more like a safety net, a known quantity who fits perfectly into a hole that never had to exist.

So, in the middle of January, after the biggest signing of the winter for the Red Sox, with spring training only a month away, we’re still left wondering what’s next while expecting something more.

And no, it doesn’t help that the Yankees just signed D.J. LeMahieu and Corey Kluber within a few hours of one another.

Multiple sources confirmed the deal first reported by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal: Pérez agreed to a one-year, $4.5 million deal with a $6 million club option and a $500,000 buyout. The deal is pending a physical. According to Rosenthal, Pérez can earn an additional $100,000 for reaching each of 130, 140, 150, 160 and 170 innings in 2021. Similar innings escalators will be in play for 2022.

At $5 million guaranteed, the contract will pay considerably less than the $6.85 million team option the Red Sox declined on Pérez in November, and by adding another team option, the Red Sox gained another year of team control should Pérez repeat his 2020 performance. He was a bright spot in the team’s disastrous rotation, leading the Red Sox in starts and innings while posting a 3.88 ERA before tossing a stat-skewing dud in his season finale. He should fit nicely at the back of the rotation, and the Red Sox needed that. They’re better today than they were yesterday.

But are they better than they were at the end of last season?

So far this winter, the Red Sox have replaced free agent Jackie Bradley Jr. with Hunter Renfroe, a right-handed corner outfielder who’s clearly a threat against lefties but might be exposed in an everyday role. They still don’t have a true center fielder.

They’ve replaced a bunch of up-and-down, replacement-level pitchers with Matt Andriese, a spot starter and long reliever who gives the team depth and flexibility but doesn’t necessarily upgrade the rotation or meaningfully fortify the back of the bullpen.

And now they’ve re-signed Pérez, whom they would have had under contract anyway if they’d been willing to pay a little bit more in November.

It just feels so … incomplete.

Perhaps patience is the virtue of this offseason. An optimistic reading of the Red Sox approach would suggest they’re betting on as much. In his most recent analysis for The Athletic, Jim Bowden gave only three teams an A for their winter maneuverings. If you’ve been following along, you could probably guess all three: the Mets, Padres and White Sox. Few others have stood out. Bowden gave the Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Athletics and Twins an F. The Red Sox were one of six teams to get a D (granted, their grade was artificially inflated by the Alex Cora hiring). Now they’ve added Pérez. What’s that worth, a D-plus? Surely not a C-minus.

Here’s the Red Sox rotation as it stands today:

1. Eduardo Rodriguez

2. Nathan Eovaldi

3. Tanner Houck

4. Martín Pérez

5. Nick Pivetta/Matt Andriese

Rodriguez is coming back from a season lost to COVID-19 and a heart condition, Houck is too high for a pitcher with only three big-league starts, and it’s possible both Pivetta and Andriese are better suited to the bullpen. This rotation still needs at least a No. 2 or No. 3. That could have been Kluber, but the Yankees got him, and it could have been Charlie Morton, but he went to Atlanta. It could be Jake Odorizzi or Masahiro Tanaka or Jose Quintana — the market still has solid options available — but it’s hard to know if or when Boston’s widespread interest will reach the point of action. We know only that the Red Sox are casting a wide net and are considering several possibilities.

Are they really going to move Alex Verdugo to center field, or is a Bradley return/replacement inevitable?

Are they really going to pass on all of the veteran free-agent second basemen, or are they just waiting for the market to bottom out before upgrading?

Are they really going to shy away from notoriously volatile free-agent relievers, or is it just a matter of picking the right one?

We just don’t know. The calendar says it’s getting late, but the market feels more like it’s the middle of the Winter Meetings. It’s worth noting that this week started with the Yankees fanbase feeling its own stagnant frustration before Brian Cashman’s patience with LeMahieu paid off in a long but relatively affordable contract just hours before the Yankees pounced on Kluber within days after his bullpen showcase.

A week from now, perhaps the Red Sox, too, will have selected their targets, made their moves and meaningfully improved their roster. But for now, Pérez is just like Renfroe and Andriese. He clearly fits a need and could be a fine addition, but he leaves this team still needing more, and leaves the rest of us still wondering, where is this going?

(Photo: Billie Weiss / Boston Red Sox / Getty Images)