Milwaukee Brewers agree to contracts with Hernan Perez and Tyler Saladino, avoid arbitration

As the Milwaukee Brewers were making tender and non-tender decisions, they came to terms with infielders Hernan Perez and Tyler Saladino.

According to Jon Heyman, Perez signed for a $2.5 million contract and Saladino agreed to an $887,500 contract. Both are one year deals covering arbitration. Perez is in his second year of arbitration and received a $600,000 raise. Saladino hit arbitration for the first time and received a slight bump in his annual earnings.

Perez was a quality utility player for the Brewers last season. He plays above average defense at most positions, offers a diverse bat off the bench and seems to be a character beloved in his clubhouse. Although Perez is valuable, he likely shouldn’t be trusted to play regularly. In 132 games — many of those partial games — Perez only put up a 79 wRC+ and a 0.6 WAR.

Saladino carries similar value to Perez, just with substantially less experience. In 58 games, Saladino only put up an 86 wRC+ with a relatively elevated BABIP of .321. Still, he has experience at each infield position besides catcher, and without Jonathan Schoop, the Brewers are likely going to need assistance in the infield this season. Saladino also has an option remaining, meaning the Brewers will have roster flexibility with him in the season.

Milwaukee also agreed to a contract with Erik Kratz earlier in the week. His deal was for $1.2 mil, $500K below his MLB Trade Rumors estimate.

Statistics and contract information courtesy of Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs