Shortstop/outfielder Jhonny Peralta told John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press that he enjoys playing with the Tigers and would like to return next season.
“There’s a chance for sure, yeah, because I like the organization here. Do I want to be here? Yeah, I want to be here.”
In addition to a fine regular season for the Tigers, Peralta has continued his success at the plate in the postseason, batting .333 (11-for-33) with four doubles, a home run and six RBIs in ten games.
However, with highly regarded prospect Nick Castellanos expected to be in the Tigers’ outfield next season, and newly acquired Jose Iglesias at shortstop, it’s difficult to see the 32-year old Peralta fitting in with Detroit next season.
Last week, Matt Meyers of ESPN New York highlighted the case for Jhonny Peralta joining the Mets — a rather realistic option looking ahead to next season – and pointed out how badly we need an upgrade at shortstop:.
It’s hard to overstate how bad the Mets’ shortstops were this year, they “hit” .232/.296/.302 and were worth -0.1 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs.
Peralta, on the other hand, hit .303/.358/.457 for the Tigers this year and was worth 3.6 WAR, per FanGraphs, which ranked sixth in all of baseball despite serving a 50-game suspension for his involvement with the Biogenesis scandal.
Peralta really outclassed our crew of shortshops offensively — and although he’s not the best defensive shortstop, he can pass at the position.
It’s fun to think big with names like Jose Reyes or Troy Tulowitzki, but the more likely options will be Peralta or Stephen Drew.
This organization doesn’t seem to mind looking into guys with past PED suspensions, considering that they signed Marlon Byrd last year. The interesting thing about coming off a suspension for PEDs is that it usually drives down a player’s price, as Meyers mentions, which is right into the range that Sandy Alderson likes to shop in.
Peralta has had a pretty solid career — with four different seasons of 20+ home runs and two all-star appearances. He could definitely add some much needed pop to our lineup for 2014.
(Updated)
