Rafael Perez

Perez enjoyed a nice bounce-back season from his 2010 struggles, but he's still proven unable to find the form he flashed in 2007 and 2008. The downward spiraling strikeout rate trend continued again last year (10.14 K/9IP in 2008 down to 4.71 in 2011) and it really nosedived in the second half, as he fanned just eight batters in 25.1 innings. Perez doesn't chew up lefties like he used to and began to cede most of the setup duties to fellow southpaw Tony Sipp as the season wore on. He'll enter the season as the second lefty out of the Cleveland bullpen behind Sipp, but his days of dominating may be over.

Perez rebounded a bit from some early-season struggles but it was still his second straight disappointing season (1.590 WHIP, 5.3 K/9IP) despite a 6-1 record and a 3.25 ERA. The precipitous drop in his strikeout rate (10.9, 9.2, 10.1, 6.0, 5.3 the last five years) has to be cause for major concern as he continues to struggle to find the form he flashed from 2006-2008. He could surprise and be a nice endgame staff filler, but don't be afraid to cut bait early if he comes out of the gate struggling again.

Well that came out of nowhere. After two seasons of dominance out of the Indians' bullpen, Perez was just plain brutal in 2009. He made two trips to Triple-A Columbus to try and figure things out but never really did. Lefties hit .412 off of him and he was knocked around at home where batters hit .446 off of him when they put the ball in play. That's just short of ridiculous. Add it all up and you get an ugly casserole (7.31 ERA, 1.896 WHIP) that hopefully wasn't kept as leftovers in the fridge this offseason. He'll be back as the team's primary weapon out of the bullpen from the left side.

Perez took awhile to get untracked but was back to his old ways in the second half (1.009 WHIP and 42 Ks in 33.2 innings). The Indians have been hesitant to move him into the closer's role, a far too common plight for dominant southpaws, and he'll likely be relegated to a setup role again this season. He'll get a few saves along the way but his usage, and not his effectiveness, will limit his fantasy impact.

Perez teamed up with Rafael Betancourt to give the Indians a devasting lefty-righty combination in the late innings last season. Perez posted a 0.923 WHIP and a 1.78 ERA in 60.2 innings. He's probably had too much success in his current role for the Indians to ever consider moving him back into the starting rotation but he has had some success in that role in the minors. He's much more that just a lefty specialist (righties hit just .213 off him last year in 35.1 innings) and the Indians realized that. He'll be back in a similiar role with the Indians again in 2008.

Got a call-up to the bigs last year, after 535.2 career innings in the minors. He's still young, but has always walked too many people and will need to harness his stuff to stick around for a while.

After struggling for parts of two years in Single-A, Cleveland finally found the answer to Perez' problems -- they moved him to Double-A. In Akron, Perez had a 1.75 ERA in 66-plus innings, including eight starts, walking 12 and striking out 46. He'll be just 24 in 2006 and he'll still be a lefty, which means he could be looking forward to a nice, quick rise to the majors and a decent career.