Brewers Claim Hernan Perez Off Waivers; Tigers Bring Up Josh Wilson
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
DETROIT - The Milwaukee Brewers announced Tuesday they have claimed former Detroit Tigers infielder Hernan Perez off waivers.
Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said Tuesday afternoon that the Tigers placed Perez on waivers hoping he would not be picked up.
"We had talked to clubs beforehand, and really we had not a great deal of interest in trade at this time - minimal, is the way I would describe it, which is understandable," Dombrowski said. "We've always liked Hernan, think he has a chance to be a good player, but he was just sort of stuck in a role that really didn't fit for him at this point, and as an a young player it's hard to do that, and so we were hopeful at this point for his good as much that we could get him through and then let him play in Triple A.
"We thought we had a shot to get him through," Dombrowski continued. "If we thought we were legitimately going to get him claimed for sure, we would have probably had a better chance to trade him ... Unfortunately we lost him, but sometimes you have to do those things in order to put your club in a position to make the moves that you need to do."
The Tigers signed Perez as an amateur free agent in 2007. He had played in 22 games for Detroit this season and had a batting average of .061 and an on-base percentage of .088.
"I was hoping he would get through waivers so that he could go down because I like him a lot," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. "He's just stuck in a rut where he's not playing, and he's not going to be able to fix himself unless he plays, so I was hoping he'd get through waivers so he could go to Toledo, stay with the organization and play and get himself right because I think he has a chance to be a good player."
In 66 career games for the Tigers over the span of four seasons, Perez had a batting average of .160 and an on-base percentage of .189.
In a corresponding move, Detroit called up infielder Josh Wilson, who has a batting average of .291 and an on-base percentage of .350 over the course of 37 games for the Toledo Mud Hens this season.
"I don't think it's going to be a problem for him handling the playing or not playing," Ausmus said. "He's been through that before. His whole major league career has basically been that."
