DETROIT — There’s a problem brewing with the notion Jhonny Peralta will be a bargain free agent this winter.
He’s getting too large a platform to play his way out of the bargain bin.
Peralta, the only one of 13 Biogenesis culprits on a postseason roster, contributed a game-tying, three-run homer and a double that led to the winning run as his Tigers stayed alive Tuesday, outlasting the A’s in an 8-6 thriller to prevail in American League Division Series Game 4 at Comerica Park.
The two clubs will face off in a winner-take-all Game 5 in Oakland, and you can bet Peralta will be in Detroit’s starting lineup. Trying to put Biogenesis further behind him and jacking up his price for the Yankees, Mets and many other teams for which he’d be a good fit.
“I feel … really good that [Tigers general manager Dave] Dombrowski gave me the opportunity here, and the fans, they feel really good for me,” Peralta said. “I tried to do my best for the team and for the fans here in Detroit, so I feel grateful for the opportunity.”
An impending free agent, the 31-year-old Peralta accepted a 50-game suspension from Major League Baseball on Aug. 5 for his involvement with Biogenesis, the now-shuttered South Florida anti-aging clinic that of course is also alleged to have given illegal performance-enhancing drugs to Alex Rodriguez. On July 30, Dombrowski acquired rookie shortstop Jose Iglesias from the Red Sox in a three-way deal, a transaction executed with Peralta’s impending discipline in mind.
Seven-plus weeks in limbo later, with Iglesias having firmly established himself as the Tigers’ shortstop of the future and with icon Miguel Cabrera manning third base, Peralta emerged as an option for left field. Tigers manager Jim Leyland started Peralta there for Game 3, figuring he would risk poor defense in return for some offensive punch. The gamble has paid off.
After A’s starter Dan Straily threw no-hit ball against the offensively dormant Tigers for the first four innings Tuesday, back-to-back singles by Prince Fielder and Victor Martinez to start the fifth brought Peralta to the plate. He slammed a three-run homer to left field, Detroit’s first round-tripper of the series, to even the score at 3-3.
In the seventh, with Martinez tying the game at 4-4 on a solo blast, Peralta doubled down the line to left field. Pinch-runner Andy Dirks came around to score the lead run on Austin Jackson’s two-out, broken-bat single.
Peralta had a very good season in his 107 games, hitting .303 with a .358 on-base percentage and a .457 slugging percentage. He has three hits and five RBIs in eight ALDS at-bats.
“When I was in [the interview room] earlier in the day, I said we needed another over-the-fence bat in the lineup,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “I don’t’ want to sound like I’m smart, but that’s what happened for us, and it was huge.”
When Peralta was working out in his native Dominican Republica during the suspension, he relayed, he spoke to Dombrowski. “He said he got to need me for offense,” Peralta said, “the situation that we are in right now.”
Last year’s rule-breaking free agent, Melky Cabrera, was suspended when he failed a drug test and missed the rest of 2012, thereby calling into question his post-suspension effectiveness. Cabrera signed a two-year, $16 million contract with Toronto last winter and proved a bust, hitting just .279 with a below average. 322 on-base percentage and an anemic .360 slugging percentage. Cabrera, who also played lousy defense, is a caution flag to clubs looking to sign an illegal performance-enhancing drug guy on the rebound.
What makes Peralta — and his fellow Biogenesis free agent Nelson Cruz of Texas — so intriguing is this: Biogenesis shut down before the 2013 season began, and both men recorded strong 2013 campaigns. So, to discuss this as cynically as possible, either the two men did just fine playing “clean,” or they found something elsewhere that, like the Biogenesis products, managed to beat Major League Baseball’s testing, and they did this while their names were in the news the entire season.
Peralta could be a great fit for the Mets as their starting shortstop, or he could be a hybrid shortstop-third baseman for the Yankees. Both teams will have self-imposed budget constraints this winter.
The more we see of Peralta, the less reason to think he should be classified as a buy-low guy. In a weak free-agent class, he’s looking increasingly stellar. Though his past features a scandal, it also includes the post-scandal rebound on which teams would usually have to hope. We’re seeing it now, and it’s impressive.