Chris Perez signs minor league contract with Brewers

LOS ANGELES -- The Brewers have signed former pitcher Chris Perez to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league camp in spring training, the team announced on Wednesday. Perez is the latest Dodgers free agent to sign a minor league deal elsewhere.

The contract can earn Perez up to $3 million if he makes the club out of spring training and reaches every performance bonus, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.

Perez was 1-3 with a 4.27 ERA in 49 games for the Dodgers in 2014, including 39 strikeouts and 25 walks in 46⅓ innings, after signing a one-year, $2.3 million deal as a free agent.

Perez began the year as a setup man, but like many best-laid plans in the Dodgers bullpen last year, that didn't work out so well. By May he was mostly pitching in low-leverage roles, then was sidelined for nearly all of August with bone spurs in his right ankle.

He finished in a three-way tie for second on the Dodgers in saves. With one.

In addition to his base salary, Perez earned $1.5 million more in performance bonuses, but he topped out at 49 appearances. A fully healthy Perez did not pitch in the final six games of the year, denying him another $500,000 bonus for reaching 50 games pitched.

Despite pitching relatively well down the stretch, pitching seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts with just six baserunners allowed in September, Perez was left off the Dodgers' playoff roster for the NLDS against the Cardinals.

To date, among Dodgers free agents only Hanley Ramirez and Chad Billingsley have secured major league contracts for 2015, and it doesn't bode well for the remaining quartet.