The AL East leading Tampa Bay Rays are adding to an already formidable starting rotation by acquiring right hander Freddy Peralta from the New York Mets.
Heading back the other way is outfielder Aidan Smith, infielder Emilien Pitre, and RHP Gary Gill Hill. The trio are the Rays 15h, 26th, and 27th ranked prospects in their farm system.
Peralta was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers following a 17 win campaign in which he recorded his third straight 200+ strikeout season, and registered a dazzling 2.70 ERA. New York hoped that he was the missing piece to help the team contend for a World Series title in 2026.
Unfortunately, things didn’t play out that way, as the veteran hurler registered a -0.2 WAR, 5-9 record, and 4.99 ERA with the Mets across 22 appearances. With New York comfortably in the basement of the NL East division at 47-66, the team has become sellers in the lead up to the MLB trade deadline this summer.
While Peralta’s season certainly wasn’t an implosion, it was definitely a departure from the usual front of the rotation innings eater fans had grown accustomed to seeing in Milwaukee. In 11 of his 22 starts in Queens, the 6′ righty failed to make it to the 6th inning, while his strikeout rate fell from 28.2% last year to 22.1% this season.
The move seems to fit the mould of the Rays front office who are amongst the best in the business at “buying low” on players and turning them into impactful contributors when they arrive in Tampa. The club was reportedly linked to Tarik Skubal, but chose not to empty their farm system to acquire a rental player. Instead, they’ll give up some mid-tier prospects and hope that Peralta can rediscover his 2025 form in the Sunshine State.
It’s the second veteran that New York has traded away this week following the club’s deal to send A.J. Minter to the Minnesota Twins. The team traded away some highly thought of prospects in Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat to acquire Peralta, but that win now move clearly backfired on the front office.
While they acquire some intriguing pieces coming back the other way, none appear to be MLB level contributors anytime soon, though Smith appears to be the closest of the three.
Photo: Abe Ezekowitz. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.