The Tampa Bay Rays bet on Freddy Peralta at the MLB trade deadline, bringing him over from the New York Mets with the hope that he could get back to being the kind of pitcher who looked like an All-Star and a top-tier starter in 2025.
That didn’t happen in New York. Peralta’s Mets run went off the rails, and the numbers tell the story: a 4.99 ERA in 22 starts.
Since arriving in Tampa Bay, though, things have looked a lot better. He’s posted a 3.25 ERA with the Rays, and that stretch has given him at least a path to repair some of the damage done to his free-agent outlook.
MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand pointed to the postseason as the key. In his view, a strong October could help Peralta push back against the ugly first half that dragged down his market.
"Peralta's time with the Mets was a disaster, potentially costing him millions in free agency," Feinsand writes. "... A good postseason could help erase the memory of Peralta's first four-plus months of this season as he heads to free agency."
The Mets numbers are still going to sit on Peralta’s resume no matter what happens next. But what he does with the Rays is already working in his favor, and a big postseason would make that much harder for teams to ignore.
A nine-figure contract still feels unlikely unless a team is willing to go very long-term and bring the average annual value way down from what pitchers usually get. More realistically, Peralta is looking at a decent payday, with the real question being the length of the deal.
Before his turnaround with Tampa Bay, a one-year prove-it contract in the $20 million range seemed like the likely path. Now, with the Rays version of Peralta in the mix, there’s a chance he could land something longer, maybe with player options, or even convince a club to focus more on the Milwaukee Brewers and Rays version of him than the rough Mets stretch.
That all comes down to October. If Peralta pitches well in the postseason, especially if he helps the Rays win the World Series, he can do real damage control on his free-agent value and soften the blow from that ugly Mets stint.
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Free agency should give Stearns a chance to add proven help rather than hope for internal fixes alone, and there are a handful of relievers who fit the profile of possible targets. Chris Minter, Adam, Abreu and Taylor Clarke are among the names to watch as the Mets try to steady a unit that has become one of the clearest pressure points on the roster. [Read more 🡒]