The Mets are headed toward seller mode, and that means the August 3 MLB trade deadline could bring a lot of movement. Luke Weaver stands out as the club’s best trade chip, with the kind of profile that could draw a serious haul. Freddy Peralta, though, is a different story.
Peralta is still expected to be moved, but his market has taken a hit because of how this season has gone. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com pointed to the right-hander’s recent struggles and said, "Peralta's season has greatly diminished his trade value, so even though he's on an expiring contract and headed for free agency, the right-bander's recent performance (6.67 ERA in 11 starts since May 23) will impact the type of return the Mets can expect," Feinsand writes.
That’s a tough turn for the Mets, especially considering what they gave up to get him in the first place. They sent Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams to the Milwaukee Brewers for Peralta, and the return this summer is not shaping up to match that kind of price tag.
There’s still reason to believe teams will call. Peralta’s upside is real, and his 2.70 ERA season with the Brewers last year is the kind of track record that can keep interest alive.
But the numbers from this season are hard to ignore. His 5.01 ERA is a major warning sign, and it’s enough to drag down what the Mets can reasonably expect back.
Feinsand even suggested Clay Holmes might bring in a better return right now, despite Holmes dealing with an injury and having made just nine starts this year. For the Mets, that’s the frustrating part: if Peralta had pitched even a little better, he could have been a premium deadline piece. Instead, New York may have trouble landing a top-tier prospect for him this summer.
In Other News...
Mets Under Fire After Loyal Season Ticket Holder Gets Pushed Aside
A longtime season ticket holder found himself displaced from his first-row right field spot at Citi Field as the Mets made room for a movie shoot during the series against the Dodgers. The production, for the upcoming baseball-romance film The Catch, brought extra Hollywood traffic to the ballpark and even had both teams in standard uniforms to keep the scenes looking right.
Emma Stone was seen in the dugout with Juan Soto during the filming, a reminder of how far the Mets were willing to go to accommodate the project. The move left a familiar seat occupied by someone else for the moment, and it added another layer to a week in which the ballpark felt as much like a set as a stadium. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Fans May Not Like Where Francisco Alvarez Trade Talk Is Going
The latest Francisco Alvarez chatter is the kind that makes Mets fans uneasy, because it starts with a simple baseball question and quickly turns into a bigger one about value. Alvarez has shown enough offense to keep his name in the conversation, but his defensive issues remain part of the equation, and recent trade talk has framed him as the sort of player who could draw a meaningful return if the Mets ever decided to listen.
Bostons deal for Curtis Mead from Washington, with Connelly Early going the other way, offers at least one benchmark for how clubs are valuing young talent right now, and it helps explain why Alvarez is being discussed in the first place. Seattle has been floated as one possible fit, and the Mets, if they ever went down this road, would be looking for a major leaguer back, likely on the mound or perhaps at third base, even as some around the game are already cooling the idea of an actual trade. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Free Agency Regret Looks Even Worse After Another Rival Win
Kazuma Okamotos first season after leaving Japan has become a useful reminder of how quickly a free-agent market can look upside down. The slugger landed a four-year, $60 million deal and has already given his new club the sort of middle-of-the-order production teams pay for, with power and run production carrying the profile even as the batting average and strikeout totals stay noisy.
For the Mets, the comparison is hard to ignore because the names ahead of Okamoto on their wish list have not delivered the way anyone expected. Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette were the big swings, the kind of targets that can shape an entire winter, but both have underwhelmed relative to their reputations and price tags, leaving another rival success story to sharpen the sense that the safer, less glamorous path might have been the better one. [Read more 🡒]