Rays land Peralta from Mets ahead of trade deadline
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Freddy Peralta is heading to Tampa Bay to join Drew Rasmussen, Shane McClanahan and Nick Martinez in one of the American League's best rotations, as the first-place Rays try to hold off the Yankees and Red Sox in the AL East.
- The Mets receive outfielder Aidan Smith, infielder Emilien Pitre and right-hander Gary Gill Hill, all minor leaguers — Smith was a 2023 fourth-round pick, Pitre a 2024 second-round pick slashing .308/.438/.447, and Hill owns a 4.43 ERA across 15 Double-A starts.
- Peralta logged a 4.99 ERA in 113 2/3 innings over 22 starts with New York, with his strikeout rate tumbling from 28.2% last season to 22.1% and his whiff rate falling from 30.1% to 26.8%.
- The January deal that brought Peralta to New York cost the Mets two top prospects plus right-hander Tobias Myers; the Mets now sit in last place six months later.
- Peralta failed to complete five innings in 15 of his 22 Mets outings despite taking the ball every five days, a stark contrast to his 2.70 ERA over 33 starts with Milwaukee last season.
- The Mets are treating this as a fire sale — Peralta is the second veteran unloaded since Thursday alongside reliever A.J. Minter, with starters Clay Holmes, relievers Luke Weaver and Huascar Brazoban, and outfielders Tyrone Taylor and Luis Robert Jr. among candidates to move before Monday's trade deadline.
Why it matters: The Mets surrendered two top prospects and Tobias Myers in January for a pitcher who posted a 4.99 ERA and saw his strikeout rate collapse by 6.1 percentage points — recouping only three lower-level minor leaguers six months later. The Rays, meanwhile, get a buy-low candidate joining a contender's rotation for a fraction of January's cost, while New York continues dismantling a roster now sitting in last place.
