Should Mets even bother trading SP Freddy Peralta?

Freddy Peralta was traded to the New York Mets in the offseason, and all thought he’d bring his ace status from the Brewers to a Mets rotation desperately needing one.

Now, with the trade deadline less than two weeks away, the last-place Mets should consider trading him. But then again, would any team want Peralta at this point?

Freddy Peralta took the mound on Monday for his first Milwaukee homecoming since the trade, and the nightmare season continued. The veteran righty lasted 5.1 innings and gave up seven runs on eight hits with two walks and six strikeouts. The Mets lost 8-3, Peralta’s record fell to 5-9, and his ERA ballooned to 5.01. That is the fourth-worst among qualified starters, trailing only Jeffrey Springs of the Athletics, former Phillies ace Aaron Nola, and Pittsburgh’s Mitch Keller.

The writing is on the wall and the New York Mets, now 42-59, are 17 games out of first place. A fire sale at the August 3 deadline is a certainty. And with Freddy Peralta hitting free agency this winter, lockout or no, he’s a prime trade candidate for a team that needs pitching for a playoff push. Bad as he’s been with the Mets, Peralta was a reliable ace in Milwaukee’s post-Corbin Burnes Era.

Or was he?

If there’s one thing this lost Mets season has done, it’s shine a light on how flawed an ace Freddy Peralta actually is. Let’s look at last year, his age-29 season, as an example. Peralta tossed a career-high 176.2 innings and his 17 wins were another personal best en route to a 3.6 fWAR/5.5 bWAR season. Not bad at all for an ace on a small market team known for meticulously managing their pitchers’ workloads. Remember that Burnes winning the 2021 NL Cy Young drew controversy because he only pitched 160 innings due to spending two weeks on the COVID list in May.

Thus, though Peralta made 33 starts last season, he only pitched at least six innings in 13 of them. He lasted longer than six innings in even fewer starts, only two.

In 2026, Freddy Peralta has pitched six innings or more in only six of 21 starts. He is 2-3 with a 4.05 ERA across them. Peralta doesn’t look great under the hood either with a 4.51 FIP, 3.85 xERA, and 4.27 xFIP. His -9 pitching run value sits in the 11th percentile.

This all means that the Mets should trade Peralta at the deadline. They certainly gave up enough for him in prospects Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat, so keeping him in a non-playoff season and letting him walk for nothing can’t happen.

But after this bad of a season, would any team actually want Freddy Peralta? He’s only just turned 30 and clearly on some sort of decline. His ERA is north of 5.00 and he’s pitched over 100 innings on the season.

So, it begs the question. What’s cheaper for the New York Mets? Let Peralta stumble his way through the rest of the season, or trade him to whichever team is willing to give literally anything? Even the Dodgers were willing to deal pitching prospect Clayton Beeter to the Yankees for Joey Gallo. Better yet, the Yankees unlocked Beeter’s potential before shipping him to the Nationals for Amed Rosario a year ago.

One way or another, no one banked on Peralta having a career-worst season with the Mets, especially Stearns and owner Steve Cohen. It’s now a simple question of eating cost versus cutting losses. Peralta is only earning $8 million this season, so it won’t be tough to move him.

The Mets should just prepare to receive little more than a low-level prospect and cash coming back.