{"id":532262,"date":"2026-01-22T07:05:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T07:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/532262\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T07:05:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T07:05:25","slug":"brewers-trade-freddy-peralta-to-mets-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/532262\/","title":{"rendered":"Brewers Trade Freddy Peralta To Mets"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mets make another splash, acquiring All-Star starter Freddy Peralta<\/a> and swingman Tobias Myers<\/a> from the Brewers for prospects Jett Williams<\/a> and\u00a0Brandon Sproat<\/a>. The teams announced the blockbuster trade on Wednesday night. New York designated<\/a> right-hander\u00a0Cooper Criswell<\/a> for assignment in a corresponding move.<\/p>\n

After losing out on Kyle Tucker<\/a>, the Mets have signed Bo Bichette<\/a> and traded for\u00a0Luis Robert Jr.<\/a> and Peralta. Tonight\u2019s move is arguably the biggest of the three, as Peralta gives them a legitimate #1 starter atop what had been a talented but volatile rotation. He\u2019s coming off a career season that landed him fifth in NL Cy Young balloting.<\/p>\n

Peralta set a career mark with 176 2\/3 innings while managing a personal-best 2.70 earned run average. He punched out 28.2% of opponents behind a near-13% swinging strike rate while issuing walks at a 9.1% clip. Peralta\u2019s underlying marks have been consistently strong over his five seasons as a full-time starter. He misses bats at a plus rate with solid command. He had been a little susceptible to the longball between 2023-24, which elevated his ERA slightly (3.77) over that span. A dip in homer rate was the biggest factor in last year\u2019s results, but estimators like FIP and SIERA feel he has been more or less the same pitcher five years running.<\/p>\n

The 6\u20194\u2033 righty challenges hitters with his fastball, a 94-95 MPH offering that plays up because of its plus spin and life. He backs that up with a changeup that he\u2019ll throw to hitters of either handedness and a pair of breaking balls (though he only uses his slider against righties). His willingness to attack hitters up in the zone with the fastball leads to a fly-ball approach and the occasional home run, but it\u2019s a worthwhile tradeoff for the few baserunners he\u2019ll allow. Opposing hitters have mustered a .210\/.288\/.367 batting line over the past three seasons.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Peralta also brings an excellent durability track record to stabilize a rotation that was light on established innings sources. He hasn\u2019t required a single stint on the injured list in three years. He\u2019s tied for fifth with 95 starts and ranks 15th with 516 innings over that stretch. Only\u00a0Dylan Cease<\/a> and\u00a0Zack Wheeler<\/a> have more strikeouts in that time. Peralta and Cease are the only pitchers to record 200+ strikeouts in each of the past three seasons. He battled some shoulder issues in 2021-22, including a lat strain that limited him to 18 appearances four years ago, but his recent health record has been clean.<\/p>\n

Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns knows Peralta well from his time running baseball operations with Milwaukee. He\u2019s probably the best starting pitcher who\u2019ll get traded this offseason, so the Mets would surely have been involved even without that connection, but the familiarity only made him a more natural fit. Stearns also brought back closer Devin Williams<\/a> on a three-year free agent contract as his biggest bullpen move of the winter.<\/p>\n

The Stearns-led front office wisely locked Peralta up on an extension before his breakout. Peralta had been an unheralded amateur signee by the Mariners whom the Brewers acquired as one of three prospects in an Adam Lind<\/a> trade when he was in rookie ball. He worked in a swing role with mixed results over his first two seasons. Milwaukee secured him on a $15.5MM guarantee with a pair of $8MM club options over the 2019-20 offseason. It almost immediately became one of the sport\u2019s most team-friendly contracts.<\/p>\n

Peralta is headed into the final season of that deal and playing on the second of those $8MM options. The Mets will happily pick up that salary and the associated $8.8MM luxury tax hit. RosterResource<\/a> projects them for a $365MM competitive balance tax payroll. They ended last season with $347MM in CBT commitments and paid another $91.6MM in taxes.<\/p>\n

This is much more affordable from a salary perspective than were the Bichette and Robert acquisitions, though the pitcher is less than a year from a monster payday of his own. He\u2019s on track to hit free agency before his age-31 season and could command the second-largest contract in the class after Tarik Skubal<\/a>. He\u2019s a lock to reject a qualifying offer barring a major injury. The Mets would receive a compensation pick after the fourth round in \u201927 if he walks. As a revenue sharing recipient, Milwaukee would\u2019ve gotten a pick after the first round had they kept him (assuming he signed elsewhere for $50MM+).<\/p>\n

The Mets will presumably make an effort to keep him long term, but the main focus is on 2026. Peralta slots ahead of touted rookie\u00a0Nolan McLean<\/a> at the top of the staff.\u00a0Sean Manaea<\/a>, Clay Holmes<\/a>,\u00a0David Peterson<\/a> and\u00a0Kodai Senga<\/a> are also penciled into what could be a six-man rotation \u2014 though the latter two have come up in trade rumors this offseason.\u00a0Jonah Tong<\/a> didn\u2019t dominate the way McLean did after a late-season promotion, but he\u2019s a top prospect who\u2019ll be in the mix. They\u2019re getting another touted arm,\u00a0Christian Scott<\/a>, back from elbow surgery.<\/p>\n

Myers projects for a swing role but is likely to make some starts over the course of a 162-game season as well. The 27-year-old righty is more than a throw-in addition, as he has pitched well for Milwaukee over the past two years. Myers held a rotation spot for the majority of the \u201924 season. He started 25 of 27 games as a rookie and posted an even 3.00 earned run average through 138 innings. He recorded a solid 22.3% strikeout rate while limiting his walks to a 6.3% clip.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

An oblique strain sidelined Myers to open last season. The Brewers activated him in late April but optioned him to Triple-A after a handful of shaky appearances. Myers was up and down in a swing role for the remainder of the season. He was mostly squeezed out of the rotation by Milwaukee\u2019s bigger arms, but he pitched well in the second half and finished the year with a 3.55 ERA across 50 2\/3 frames. He had similar numbers over 12 starts with Triple-A Nashville.<\/p>\n

Myers works in the 93-94 MPH range with his fastball. He uses a cutter and slider as his breaking balls and tweaked his changeup to more of a splitter midway through last season. The pitch got good results in a small sample, as opponents hit .108 while swinging through it almost 40% of the time. That should give him a better offering against left-handed hitters after he struggled with southpaws as a rookie.<\/p>\n

The righty has between one and two years of service time. He won\u2019t reach arbitration for another two seasons and is under club control through 2030. He has a minor league option remaining, which gives the Mets flexibility to move him between MLB and Triple-A Syracuse.<\/p>\n

The Brewers deserve credit for helping Myers develop into a serviceable back-end starter. He\u2019d once been a reasonably well-regarded prospect \u2014 Cleveland regrettably traded Junior Caminero<\/a> to the Rays for him when the slugging infielder was in rookie ball \u2014 but he\u2019d seemingly hit a wall in the upper minors. Milwaukee added him as a minor league free agent over the 2022-23 offseason, and he\u2019s now a secondary but meaningful part of a trade that netted them a pair of top prospects.<\/p>\n

Williams and Sproat each placed on the back half of Baseball America\u2019s Top 100 prospects<\/a> list, which was released this morning. BA had Williams as the slightly more highly regarded of the two, but they\u2019re essentially within the same tier. Williams is a right-handed hitter whom the Mets took in the first round out of a Dallas-area high school in 2022. He\u2019s on the shorter side at 5\u20197\u2033 but has plus athleticism and an up-the-middle defensive profile. Scouts credit him with plus speed and a strong arm with more power than one might expect based on his size.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That athleticism was on display in the upper minors. Williams combined for 17 homers and 34 stolen bases while hitting .261\/.363\/.465 across 572 plate appearances. He looked no worse for wear after a right wrist surgery had cost him a good chunk of the \u201924 season. Williams raked at a .281\/.390\/.477 clip in Double-A. He struggled after a second half promotion to Triple-A, where he hit .209 with a .285 on-base percentage across 34 games. That\u2019s not a huge concern for a 21-year-old who would have been young for the level even if he\u2019d spent the entire season in Double-A.<\/p>\n

Williams is a patient hitter who has worked a lot of walks in the minors. Although big league pitchers will be better positioned to attack the smaller strike zone, he has the makings of a potential top-of-the-lineup spark plug. Williams has played mostly shortstop and has experience at second base and in center field. He\u2019s likely to begin the season at Triple-A Nashville and could challenge\u00a0Joey Ortiz<\/a> or\u00a0Garrett Mitchell<\/a>\/Blake Perkins<\/a> for playing time midway through the season.<\/p>\n

Sproat, 25, is a big league ready rotation option. A second-round pick out of the University of Florida in 2023, he debuted as a September call-up. The 6\u20193\u2033 righty made four starts, giving up 11 runs across 20 2\/3 innings. Sproat otherwise spent the season in Triple-A, where he worked to a 4.24 ERA across 121 frames. He fanned 22.1% of opponents while issuing walks at a slightly elevated 10.4% clip. He has a six-pitch mix and works in the 96-97 MPH range on his sinker and four-seam fastball.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Baseball America\u2019s scouting report credits Sproat with a plus changeup and slider. They write that he has the upside of an average or better starter, albeit with some relief risk based on his average control. He\u2019s not as highly-regarded as McLean or Tong, but it\u2019s not surprising the Mets weren\u2019t willing to part with either of those prospects for a rental. McLean seems categorically untouchable. Michael Marino<\/a> reported that Milwaukee had tried to involve Tong in discussions on Peralta but were quickly rebuffed. They then turned to a Williams\/Sproat framework. It seems they needed to part with Myers to push the deal over the top.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee wasn\u2019t going to move Peralta without landing a strong prospect return. His salary was affordable enough that they didn\u2019t need to trade him for salary relief. They certainly weren\u2019t going to re-sign him, though, and it\u2019s their usual operating procedure to hear clubs out on veteran stars who are approaching free agency. It doesn\u2019t make a trade inevitable \u2014 they held Willy Adames<\/a> and let him walk for a compensatory draft pick \u2014 but Peralta joins Josh Hader<\/a>,\u00a0Corbin Burnes<\/a> and Williams as recent stars traded within a year or two of reaching the open market.<\/p>\n

The Brewers never go into a full rebuild. They\u2019re coming off a 97-win season and advanced to the NLCS. They\u2019ll expect to compete for a fourth consecutive NL Central title. Milwaukee won the division in \u201924 after the Burnes trade, which was the most direct parallel for their decision on Peralta. They also landed two prospects in that deal, Ortiz and left-hander\u00a0DL Hall<\/a>, who were borderline Top 100 talents who were at the MLB level. Williams and Sproat are probably a little more highly-regarded than the players they got in the Burnes trade, though their deal with Baltimore also included a competitive balance draft pick and didn\u2019t involve the secondary piece in Myers.<\/p>\n

Brandon Woodruff<\/a> will slot atop the rotation after accepting the qualifying offer.\u00a0Quinn Priester<\/a>,\u00a0Jacob Misiorowski<\/a>,\u00a0Logan Henderson<\/a>,\u00a0Chad Patrick<\/a>,\u00a0Robert Gasser<\/a> and Sproat could all battle for jobs. The Brewers haven\u2019t closed the door on giving\u00a0Angel Zerpa<\/a> or\u00a0Aaron Ashby<\/a> rotation looks, though they\u2019re each likelier to end up in relief. President of baseball operations Matt Arnold acknowledged that getting Woodruff back made them more comfortable parting with Peralta (relayed by Curt Hogg of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel<\/a>).<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of upside with this group, but they\u2019ll probably need to dip into the lower tiers of free agency for a back-end arm to provide innings. RosterResource<\/a> projects their payroll around $126MM, roughly $11MM north of where they began the \u201925 season. They should nevertheless be able to sign a starter for a few million dollars as Spring Training approaches. They wouldn\u2019t have issued the QO to Woodruff if ownership weren\u2019t willing to approve at least a slight payroll bump.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee fans are familiar with the churn, but it\u2019s surely a blow to lose another homegrown star and fan favorite. Peralta was third in franchise history in strikeouts and eighth in wins. He\u2019s a two-time All-Star who has been a part of seven playoff teams over the past eight years. He\u2019s out of the division but anchoring the rotation for what looks to be one of their top competitors in the National League.<\/p>\n

Michael Marino<\/a>\u00a0first reported that the Brewers and Mets were discussing Peralta for Williams and Sproat. Pat Ragazzo of Sports Illustrated<\/a> indicated talks were accelerating, while Jeff Passan of ESPN<\/a> first had the agreement. Joel Sherman of The New York Post<\/a> reported Myers\u2019 inclusion. Respective images courtesy of Benny Sieu, Michael McLoone, Sam Navarro and Brad Penner \u2014 Imagn Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mets make another splash, acquiring All-Star starter Freddy Peralta and swingman Tobias Myers from the Brewers for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,6303,753,12887,4,2006],"class_list":{"0":"post-532262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brandon-sproat","10":"tag-freddy-peralta","11":"tag-jett-williams","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-tobias-myers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115937484847853637","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}