By MIKE FITZPATRICK<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 David Stearns wasn’t about to let his wedding anniversary get in the way of landing an ace.<\/p>\n
One day after completing a late-night trade with Milwaukee<\/a> that brought All-Star pitcher Freddy Peralta to the New York Mets, the team’s president of baseball operations confirmed he was dealing with a full plate Wednesday.<\/p>\n Stearns ran the Brewers’ front office from 2015-23 and remains friendly with his successor, Milwaukee president of baseball operations Matt Arnold. It was Arnold who mentioned to reporters Wednesday night he might have spoiled Stearns’ anniversary supper as the two worked on the transaction. <\/p>\n \u201cMatt was serious. Matt was at my wedding nine years ago, so Matt certainly knows that was my anniversary,” Stearns said Thursday on a Zoom call. “And so, had some conversations at dinner and then was able to wrap up the trade once we got home.\u201d<\/p>\n New York acquired Peralta and fellow right-hander Tobias Myers from the Brewers for a pair of touted prospects: starting pitcher Brandon Sproat and minor league infielder\/outfielder Jett Williams.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we recognize that we\u2019ve parted with some very good young players here,” Stearns said. \u201cWe\u2019re acquiring one of the better starting pitchers in baseball. A guy who\u2019s been really consistent \u2014 and it was going to hurt. And it does hurt. Giving up good players hurts. And those guys are going to be playing in Milwaukee for a long time and we\u2019re going to be competing against them. We\u2019re also really excited to get Freddy and Tobias here, and I think both of those guys are really going to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n Stearns said discussions between the teams about Peralta, who can become a free agent after this season, began in November.<\/p>\n \u201cThey took a lot of twists and turns and involved a lot of different names at various points, different constructs, different sizes of deals,\u201d Stearns explained. “I think talks probably accelerated over the last few days and ultimately we were able to get it across the line for both sides last night.\u201d<\/p>\n Peralta gives the new-look Mets<\/a> a frontline starter after their rotation faltered in the second half of a hugely disappointing 2025 season. He joins a New York rotation projected to include Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes, David Peterson, Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga.<\/p>\n \u201cI think being able to add Freddy as somewhat of a stabilizing force to help lead our rotation probably gives a little bit of space to some of our younger pitchers,” Stearns said. \u201cWe like where our rotation is. I think it\u2019s got a nice combination of youth and established major league veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n The move came hours after the busy Mets formally introduced free agent addition Bo Bichette<\/a> at a Citi Field news conference, and one night after the team obtained talented center fielder Luis Robert Jr. in a trade with the Chicago White Sox.<\/a><\/p>\n Peralta went 17-6 with a 2.70 ERA in 33 starts last season, when he led the National League in wins and finished fifth in Cy Young Award voting. He struck out 204 batters in 176 2\/3 innings and earned his second All-Star selection.<\/p>\n “A player I know well, a player I trust, and a player who I think is going to mesh very well with our organization, our team and our city,\u201d Stearns said.<\/p>\n