The Mets are willing to entertain offers on starter David Peterson, write Tim Britton and Will Sammon of The Athletic. That probably wouldn’t be for prospects but could be part of a swap for a player at a position of need.
New York has a question at first base and designated hitter with Pete Alonso remaining unsigned. Mark Vientos could step into one of those positions, but he’s a question mark coming off a replacement level season. With Edwin Díaz heading to the Dodgers (pending a physical), upgrading the late innings is a must. The Mets signed Devin Williams to give them cover in the ninth, but their setup group — especially among right-handers — isn’t good enough right now.
The Mets already pulled off one veteran for veteran swap with the Brandon Nimmo/Marcus Semien deal. That opened a spot in left field. President of baseball operations David Stearns confirmed on Monday that the club is in the outfield market (via Britton). They’ve been speculated more as a free agent suitor for Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger, but they’re presumably open to adding to the outfield in trade.
All that said, it’s not as if the Mets have a lockdown rotation. It’s a talented group but one without much certainty. Nolan McLean, who has made all of eight career starts, would probably have gotten the ball in Game 1 of a playoff series had they not collapsed in September. Peterson was their most reliable starter overall, though his terrible second half was part of the reason that New York squandered a playoff berth.
The 30-year-old southpaw carried a 3.06 earned run average into the All-Star Break. He allowed 6.34 earned runs per nine in the second half, including 18 runs across 16 2/3 frames in September. A lot of that is attributable to a spike in his batting average allowed on balls in play, but Peterson’s walk rate jumped in August and his strikeouts plummeted in the season’s final month.
It was still a solid performance in aggregate. The former first-rounder turned in a 4.22 ERA across a team-leading 168 2/3 innings. He got ground-balls at a very high 54.7% clip while slightly worse than average strikeout and walk numbers. Peterson’s performance has been up-and-down over the course of his career, but he has a 4.12 ERA with decent underlying marks in more than 600 innings.
Peterson is headed into his final season of club control. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a $7.6MM arbitration salary. He’d probably double that if he were to sign a one-year contract as a free agent, so there should be a few million dollars of surplus value. There’s a chance he pitches well enough to put himself in consideration for a qualifying offer next winter.
If he’s not traded, Peterson will open the season in Carlos Mendoza’s rotation. McLean and Sean Manaea are locked in as well. Clay Holmes stuck as a starter all year but has plenty of experience in the bullpen. Kodai Senga has come up in trade talks. Christian Scott, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat are high-upside talents who might all begin the season in Triple-A. The Mets are almost certainly going to add at least one starter, though they’re reportedly reluctant to go long term in free agency. They’ve been most frequently tied to Michael King as a potential target on the open market.
They need to add pitchers not substract. How about Gil for Baty
Seriously? Why does everyone want to move Baty? You just create another hole and dump a very productive player.
That would be a horrible trade for the Yankees
Haha, the Yankees wouldn’t quit smiling for years if they made that trade.
Gil isn’t that great
Who are you kidding? Benji Gil is (was) fantastic!
@Buckner 100 points for the rare Benji Gil ref
@Oppo nacho: You have this backwards. Baty put up 3.1 bWAR/2.3 fWAR in his first full season despite a very rough start. Slashed .263/.324/.448/.772 from May onward, including a near-.700 OPS against LHP, which was a major weakness of his. He could be poised for a breakout year.
Gil has potential, but he has one full, healthy season in his entire professional career. He’s been kicking around since 2015 but only has 577 total innings pitched. In 242 MLB innings, his FIP is 4.25, xFIP of 4.70. His statcast page for 2025 was brutal, though he was (shockingly enough) dealing with injuries.
Eh, slow down a bit, rct. I appreciate your love for and defense of the Mets, that assessment of Baty is a little rosier than reality. Calling a .678 OPS against lefties “almost .700” is a little bit of a reach. He also had only 18% of hos PAs against them. If he’d had additional PAs against them at the same R/L splits, his overall OPS would drop about ten points, and with it, his WAR.
His big May OPS was a result of a couple of hot 3 game spurts in an otherwise dry month.
The reality is that Baty hit well for about (or less than) half a season. Whether he continues to hit well moving forward is still a question, not an established reality. Personally, I’d keep him and see where this goes. If he keeps hitting, he keeps the starting job. If he stumbles, he still has an option remaining, and/or can be a UT player now that he can also play 2B competently.
But it also would not bother or surprise me if the Mets decided to bring in a bigger bat for 3B, and use Baty elsewhere, including trade bait.
@horace
Factoring in defense of McMahon and giving Baty a slight edge with his better bat to ball skill, it’s a wash and is rather go with the glove. The fact that the Yanks are trying to even the lineup with a right bat, then to switch them out doesn’t work. Secondly, Gil has far more value to both the Yanks and the Mets since both ate thin in that category.
@Jm
And Baty is? Gil is out preforming his FIP because of his walks but in the last two years he’s had a 3.50 ERA in 200 IP and still has 4 years of control. If he can stay healthy he’s far more valuable than Baty is, especially since we have McMahon for at least two more years.
@rct
Kicking around since 2015? He was 17 in 2015. He’s been injured, and that’s a factor, but in the last two years he’s pitched 200 innings at a 3.50 era. He had far more potential value than Baty. You’re being very selective in how you view their careers. You bring up the entire early of Gil’s brief careers including his really struggles to stay healthy by want us to ignore Baty and his career .665 OPS and .295 OBP. If healthy it wouldn’t shock me if Gil pitched 160 innings of sub 4 era production and art league minimum that’s perfect for the Yanks. He had a much higher ceiling than Baty at a much more premium position.
Baty stinks
Gil sucks
I agree
He’s kinda decent. I’ll swap you a Jake Burger plus something scrubbier.
More than enough time for Stearns to add the necessary talent. But at this moment he’s had a hideous past 5 months. Starting with his deadline acquisitions that made Vogelbach and Naquin look like good by comparison
I don’t think his deadline deals were that bad. Helsley and Mullins flamed out but Soto was decent and Rogers was very good.
You left out Darin Ruf from that 2022 deadline disaster, too!
Javy Baez rental for Pete Crow Armstrong oof
That one hurt.
Sadly I think Baty might be dealt as well. He just screams Brewer. I wonder if Baty/Sproat/well regarded low level prospect for Peralta would be discussed.
The one thing that Peterson does provide is IP. With “3 year deal” Stearns looking to add a SP through FA or Trade he will have to move one SP. McLean and Manaea (if healthy) will definitely start the year in the Rotation. Whoever doesn’t get traded Peterson or Senga will be in the Rotation. Whoever he signs or trades for will be in the Rotation, and Holmes unless for some reason Stearns moves him to the Pen. I’m assuming Tong, Sproat, Scott, and Wenninger make for one helluva 4 fifths of a Syracuse Rotation. Unless 1 or 2 of them are moved in a deal for Skubal or another top SP. All will have the opportunity to come up to the Majors next year and stay. It will be interesting to see what Stearns does with the Rotation. The one thing I’m sure of is he won’t sign any FA SP if they want more than 3 years. lol
He’s due for a good season. It’s an every other year thing.
For a team that needs more pitching, not less, this is baffling. We know he ran out of gas in the last 2 months, but overall he was the best starter on the staff. He’s relatively cheap and if there’s doubt he can repeat his excellent start and sustain it, then he would still be a useful back-end rotation guy.
Its not baffling if he is dealt as a package for a top-end starter. The Brewers are contenders. If they were to deal Peralta, it won’t be a package of all prospects. They could want an established starter as part of the return.
Trade proposal: Kodai Senga and Jeff McNeil for Jake Myers, Josh Hader and Christian Walker.
Mets get a premier closer to replace Diaz, a good defensive CF, and a glove first 1B with a decent power bat.
Astros clear $15M on payroll and get a frontline SP and they could use McNeil on 1B or 2B
Who says no?
Any Astros fan?
The Astros say no, SoCalFan. They’re still contenders. How do they replace Hader? And keep in mind that Stearns is the guy who traded away Hader in a pennant race and moved Williams into Hader’s closer role.
Yes. I’m following this thread from now on.
Astros say no. Unless it’s a blowout offer, anything with Hader in it, this is not. I don’t know why you guys are so open to dealing one of the most elite closers in MLB with an okay starter. Seriously undervaluing Hader.
The people that are suggesting Astros will clear Hader like this in a trade does not understand the Astros. They want to compete, and dealing one of the most elite closers in MLB doesn’t make sense for Houston, if you followed Houston, Bryan Abreu was disaster, we don’t need to create a at a position where the best goods are already taken.
At this rate, if Hader was traded to your team, you likely fume at your team for a couple hours because of how much you gave up. McNeil is redundant and Matthews can fill his position at min. pay. Walker can be kept, Paredes would fetch what they need because Brown is trading him for a haul, or we look on FA market. Plus, Meyers won’t be traded in this sort of stupid package. I do not want Hader to be traded for one is because I got a Hader jersey for my birthday and it cost hundreds. And also because this trade is redundant. Try again.
HOUSTON SAYS NO!!!
They’ll pay Hader and Williams if they were looking after Diaz.
I have a feeling Peterson plus for Pivetta plus could be in the works.
Rumors of SD blockbuster and these 2 SPs on the block….
A creative move. I think Cohen us tightening the wallet after last years brutal financial losses. He is human after all. I doubt Peterson gets traded, but it’s an interesting way to get talent in lieu of free agency.
I don’t understand why the Mets aren’t talking to Zack Littell. He is not great, ut he had a 3.2 WAR last year and is an innings eater. If you have so many question marks like Sproat-Senga-Scott-Tong and even Manaea, keep fishing for the King fiah, but sign somebody who will give you a chance to stay in the game ling enought for a chance to win and save your bullpen. Sign him before someone else scoops him up.
We don’t know that they’re not talking to Littel. We only know that it hasn’t been reported. But neither was the Nimmo trade, the Devin Williams signing, or the Diaz details until after they’d occurred.
Based on the ‘rumors’ from this site I’d say Stearns has lost his mind. King is not the pitcher to make a difference. The two pitchers I would most likely keep of the vets are the ones he’s looking to move – Peterson and Senga. I’m glad Schwarber didn’t happen and not sad to see Diaz leave, but Williams wasn’t the answer either. I hope they do look at some deals that surface the names of Skubal or Peralta. Sign Bellinger.
@padsm
If healthy, King could easily be the best pitcher in the Mets. You could say that he couldn’t be the BEST pitcher on a team trying to seriously win a chip but he most certainly would help and could be a great #2 pushing Peterson to a good #3.
Two more years of having to watch Stearns flame out until Cohen realize he’s trash and fires him.
The Mets need starting pitching and they’re trying to trade two of their starters….
For God’s sake, the Mets need to sign Tucker. What’s the use of investing all that dough in Soto if you don’t surround him with a supporting cast? Alonso and his 125 rbis are gone. Time for Uncle Steve to reach into his pockets and let ‘er rip.