The Mets acquired right-hander Freddy Peralta from the Brewers earlier this week, which led to immediate speculation about his new club potentially pursuing an extension. That probably won’t happen right away, however. Tim Britton and Will Sammon of The Athletic reported earlier this week that the club plans to give Peralta some time to get comfortable with his new club. President of baseball operations David Stearns later addressed the media via videoconference and his comments matched that reporting.
“I’m not going to speculate on that Day 1 here,” Stearns said of the extension possibility, per Jorge Castillo of ESPN. “We’ll let Freddy get acclimated to the organization. And, you know, any conversations that we may have or have in the future I think we’re going to do our best to keep private and not talk about publicly.”
The reason Peralta was traded away from Milwaukee is that the Brewers generally don’t spend at a level to keep their best players. Guys like Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes and Devin Williams have all been traded in recent years as they reached free agency. Peralta ended up going down the same road but his new club has far deeper pockets than his previous team.
Stearns is very familiar with Peralta and is clearly fond of him. He already signed him to an extension once, when both were with the Brewers back in 2020. This week, Stearns surrendered a couple of notable prospects by sending Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat to Milwaukee in order to reunite with Peralta and acquire Tobias Myers.
Now that Stearns has access to more financial resources, he would presumably love to get Peralta to sign on the dotted line again. Based on this week’s scuttlebutt, it seems there won’t be a rush to get that done. Spring training is a common time for extension talks to take place, so maybe more news will trickle out in the next couple of months. In-season extensions are rare but not totally unprecedented. If Peralta gets to the end of 2026 healthy and without a deal in place, he would be a lock to receive and reject a qualifying offer on his way to free agency.
Stearns also addressed a couple of other players on the roster in a sit-down with team reporter Andy Martino. In that interview, Stearns says that outfield prospect Carson Benge still has a chance to break camp with the team even after the Luis Robert Jr. acquisition and that Kodai Senga is expected to be in the rotation.
Back in November, Stearns said that Benge would have a chance to make the team. Not long after making those statements, the Mets opened up a big hole in their outfield by trading away Brandon Nimmo for second baseman Marcus Semien. They then made a spirited effort to sign Kyle Tucker, offering him a four-year deal with a heavy average annual value, but he accepted a similar offer from the Dodgers. The Mets then pivoted and acquired Robert from the White Sox via trade.
After the shuffle, there’s still a path for Benge. The Mets currently project to have Juan Soto in right and Robert in center. At the moment, Benge would seemingly be battling with Tyrone Taylor for the job in left. Taylor is a light hitter but a strong defender, so he would ideally be pushed into a fourth outfielder role by Benge taking the left field job. And given Robert’s history, there’s a decent chance of Taylor ending up getting regular playing time in center as well.
Benge has no major league experience yet and isn’t on the 40-man roster. His Triple-A work is also short and unimpressive, though he was perhaps unlucky there. He began last year at High-A and tore through that level as well as Double-A, slashing a combined .308/.413/.513 for a 174 wRC+ at those two stops while playing all three outfield positions. He finished his 2025 with a .178/.272/.311 slash at Triple-A, though that was in a tiny sample of 103 plate appearances, during which he had a .188 batting average on balls in play.
The Mets are showing a good amount of faith in Benge by leaving a door open for him, even after he put up those rough numbers in Triple-A. If he doesn’t perform in the spring, they have a few fallback options in addition to Taylor. Brett Baty no longer has a position after the Bo Bichette signing and could end up out in left field. Vidal Bruján and Jared Young are infielder/outfielders on the roster. Cristian Pache and Ji Hwan Bae are non-roster options. The Mets may add to that group but it may be more depth additions if they want Benge to still have a path.
As for Senga, he looked dominant in 2023 when he posted a 2.98 earned run average but hasn’t been as much of a sure thing since then. He missed most of 2024 due to injury. Last year, he struggled enough to get optioned to the minors in September. He then popped up in some trade rumors this offseason but is still on the roster. Assuming Stearns is being forthright in his recent comments, Senga will have a rotation job when the season begins.
As of now, the rotation candidates include Peralta, Nolan McLean, David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Sean Manaea and Senga. McLean still has options but it would be quite surprising if the Mets sent him down, given how he dominated in his first eight big league starts. If everyone stays healthy, then the Mets may need to run a six-man rotation or bump someone to the bullpen.
Holmes was a reliever prior to last year and could return to that role but he had a pretty good season as a starter, posting a 3.53 ERA. Manaea and Peterson have occasionally been bumped to long relief roles and could perhaps do so again. A six-man rotation would keep all the starters a bit more fresh but would leave the Mets with a seven-man bullpen, given the 13-pitcher roster limit.
This would only really be an issue for as long as everyone is healthy, which doesn’t happen very often in today’s game. If multiple injuries arise, Myers, Jonah Tong, Christian Scott and others are on the roster and should be ready to step up.
Photo courtesy of Michael McLoone, Imagn Images
Penciling Benge into LF on opening day is a mistake. Mets need to sign a mid-level LFer – Even Starling Marte if he is durable. Someone who can fill the gap while Benge is at AAA or if Benge opens hitting .150 in April/May.
With the money they are spending on players, it doesn’t make any sense to rush the guy.
Marte is basically DH only at this point. They’ll use Taylor if Benge falters and hope that his 2025 was a fluke. He’s had at least a 91 OPS+ every other year in the majors.
Get a left fielder. Best lineup (offense and defense) is to have Baty at third and Bichette DH.
Mike Tauchman.
baty
MLB needs more Steve Cohens and needs to fix its biggest problem of owners who cry poor who really don’t want to do what it takes to win. I understand the brewers have won a lot recently, but you’d figure their owner would open up the pocketbooks a little because of that. No contending team should ever have to trade its best pitcher
Nope we gotta stay busy crying bc our billionaires claim they have no money
well said
If there were 30 Steve Cohen’s in the MLB, the real Steve Cohen would just outspend the other 29 leaving everything the same as it is now. And it’s not a coincidence that highest payrolls primarily come from the largest markets/TV deals.
“ The reason Peralta was traded away from Milwaukee is that the Brewers generally don’t spend at a level to keep their best players.”
MLBTR staffers…what a horribly worded sentence. You should be ashamed of yourselves and should edit this immediately. The Brewers have the smallest market in baseball and can’t spend 200 million on every Burnes/Hader/Adames/Peralta that they possess. The opposite sentence of “The Brewers generally play chess and let the bigger markets play checkers” is a better way to word it. The edit that you should make can be something more neutral in between though. Something like, “The Brewers have the smallest market in baseball and have made the playoffs 7 of the last 8 years by making this sort of trade by obtaining multiple top 100 players and continuing on their path” would suffice. But your wording makes it sound like Milwaukee is dumb when in fact they might be the smartest organization in baseball and will be in the playoffs again in 2026 while opening up a new window that likely turn them from a perennial playoff team to a squad likely to be a top World Series favorite the five years following the new CBA given how good they are now and continue to be while possessing the very best farm system in baseball.
Basically every writer on this site and most of the readers already know everything you’re trying to say
Jswag- MLBTR is saying nothing about the Brewers being dumb or they are not trying to win. All they are saying is that the Brewers as a whole don’t spend lots of money on players. Jswag, if anything, you should be ashamed of yourself for your comment.
MIL wasn’t wrong in not extending those winning contract bids to Hader, Burnes, Williams. Hader and Burnes already look like an overpay. Williams is TBD, but also, the prospect return that MIL is better than most in obtaining. That being said, they need to lock up Contreras before he travels the same path.
We have Jefferson Quero at catcher in AAA coming off a bad injury that would otherwise maybe sit atop our prospect list. Quero will be the catcher in 27 (28 if the lockout lasts a full year). Two more top 100 prospects will be incoming for Contreras this time next year but Quero will quickly be a top ten catcher in all of baseball the minute he takes over the catching position.
So does he take over for Contreras, letting him presumably walk? Most teams are going the 2-catcher route with Contreras perfect for mostly DH duty, if so willing.
Surprised they don’t throw Polanco in LF and have Baty at First.
This site really needs a sarcasm font to distinguish between people trying to make a joke and outright morons.
Assuming Polanco can handle first and doesn’t end up DHing, Baty belongs at third with Bichette as the DH. It’s called the hot corner for a reason and who says Bichette will work out there? As great a hitter as he is, his shortstop play has been brutal. Baty though looks very comfortable playing third.
Baty should be getting reps in LF in training camp and i wouldn’t be surprised if the open the season with a Baty/Taylor platoon in LF. Benge’s path is the inevitable injury stint for Robert
Mets do NOT need to sign another position player or LFer. They need optionable slots.
Baty would be a fine convert to LF in the interim if it was necessary. But I think Benge will be fine there.
Teams do not evolve if every position is blocked by a MLer without options if they struggle.
As it is, this year Ewing, Reimer, Clifford, Tong, Scot, are essentially blocked.
Hey Jdawg… agree with you mostly, but guys get hurt in general and this group of Mets hitters looks more fragile than most. I think the younguns will get their chance if they prove they are ready. I’m more concerned that Ewing, Reimer, and Clifford WON’T be ready if and when they are needed. Dealing Jett and Acuna these last few days definitely put a ding in their young depth guys.
I can see a case for the Mets signing Andujar or Hays just to give them another veteran bat. Not a deal-breaker either way but when Robert inevitably gets hurt, Taylor may end up starting a LOT of games. Better to have another professional hitter who can play a passable left field.