The Mets paid a fairly significant prospect price to acquire ace Freddy Peralta from Milwaukee in January. A bargain $8MM salary was a big part of his trade value. The Mets surely have some interest in keeping the impending free agent in Queens at what would be significantly higher prices beyond this year.
Although Peralta has expressed openness to extension talks, he’s targeting the kind of contract which the Mets have mostly avoided under president of baseball operations David Stearns. Peralta told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic earlier this week that he was looking for a long-term deal. He was more specific on Friday, telling Jon Heyman of The New York Post he’s seeking “seven or eight years.”
It’d be surprising if the Mets go to that length, at least before Peralta hits the open market. As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker (available to Front Office subscribers), the Mets haven’t signed a pitcher for more than three years since Stearns was hired in 2023.
Last winter’s three-year, $75MM deal with Sean Manaea is their only pitching contract beyond two seasons. They reportedly made a 12-year offer to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but he was an ace coming over from Japan at age 25. It has been a similar setup on the position player side. They were willing to do essentially whatever it took to sign Juan Soto, but they’ve otherwise pursued short-term deals at huge annual rates with their free agent targets.
Stearns has traded for Peralta twice and signed him to a bargain early-career extension when he was running baseball operations in Milwaukee. He understandably loves the player and clearly appreciates what he brings to the clubhouse.
That said, Peralta would be a more typical high-end free agent than a nearly unique case like Soto or Yamamoto. He turns 30 in June, so the first year of an extension or free agent deal would be his age-31 season. He’s an excellent pitcher but is a clear notch below the likes of Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes as the best arms in MLB.
Last season’s fifth-place Cy Young finish was the first time in Peralta’s career that he appeared on ballots. He’s coming off a career-low 2.70 earned run average through 176 2/3 innings. He ranked 11th among starters (minimum 120 innings) with a 28.2% strikeout rate. Peralta hasn’t missed a start in three seasons and ranks 15th in innings pitched during that time.
There’s some recent precedent for a seven-plus year deal with that profile. Aaron Nola commanded seven years and $175MM from the Phillies at the same age in 2023. Nola was extremely durable but didn’t throw as hard as Peralta does and had started to struggle with the home run ball.
Dylan Cease pulled seven years and $210MM (albeit with deferrals dropping the actual value closer to $185MM) from the Blue Jays last offseason. Cease throws a little harder and misses a few more bats than Peralta does, but his start to start efficiency was lacking. Max Fried is the only pitcher in his 30s to sign for eight years within the past decade. He got to $218MM from the Yankees as a lefty with plus stuff who hadn’t allowed an ERA higher than 3.25 in any of the five seasons preceding free agency.
Peralta fits in that group on talent. The difference between his current situation and the aforementioned trio is that he’s still a year away from the open market. Walk year extensions for Luis Castillo and José Berríos landed south of $150MM. Peralta presumably isn’t looking for an annual value in the low $20MM range simply to stretch the length of the contract.
Rosenthal reported on Monday that the sides had yet to seriously broach an extension. They’ll likely have those conversations within the three weeks leading up to the start of the regular season. Whether there’s a long-term deal in place or not, Peralta will make his team debut on Opening Day. Skipper Carlos Mendoza made that unsurprising announcement last week. They’ll host the Pirates (who’ll surely turn the ball to Skenes) in a marquee pitching matchup.
He’s bananas. Sounds like Heyman working for his boss already.
Just saying.
He’s lucky to get 5 years, and an option.
Fyi..Peralta is not a Boras client if that is what you are implying
Listen I get where you guys are coming from because I certainly wouldn’t give it to him.
That said I don’t think you guys are keeping pace with the market, if he replicates last year he will get 8 years
9 years $400m.
Do it Mets!!
/s
Don’t be so cheap! 42 years, $400 billion.
As he should
He’s made $21 million in his career. Considering what others who produce D make annually I truly understand the sentiment behind the request. I hope he gets it too.
Well it’d be unlike Stearns to even offer him 5 years, though I hope as a Mets fan Stearns goes against his own grain and they offer him a 5-6 year deal.
So which long term deals for a starting pitcher have worked out for the team? I can understand Stearns reluctance. The only recent one I can think of is Scherzer with Washington, and that wasn’t a six year. I can name a whole lot that haven’t. 1-2 years is missed for any with a TJ surgery.
I bet he is. Good luck with that.
5/$125 is enough for him, big jump up from his $8 mil
That offer would get an immediate hang up
Yeah, Bo Bichette is worth 3/126m and Freddy Peralta is worth 5/125m to the same team.
Peralta is probably a better pitcher than Bichette is as a hitter. And at worse he is comparable. I expect more teams will be after him then there were for Bo.
When Skubal is asking for 400m and Peralta is at 60% he might even look cheap.
Unless he’s injured or has an extremely lousy year Peralta’s going to be everyone’s plan B who miss out on Skubal. I’m guessing an offer of 5/125 wouldn’t just get a hang up, it would be an insurmountable insult.
Before last year, I could never really figure out why Brewers hadn’t already traded him and also never viewed him as more than a #3 starter on a contender. Let’s see if he is even around to be on any MLB team by start of 2028 season.
7 or 8 years? 🤨
As a brewer fan, #6-7years ,
See yourself out
Not enough is mentioned about the Brewers stealing Peralta (and two others that did not work out) from the Mariners for a soon to be washed up Adam Lind. That should be up there among the best “sell high” trades of the past decade.
Crazy to give him 7 years. 4 at the most. He hasn’t had TJ surgery yet, either.
So NOT having had TJ surgery is now a negative for pitchers?
As they approach 30, absolutely. Don’t they all get TJ eventually?
He will probably get 6/$150 with a vesting option for a 7th year. Stearns is going to have to change his philosophy if he’s not going to throw away Williams/Sproat for 1 year.
If he has another year like the last one, $25M per doesn’t even come close even at six years. Ranger Suarez got $130/5 and Peralta has been more durable.
Stearns will have to rebuild a rotation year after year because he never gives a deal longer than 3 years. No one likes long term deals for pitchers but he ends up having to go crazy high AAV on short term deals then longer deals that tend to normalize as the market changes over time. So he overpays but has to rebuild the rotation with trade packages and high salaries or, like last year, by just adding mediocre starters.
I think the lack of true #1 aces on the market is preventing him from making longer offers during his Mets tenure. I’m willing to bet a lot that the Mets will be in on Skubal.
That does bring up the question if Skubal is looking for years or to maximize in the short run. If he wants to try his luck at a 2-3 year deal and Valdez got close to $40M this year… I can only imagine what a bidding war between the Mets and Dodgers will end up as.
We are already seeing the pitching lab working over there, in a couple years they will be churning out mid to back end starters every year. He built the pitching lab in Milwaukee, and it seems hes done at least as well in New York, it just takes awhile to build up the depth.
I’m seeking a date with Sydney Sweeney, we all have dreams
6/160 with a club option 25 mil club option or 8 mil buyout. 28 a year. Make it happen. Can’t be buying pitcher every year. Lock him up with McLean and hopefully to grad in hand for all 6 years. Got manaea for one more and maybe some other surprises from Scott and others.