NEW YORK (AP) — Freddy Peralta is willing to consider a multiyear contract with the Mets before reaching free agency.
But he wants to get settled in New York first.
“I’ve got to see around, share time with my teammates and think about different ideas, learn about everybody, coaches (and) the organization in general,” the All-Star pitcher said Tuesday. “And then we can see.”
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns expressed a similar sentiment
after acquiring Peralta from Milwaukee last week, saying he would definitely allow the right-hander an adjustment period before potentially broaching a long-term arrangement.
The 29-year-old Peralta is due to make $8 million this season after the Brewers picked up their club option on a deal he signed in 2020. He can become a free agent following the World Series.
So next winter, Peralta could be in line for a very lucrative contract as one of the most attractive players on the open market. And with only one year of club control remaining, he couldn’t fully ignore the chatter about a potential trade from small-market Milwaukee this offseason — or resist connecting the dots that made a move to the Mets a likely outcome.
“I was trying to avoid that but I couldn’t because family members (and) everybody (was) talking about it all the time,” Peralta said on a Zoom call with reporters. “But I had a feeling that I was coming to the Mets.”
His hunch came to fruition last Wednesday, when New York sent pitcher Brandon Sproat and touted prospect Jett Williams to the Brewers for Peralta and right-hander Tobias Myers.
The deal reunites Peralta with Stearns, who ran Milwaukee's front office from 2015-23. Stearns pulled off one of his biggest moves with the Brewers on Dec. 9, 2015, when he acquired Peralta, then a 19-year-old who hadn’t pitched above rookie ball, from the Seattle Mariners for veteran first baseman/designated hitter Adam Lind.
“I knew that something was going to happen and it was a little hard at the same time, because I spent my whole career in Milwaukee and there’s a lot of great memories over there,” Peralta said. “But this is a business and anything can happen. I was prepared for the moment. And being honest, I’m really happy to be here in New York and be a member of the Mets organization.”
Peralta’s arrival gives New York a much-needed frontline starter and appears to cap a hectic offseason for the Mets, who parted ways with lineup mainstays Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo as well as star closer Edwin Díaz.
New York's rotation wore down last season, when the Mets had the best record in the majors through June 12 but missed the playoffs.
Peralta made the National League All-Star team and finished fifth in Cy Young Award balloting last year, when he led the NL with 17 wins and also set career bests with a 2.70 ERA in 176 2/3 innings over 33 starts. He struck out 204 batters, six shy of his single-season high established in 2023.
Peralta and Dylan Cease are the only major league pitchers to make at least 30 starts and record at least 200 strikeouts in each of the last three seasons. The Mets haven’t had a pitcher make 30 starts in consecutive campaigns since Steven Matz and two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom did so in 2018 and 2019.
Kodai Senga, who had 202 strikeouts as a rookie in 2023, is the lone New York pitcher with a 200-strikeout season since 2019.
Converted reliever Clay Holmes led the Mets with 12 wins, a 3.53 ERA and 31 starts last season, when only Holmes, Senga and David Peterson reached 100 innings for New York.
“I think that’s the No. 1 important thing for me — to be healthy, to be ready every five days to take the ball and go and pitch and be there for the team,” Peralta said. “That’s what I have on my mind all the time — get the necessary work with the trainers in the weight room, mentally with the pitching coaches, just to protect myself and try to be there every five days. Because I know when you have 30 starts, ideally 30-plus starts, something good is going to be on the line.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
