The Rays have landed one of the better starters on the trade market. Tampa is set to acquire righty Freddy Peralta in a trade with the New York Mets, reports The Athletic. Neither team has declared the trade. Peralta will be a free agent after the season and was an obvious candidate to be moved once the Mets committed to selling.
Peralta, 30, had a rough go of it with the Mets after coming over from the Milwaukee Brewers in an offseason trade. It is his worst season since 2019, when he was not yet an established big leaguer, and the under-the-hood numbers justify the poor performance. It isn’t a case of poor luck and it has been an enormous step down from his usual performance.
Freddy Peralta
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That reported, Peralta finished fifth in the NL Cy Young voting in 2025 and has pedigree, plus he takes the ball every fifth day without incident. At his best, he’s someone you want making multiple starts in a postseason series, and he’s not out of place pitching near the front of a contender’s rotation. We just haven’t seen that version of Peralta often in 2026.
He’ll join a rotation that includes Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Nick Martinez and Griffin Jax. Headed into Sunday’s slate, the Rays hold a 3 ½-game lead over the Yankees in the AL East.
Peralta figures to be the first domino for the Mets. Rental starter Clay Holmes and rental lefty and Brooks Raley are almost certain to be traded next. Huascar Brazoban and Luke Weaver are non-rentals the Mets could also move. A Francisco Lindor trade is not impossible, just extremely unlikely at this point.
CBS Sports will have more on this story shortly.
