The easiest and cleanest way for the Mets to add a top-of-the-rotation starter to their staff this offseason is to turn to the free agent market, where the headliners are Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Michael King, and Ranger Suarez.
Ahead of his age-32 season, Valdez is the oldest of the available top starters. And he'll be seeking a huge deal.
King, who will be entering his age-31 season in 2026, was tremendous for the Padres in 2024 as he transitioned from relieving to starting. But he made just 15 starts in 2025 as he dealt with a nerve injury in his throwing shoulder and also lost time due to a knee injury.
Suarez, who turned 30 in August, might be the safest bet — but he's also the least imposing. He has allowed 8.6 hits per nine during his eight-year career, is not a big strikeout guy, and has never thrown 158 innings or more in a season.
Then there's Cease, whose upside is sky high.
Entering his age-30 season, Cease has finished in the top-four in Cy Young voting two of the last four seasons. And he eats tons of innings. However, he's coming off a campaign where he had a 4.55 ERA, and has been maddeningly inconsistent.
With Suarez not an ideal fit, Valdez in line for a monster contract, King having serious injury concerns, and the up and down Cease possibly looking at a deal as long as six years, could a trade make the most sense for the Mets?
And if so, should Brewers ace Freddy Peralta be near the top of New York's list?
Here are the pros and cons of dealing for Peralta…
PROS
Peralta is coming off a phenomenal 2025 season, where he had a career-best 2.70 ERA in 176.2 innings. He posted a 1.07 WHIP, allowed just 124 hits, and struck out 204 batters — a rate of 10.4 per nine.
Since transitioning in 2021 from mainly a relief option to the starting rotation, Peralta has been one of the best pitchers in baseball.
In 139 starts over the last five years, Peralta has a 3.30 ERA and 1.09 WHIP and has fanned 895 batters in 738.1 innings while allowing just 536 hits. He has also been reliable when it comes to taking the ball, tossing 165.2 innings or more reach of the last three seasons..
His ability to miss bats and limit hits is elite, as is his stuff.
Peralta relies mainly on a four-seam fastball (which he threw 53 percent of the time this past season), a changeup, and a curve. He'll also mix in a slider.
In 2025, his pitching run value graded out in the 97th percentile, via Baseball Savant. And all of his individual pitches were tremendous — the fastball was in the 84th percentile, the breaking balls were in the 88th percentile, and the changeup was in the 96th percentile.
Looking at Peralta's advanced metrics, he was near the top of the league in xERA, xBA, average exit velocity, whiff percentage, strikeout percentage, hard hit percentage, and extension.
Peralta is also almost unbelievably inexpensive, set to make just $8 million in 2026 in what is his final year before free agency.
CONS
There is no guarantee the Brewers will trade Peralta, so the Mets hitching their wagon to that possibility could be fruitless.
But the Brewers have often dealt players who are entering their walk year, and in some cases have traded key players with more team control than that.
They traded pending free agent Corbin Burnes during the 2023-24 offseason and pending free agent Devin Williams last offseason. At the 2022 trade deadline, the Brewers dealt Josh Hader to the Padres when he still had a year and change of team control remaining.
If Milwaukee makes Peralta available, though, it could cost a ton to acquire him.
It's very rare to be able to get a pitcher of Peralta's caliber on such a team-friendly contract, meaning it will likely require the Mets parting with a package of players it would pain them to surrender.
There's also the risk of giving up a huge package for what could amount to just one year of Peralta's services.
Looking at Peralta the pitcher, there really aren't many red flags.
His walk rate is a tick high and he doesn't induce many ground balls. But that's pretty much it.
VERDICT
David Stearns is obviously very familiar with Peralta from his time with Milwaukee, which can't hurt.
And if the Mets are unable to pry Tarik Skubal from the Tigers, Peralta — or Joe Ryan of the Twins, or Sandy Alcantara of the Marlins — should be the fallback plan.
