Laura Albanese: Mets' Freddy Peralta continues to make David Stearns' philosophy on pitching contracts look bad
Mets pitcher Freddy Peralta winds up to deliver during the first inning of a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday in Milwaukee. Credit: AP/Aaron Gash
MILWAUKEE — There was an ancient Greek philosopher named Heraclitus who argued that no matter how desperate the desire, we can’t reclaim the past.
The exact verbiage has been lost to time, but it’s been summarized by philosophers like Plato in this way: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
That might sound like a fairly pretentious way to summarize Freddy Peralta’s return to Milwaukee, but as he grunted through 5 1/3 miserable innings in the Mets’ 8-3 loss to the Brewers at American Family Field, it became so very clear that this is not the same home that raised Peralta for the first eight seasons of his major-league career, and that Peralta is not the same man, allowing seven runs on eight hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
This isn’t to pick on Peralta, who, by all accounts, is a good teammate and likely will not be playing in Flushing for very much longer. It’s not even to harp on his trade value: Because so many teams are in contention, the list of definitive sellers is slim, and the list of starting pitchers is even slimmer. With the Tigers within shouting distance of a Wild Card, there’s every possibility they try to hold on to Tarik Skubal, meaning that regardless of his performance this season, Peralta is still one of the best options around, and should command a decent haul for a team that needs someone halfway capable to get them through the stretch run.
No, this is more an indictment of the pitching acquisition strategy that got the Mets here in the first place. While president of baseball operations David Stearns has said he is open to all sorts of potential transactions, we can only trust what we’ve seen so far: Other than a failed bid at Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Mets front office has been loathe to offer pricey, long-term contracts to starting pitchers.
It’s an understandable approach: Pitchers get hurt and overpays are almost inevitable. But there’s also a reason teams are still willing to shell out for players like that, even with the knowledge that the cost won’t necessarily be commensurate with the yield: It’s because you need them to win.
And just because Stearns’ approach has occasionally worked out for the best, both in Milwaukee and in Queens, it doesn’t mean it’s the right one for a franchise that's known little more than misery and collapse over the past two years, despite their gargantuan payroll. After all, no GM should approach player acquisition the same way twice, because seasons, players, and the game itself isn’t static.
If you want proof, look no further than Peralta, who’s been flummoxed by his struggles.
“I don’t know how to define it,” he said. “I still believe in myself. I know that I’m better than great, but sometimes, it’s not easy.”
No, it’s not. Which is why you pay extra for as close as you can get to a sure thing.
Now, let’s give credit where it’s due: The Mets farm system has done an excellent job in finding and developing young pitchers with both the stuff and the mindset to succeed at the major-league level, but coming off last year’s collapse, the Mets needed to go for broke when it came to their starting pitching. Peralta, meanwhile, simply hasn’t been the answer — instead proving to be the “safe” choice that was anything but.
His 5.01 ERA is the highest in his career as a starter, and his inefficiency has proved difficult for the bullpen to navigate. But while it’s certainly a down year, prior to 2025, Peralta didn’t fall into “ace” category, anyway, instead better profiling as a No. 2 or a very good No. 3. Expecting length from a pitcher who, since converting to a starting role in 2021, has averaged 5 1/3 innings per game is unrealistic.
So, despite a 2025 where he pitched a 2.70 ERA, and was named an All-Star for the second time in his career, you did have to pause when Stearns categorized him as the team ace. It became a more dangerous gambit when you simply assumed that McLean wouldn’t stutter a little out of the gate, as most pitchers do in their sophomore seasons.
But while we can’t relive the past, we can certainly learn from it, and Stearns has the ability to do that this coming offseason.
Skubal will be there for the taking, and though the new CBA might have a say in what the Mets can and can’t spend, it would be prudent to throw everything they can at the jewel of this year’s free-agent class. Things get a little murkier after that — this group isn’t a strong one — but there are still moves to be made, even if costs a little more than is comfortable, or is for a little longer than ideal.
One thing is certain — two seasons of watching the Mets try and fail to patch together their starting pitching like they’re a midmarket team have made it clear it’s not working the way it did back in 2024.
After all, this isn’t the same river, and these aren’t the same men. Peralta saw that firsthand during his bittersweet homecoming Monday, and the Mets are living it every day of this cursed season. The river has changed, and so too should the way they wade into it.
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
