Now that they have him, can the New York Mets keep Freddy Peralta with a contract extension?
Come the end of the 2026 MLB season, if the Mets don’t lock up Peralta to a long-term contract—and the sooner the better—the nine-year pitching veteran should have a line of general managers waiting to make their offers.
Mets’ president of baseball operations David Stearns knew how to pursue Peralta better than others competing for his services. The Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, and New York Yankees all were reported sniffing around to put together a deal that would land Peralta to their starting rotations this coming season. After all, at 17–6, Peralta, coming off his second selection as an MLB All-Star in eight seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, led the National League in wins.
Compiling double-digit victories over the past three seasons, Peralta is seen as “Ol' Reliable” to general managers throughout the game.
Playing for a very club-friendly $8 million in 2026, contract extension talks should be initiated by the Mets to secure a deal that would guarantee his services at Citi Field in Queens, New York, for seasons to come.
Why the urgency? Consistency and durability.
Along with the three consecutive seasons of double-digit wins, from 2023–2025, Peralta has pitched in 200 or more innings.
A .270 ERA in 2025 is proof that Peralta keeps his team in contention right up until he exits a game. Going 70–42 for the Brewers since 2018, Peralta, 29, displays a durable right arm that teams would seem eager to offer a five-year deal for 2027 and beyond.
The Mets will be anxious to return a winning atmosphere to Queens this coming season, given the monumental collapse they endured in 2025. Finishing 13 games behind the National League East leader, the Philadelphia Phillies, and missing postseason play, Stearns has gutted last season’s roster and has rebuilt it how he sees fit.
Gone are mainstays Pete Alonso to the Baltimore Orioles, with closer Alex Diaz with the Dodgers in 2026, Brandon Nimmo shipped to the Texas Rangers, and Jeff McNeil now property of the Athletics. In putting his stamp on a new—and hopefully improved—Mets squad, Stearns has brought in nine new faces to the club’s 40-man roster. Being weeks away from the opening of training camp, Stearns hasn’t signaled that he is done in making acquisitions.
In September 2015, Stearns became the Brewers’ general manager, a post he held through the 2021 season. In October 2023, when moving over to his hometown Mets, Stearns took over all baseball operations in Queens.
His relationship with both Peralta and the pitcher’s representatives, while both were in Milwaukee, had to have given the Mets an advantage during negotiating a trade. It was Stearns who was traded for Peralta in December 2015 from the Seattle Mariners.
When joining the Brewers in 2018, Peralta was a teenager. His arm strength has advanced in recent years, to the point of making 30 or more starts over the past three seasons.
Heading into the 2026 season, the Mets starting rotation looks to have Peralta starting on Opening Day, with Nolan McLean who was 5–1 with a 2.8 ERA in eight starts in 2025, Clay Holmes, Sean Manaea, and either David Patterson or Kodai Senga in the fifth spot.
Lefty-handed starter Framber Valdez, last with the Houston Astros, remains the most prized arm still available in the free agent market. Stearns, with the support of Steve Cohen, Mets owner, chairman and CEO, is rumored to be checking in on Valdez’s interest to play in New York.
The Mets have spent freely this off-season. They have signed former Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette—expected to play third base in 2026—from the free agent ranks to a three-year deal for $126 million. Marcus Semien, traded from the Texas Rangers to the Mets, is penciled in as the starting second baseman. Francisco Lindor remains at shortstop.
Last month, Jorge Polanco agreed to a two-year $40 million contract. The former Mariner is expected to be the starting first baseman. The Mets also have traded for center fielder Luis Robert Jr. from the Chicago White Sox.
Robert Jr., a former Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner and MLB All-Star in 2023, is expected to join Juan Soto (right field) and Brett Baty (left field) as New York’s starting outfield in 2026.
As exciting as the Mets’ lineup appears on paper in anticipation of spring training next month in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and even with the loss of last season’s bat power, Stearns’ Mets 2.0 turnaround hinges on the success or failure of the pitching staff.
Motivated to win in New York and playing for a contract that should take him through the rest of his career, Peralta knows the importance of the 2026 season. Opening Day, March 26 at Citi Field with the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates in Queens, this promises to be the most important projected start of Peralta’s pro career. In New York, particularly, a good first MLB impression is like no other. By all indications, Peralta is up to the task.
