The Rays have acquired right-hander Freddy Peralta from the Mets, per announcements from both clubs. In return, New York receives prospects Aidan Smith, Émilien Pitre and Gary Gill Hill. The Rays transferred Jake Fraley to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot. Fraley has already been on the IL longer than that and is eligible for reinstatement at any time.
Tampa has been big-game hunting in the rotation market. They were connected to Tarik Skubal, the best rental starter available. However, the Dodgers reeled him in, so it seems the Rays have pivoted to arguably the most notable rental starter after Skubal.
It’s not Tampa’s usual modus operandi to take a big swing on rentals but it seems certain stars have aligned to make them act this way. For one thing, they are having an excellent season. They are 65-45, tops in a weak American League. They are 3.5 games up on a Yankee team that is struggling to score while Aaron Judge is on the injured list. If they can hold on to win the division, they would get almost certainly get a first-round bye, as the Central and West division leaders are well back of the top two teams in the East.
While the big league team has been racking up wins, good things have been happening on the farm as well. Baseball America recently ranked Tampa’s prospect pipeline second in the majors, behind only the Brewers.
On top of that, the rotation has some question marks. Shane McClanahan just hit the injured list due to mid-back tightness. It’s not expected to be a long absence but McClanahan also missed the 2024 and 2025 seasons due to arm issues. It’s anyone’s guess how he’ll fare down the stretch. Drew Rasmussen is healthy this year but has a notable track record of arm troubles. Ian Seymour is having a breakout year but still has fewer than 140 big league innings under his belt. Griffin Jax has spent the past few years as a reliever and is already up to 86 2/3 innings, a career high in a big league season for him. Nick Martinez has great numbers this year but is outperforming his underlying stats and has oscillated between rotation and bullpen work in his career.
There’s lots of talent in there but also lots of uncertainty. Despite that, the Rays have put themselves in a good position in the standings and have a strong farm to draw from, so they have decided to act boldly. They are taking on the remainder of Peralta’s salary but it’s only $8MM, leaving about $2.5MM still to be paid out.
Getting Peralta is a buy-low move, however, as he is having his worst season since he established himself as a big league starter. From 2021 to 2025, he gave the Brewers 738 1/3 innings with a 3.30 ERA, 29.6% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate. He was flipped to the Mets in the most recent offseason and has seen his numbers decline in Queens. He has thrown 113 2/3 innings this year with a 4.99 ERA. His 9.4% walk rate is right around his previous level but he is only punching out 22.1% of batters faced.
The Rays have a strong reputation for helping pitchers become the best versions of themselves. They also prioritize defense, which could help Peralta’s run prevention. Peralta’s .313 batting average on balls in play this year is north of the .287 league average and his .271 career rate. Presumably, the Rays feel there is a way for Peralta to be better after the uniform switch.
For the Mets, this is surely not the way they drew it up. They made the playoffs in 2024 and narrowly missed in 2025. They came into 2026 hoping for another competitive season and acquired Peralta as one of their key offseason moves, sending out prospects Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams in a deal that also netted Tobias Myers. Initially, there was some thought that the high-spending Mets would quickly look to extend Peralta but it never seemed as though those talks gained traction.
As mentioned, Peralta has not met expectations and several other Mets have also disappointed. The team is behind every National League club apart from the Rockies, leading to a sell-off, especially of short-term pieces. Reliever A.J. Minter was already flipped to the Twins. The Mets could have held Peralta and made a qualifying offer but, as a tax payor, their compensation pick would come after the fourth round. They presumably feel this package of prospects is better than anyone they could have selected with that pick.
Smith, 22, is traded for the second time in his career. He was drafted by the Mariners but went to the Rays in the 2024 deal which sent Randy Arozarena to Seattle. It’s a buy-low move for the Mets. Smith finished 2024 with a combined line of .288/.401/.473 and 143 wRC+ between those two clubs. He also stole 41 bases and played all three outfield spots.
But there were some concerns in his 2025 production. He spent last year with High-A Bowling Green and hit .237/.331/.388. Thanks to some home runs and some walks, that was still a decent showing, but he struck out in 31.2% of his plate appearances. Here in 2026, things are even worse. He has mostly been back at High-A and has 228 plate appearances at that level this year with a .215/.283/.410 line and 32% strikeout rate.
He has wheels, so he has a decent floor as a speed-and-defense guy, but the bat is a big question mark right now. Despite the concerns, Baseball America has him listed as the #15 prospect in the Rays system at the moment. He hasn’t yet reached the Double-A level, so he’s a long-term project for the Mets.
Pitre, 23, was a second-round pick of the Rays in 2024. The infielder has now climbed up as high as Double-A, using a contact-based approach to success. He has 163 Double-A plate appearances this year with an 18.4% walk rate and 10.4% walk rate, both excellent figures. He has only three home runs but has slashed .323/.451/.492, with some help from a .351 batting average on balls in play.
BA doesn’t currently list Pitre as one of the top 30 prospects in the Rays system. In June, FanGraphs put him at #37, noting that he could have a future as a utility player if he diversifies his defensive skill set. He has mostly played second base so far in his career, with some brief showings at third base and shortstop.
Hill, 21, was a sixth-round pick in 2022. The right-hander is at #27 on BA’s Rays list. They currently describe him as a strike-throwing groundballer but with a mid-rotation upside if he gets stronger or his stuff improves. He has already reached Double-A, with 15 starts at that level under his belt. In those, he logged 81 1/3 innings with a 4.43 ERA, 17.7% strikeout rate, 4.1% walk rate and 48.5% ground ball rate.
The Rays are hoping they have made a big upgrade to their playoff rotation, though they will have some work to do in finessing Peralta and getting him back on track. Before the deadline, they could also upgrade the lineup and/or the bullpen. Getting a catcher seems like a prudent and likely move. For the clubs who missed out on Skubal and/or Peralta, they will presumably pivot to guys like Casey Mize, Kevin Gausman, Foster Griffin, José Soriano or Reid Detmers.
For the Mets, it’s not a great sequence of events but they are hopefully salvaging some future value as Peralta departs. They should have many more moves to come before tomorrow’s deadline. Brooks Raley, Tyrone Taylor and Luis Robert Jr. are almost certain to move as impending free agents. Controllable guys like Luke Weaver, Huascar Brazobán, Sean Manaea and others could be on the move as well.
Will Sammon of The Athletic first reported that the Rays were landing Peralta. Joel Sherman of The New York Post reported that the Mets would be getting three players in return, and that no cash was changing hands. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com was first with the name of those players. Photos courtesy of John Jones, Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images
