Assessing Freddy Peralta, and the need to be creative offensively

The Mets ace's inefficiencies on the mound can impact his trade value, and his value as a free agent

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

• The Mets salvaged the final game of their three-game series with the Mariners with a 7-1 win in Seattle (box)

• Freddy Peralta started for the Mets, gave up a run in the first but shutdown the Mariners over the next five innings, allowing six hits on the day with six strikeouts

• Brooks Raley, Luke Weaver and Joey Gerber provided three scoreless innings of relief

• In the fourth inning, Bo Bichette plated two runs with a single, Jared Young doubled in a run, and Carson Benge stole home, to give the Mets a four-spot in the frame and help the Mets pull away from the Mariners

• Bo Bichette had a four-hit game, his first of the season and first since last September 1

• The Mets are 5-2 in their last seven games, are 17-14 since May 1 and have scored 4.7 runs per game over those 31 games

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Roster Moves 📰

• RHP Jonah Tong optioned to Triple-A Syracuse

• RHP Joey Gerber recalled from Triple-A Syracuse

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Play of the Game ✨

I love it when players steal home!

In the fourth inning with runners at the corners and two outs, the Mets executed a double steal - Juan Soto drew a throw from the Mariners to second base, paying no mind to the speedy Carson Benge at third, and that allowed Benge to score standing up to give the Mets a 4-1 lead. It was Benge’s 10th stolen base on the year, and Soto’s sixth.

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Just Mets Podcast 🎙️

SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify

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Down on the Farm 🌾

• OF Nick Morabito (no. 11 prospect, AAA): 1-for-4, 3B, R

• INF JT Schwartz (AA): 3-for-4, HR, 7 RBI, 3 R

• RHP Jose Chirinos (High-A): 5 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 K

• RHP Cam Tilly (Low-A): 5 IP, 4 H, 5 K

• LHP Connor Ware (Low-A): 4 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 2 BB, 4 K

BOX SCORES

Single-A SLU G1 | G2 | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR

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Today’s Game 🗓

The Mets are off Thursday. They open a three-game series with the Padres in San Diego on Friday.

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Thoughts on Freddy Peralta and his value, and how the Mets can generate more offense ✍️

AP Photo

It wasn’t the greatest series for the Mets in Seattle this week. But it hasn’t exactly been a place the Mets had won at in recent years either. Until Wednesday, the Mets had lost seven straight games in Seattle dating all the way back to July 18, 2017.

As a matter of fact, the Mets have never really done well against the Mariners, going 10-19 overall against them entering play on Wednesday since interleague play began in 1997.

But Wednesday sang a different tune for the Mets against the Mariners in a generally efficient 7-1 win in their American League House of Horrors. Sure, they only went 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position, but they got a well-pitched game from Freddy Peralta, they scored a lot of runs against a good pitcher in George Kirby, and they also manufactured a run with the aforementioned double steal of home, something they need to do a lot more of in my view since they have such a Jekyll and Hyde offense.

The big knock on Peralta has been his inability to go deep into games. He has only thrown six innings or more in a game in five of his 13 starts on the year in 2026 and, for an ace and for a guy the Mets are leaning so heavily on in their musical chairs rotation, they do need more innings from him. And quite frankly, anyone who might be interested in acquiring Peralta ahead of the trade deadline needs to see him throw more innings more often as well.

But the innings he is providing are certainly high quality. He’s only allowed more than three runs in a start twice and, since his Opening Day start against the Pirates on March 26, he has a 3.09 ERA and averaging 5.6 IP per start. That ERA is probably a little lower than it should be considering he’s sporting a 3.89 FIP during that span of 12 starts, but having good defensive help and one of the Mets’ best attributes, believe it or not, has been their defense in an otherwise disappointing season so far.

For Peralta though, it’s about efficiency. He doesn’t walk a lot of batters by any means, but he falls behind in the count a lot, and often times has trouble putting hitters away, which tends to drive up his pitch count. This just may very well be what he is - he only averaged a shade over 5.1 IP per start in 2025, and for his career, he’s averaged around 5.1 IP per start. That could impact his value as a free agent, and potentially his trade value, especially since he hasn’t found a way to really break through that barrier significantly in his walk year. And, because his FIP is approaching a run higher than his ERA, one might conclude he would have to be on a team with a strong infield defense behind him.

Now, none of that is meant to diminish Peralta. Every pitcher has their weakness, including the greats. This feels like something Peralta can improve upon without changing his repertoire as much as his sequencing and pitching to more contact earlier in counts. That could impact his strikeout numbers for sure, but I’d rather have a pitcher who simply gets outs over six or more innings routinely than a pitcher who strikes out a lot of batters, but inefficiently over five or six innings. It was still a great get by the Mets - it would just be nice if the Mets had a better team behind him so we could enjoy the fruits of this trade more.

AP Photo

As for that offense, it was sleepy in Seattle over the first two games of this series, which is generally par for the course in 2026 outside of a few short stretches here and there. They have been better at home but they’re not exactly murderers row at Citi Field in 2026. But they’re scoring 4.5 runs per game at Citi Field compared to 3.6 on the road. That 4.5 number is actually fine - the magic number is always 4 and the Mets have 23 wins when scoring four or more runs in a game. The problem is, they’ve scored three runs or less in 34 games and two runs or less in 26 games.

That’s why I liked how Mets manager Carlos Mendoza went about the fourth inning on Wednesday. This offense stinks outside of Carson Benge, Juan Soto, and perhaps AJ Ewing, but one thing this team does have is speed, and he used that speed to manufacture that all-important fourth run with a double steal of Soto and Benge with runners at the corners and two outs. The Mariners went after the trail runner in Soto, and Benge was basically able to walk home with his speed to score.

I don’t know when the Mets are going to get Francisco Lindor back, I don’t know what they’re going to get out of Jorge Polanco when he gets back, and how long he will even be able to stay on the field. Francisco Álvarez will be back soon, but he’s also another mystery. And their June schedule is nothing short of a gauntlet. Yes, these are important pieces, but I honestly don’t expect the offense to transform when they return. So, if the Mets have any kind of prayer of salvaging their season over the next six weeks before they put up the “for sale” sign, they’re going to have to use what they have and be more creative in scoring runs, as they were on Wednesday. They can’t keep going up to the plate with the same meandering approach, day after day, getting the same (non) results, and expect this offense to eventually hit.

Why would it change otherwise? They have to use the talent and the skill they do have if they’re going to have any sort of shot.

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Around the League 🚩

• Shohei Ohtani reached base five times and fired six scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 0.74 for the year as the Dodgers shut out the Diamondbacks 7-0

• Ozzie Albies and Mauricio Dubon each drove in three runs as the Braves rolled over the Blue Jays 7-3

• Cristopher Sánchez’s scoreless streak ended at 50.2 IP, but he still earned his seventh win of the year as the Phillies topped the Padres 3-2

• Logan Webb allowed just one hit over seven innings in the Giants 1-0 shutout of the Brewers