BREAKING: Brewers Agree to Trade Freddy Peralta to New York Mets

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

The Milwaukee Brewers and New York Mets are on the verge of a deal to send right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta to New York, according to a report from the New York Post's Jon Heyman. Peralta will reunite with David Stearns in Queens, while the Brewers will receive multiple pieces in return, a source with knowledge of the talks says.

Picked up by Stearns in a minor trade with the Mariners during his first winter on the job, Peralta can be thought of as arguably the signature success story of Stearns's tenure with the Brewers. The team developed him into an electric-armed starter, then a Cy Young contender. Two weeks before the world shut down due to COVID in early 2020, the two sides agreed on a team-friendly contract extension that gave the Brewers a great deal on his arbitration-eligible seasons and extended his team control, while giving the team two cheap club options on the final years of the contract. It's been one of the most team-friendly deals signed by any pitcher in the last decade.

Since Peralta is owed just $8 million in the final year of the deal, the Brewers have maintained a high asking price for him all winter. He won't turn 30 until June and had arguably the best season of his illustrious career in 2025, going 17-6 with a 2.70 ERA in a career-high 177 innings. Boasting four solid pitches and a greater feel for all of them as he's matured, he has struck out a dazzling 29.9% of the batters he's faced in the majors.

A source briefed on the negotiations said the Brewers will get one player with big-league experience and a prospect in exchange for Peralta, who can be a free agent after 2026. The Crew were known to be looking for a controllable starting pitcher as part of a Peralta deal as recently as last week, and the Mets have plenty of those, with a cluster of tantalizing pitching prospects who have already cracked the big leagues. Nolan McLean was off-limits in these discussions, but both Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat are candidates to be included. Milwaukee is also likely to receive one of the Mets' sudden surfeit of positional prospects, though which tier of player that will be is likely to depend on which of the young arms the Brewers have acquired.

Indeed, Sproat and athletic young hitter Jett Williams will be the haul for the Brewers; Jeff Passan reported those names first on Twitter.

That final piece heading to New York will be swingman Tobias Myers, another victory for the Brewers' pitching development group who helped Milwaukee secure Sproat in the swap. Both Sproat and Williams have the full compliment of team control remaining, and indeed, Williams has yet to debut in the majors. He batted .261/.363/.465 at Double A and Triple A in 2025, but most of his success came in the lower of those levels. He brings a modicum of power and plus speed, but will require a bit of refinement in the Milwaukee development pipeline. He should help the 2026 Brewers, but might not do so until midseason.

Sproat is a different story. Our Jake McKibbin broke him down as an obvious candidate for this very deal earlier this week, and while there are some important tweaks left to make, he profiles as a ready-made big-league out-getter, on a pitching staff already loaded with them.

The Brewers did what they always seek to do in deals like this one, landing two quality players under long-term team control in exchange for one who will be a free agent soon and another who didn't fit into their long-term plans. Williams adds intrigue and upside to the infield and outfield mix, while Sproat gives the starting rotation needed depth and a power arm to pair with Jacob Misiorowski. This is a bittersweet occasion, because Peralta has been a highly charismatic performer and a beloved member of the Milwaukee clubhouse, but the team finally cultivated the offer they couldn't refuse.

Unsurprisingly, the Mets will absorb all of the salary owed to Peralta, a source said. That could give the Brewers more flexibility as they close out the offseason over the coming weeks.

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[Frisbee Slider]

‘In talks’ and ‘agreed to trade’ seem like different things. 🤷‍♂️

[BarremlensTSSC]

I will not give in to being underwhelmed by the return.

I will not give in to being underwhelmed by the return.

I will not give in to being underwhelmed by the return.

I will not give in to being underwhelmed by the return.

I will no.... dammit.

[Dadbauer]

Only name I've seen confirmed is Jett Williams. 

[ClosetBrewerFan]

Peralta and Tobias Myers for Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat. Not sure how i feel about this if accurate.

 

[Frisbee Slider]

Our # 3 starter for Nashville and one year of Peralta for two good prospects will probably work out okay for Milwaukee.

[Joseph Zarr]

This is a perfectly fair return for Freddy and a Tobias Myers who had very clearly fallen precipitously down the organizational trust depth chart. Would I want more? Yes. But it's fair and former colleagues doing business.

[wallus]

Where do Wiliams and Sproat fit in on our prospect rankings?

[wiguy94]

2 minutes ago, wallus said:

Where do Wiliams and Sproat fit in on our prospect rankings?

4 and 5 by Baseball America. Guessing 3 and 4 by Fangraphs. Pipeline don't know because they haven't done any 2026 rankings yet.

[Dadbauer]

I really like the return for Freddy, and while I know Meyers is super crowded out of our rotation and I still like the trade, it's gonna be super annoying when he's successful for the Mets.

 

[wallus]

Just now, wiguy94 said:

4 and 5 by Baseball America. Guessing 3 and 4 by Fangraphs. Pipeline don't know because they haven't done any 2026 rankings yet.

I could see being disappointed but I don't know how anyone could be mad about this. 

[brewmann04]

We’re will Williams fall into this roster ?  We gave Turang at 2nd. Ortiz at SS. The outfield seems to be crowded right now. Does this guy have any power ? 

[CheeseheadInQC]

I feel whelmed I guess. It seems like an acceptable value but also the minimum acceptable value.

[BarremlensTSSC]

13 minutes ago, brewmann04 said:

We’re will Williams fall into this roster ?  We gave Turang at 2nd. Ortiz at SS. The outfield seems to be crowded right now. Does this guy have any power ? 

He's got a bit.  50 rating for power.  Thing I don't get is that he's probably not ready right away and to be blunt middle infield depth 6+ months out doesn't seem like a big need given Turang and Made and/or Pratt on track for debuts in 2027 or 2028.

[wiguy94]

Just now, BarremlensTSSC said:

He's got a bit.  50 rating for power.  Thing I don't get is that he's probably not ready right away and to be blunt middle infield depth 6+ months out doesn't seem like a big need given Turang and Made and/or Pratt on track for debuts in 2027 or 2028.

Williams has gotten some reps in CF, so maybe Brewers see him as a potential OF?

[wallus]

12 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

Williams has gotten some reps in CF, so maybe Brewers see him as a potential OF?

I think they will play him all over. We haven't had a guy with this kind of versatility in a while.

[Joseph Zarr]

I think it's really cool to see Freddy reunite with Stearns on the heels of his biggest contract in a market that can pay him what he's worth. Full circle and extremely well deserved.

[jay87shot]

This is an acceptable return for me, I am not blown away but overall the upside is there and both can help us this year.

Williams has a little way to go but is ahead of Pratt at SS and probably a tad closer than Lara in CF (it seems like CF defense is ok). He hit 17 bombs, 7 3B, and 34 2B with a healthy walk rate and great wheels. He is also 5'7" so Murph will love him. If he doesn't win the SS or CF spot he will be one of the best utility guys around. 

Sproat has the arm to pair amazing with Misi, Henderson, Priester, and Patrick for a long time. With a plus slider and changeup, and upper 90's heater our coaching staff should work some magic. Looking at stats it would seem he needs to find a true strikeout pitch to get to be a top of the rotation starter.

Combined 12 years of control should be a solid return on investment. No doubt now that we have the best minor league system in the league.

 

[rafa79]

Williams is here for center field, book it.  Those of you wondering about how he fits in the infield are correct IMO. Between the current roster and our minor league depth, Williams must be seen as a center fielder.

[Turning2]

MIL does not need yet another small, light hitting entirely unproven prospect for F's sake. This tells me that they are either positioning to flip Jett W. in another trade for a bigger bat OR they aren't as excited about some of the infield prospects as we're led to believe. It would not surprise me in the least however that they are quite content with another 5' 7' infielder, and that we've had a bunch of smoke blown up our kilts about how deep the farm system with SS/infield prospects. There is one SS job available in the near future. Pratt, Made, Pena Jett Williams can't all play it at the same time. Some might slide to 3B, but obviously, there is already a logjam of prospects there too. Makes no sense. 

[long ball]

I’m disappointed that they ended up trading Freddy, but I’m not surprised. I like Myers more than many, but Murphy lost trust in him and I’m not sure he was ever going to fit back into a prominent role on this team so including him in the trade also makes sense. 
 

I think both the players we got and their fit make a lot of sense. Sproat probably is 6th or 7th on the rotation depth chart today, but I’m sure he will pitch plenty of innings for us in 2026. 
 

even though Williams probably isn’t going to start the season in the bigs, once you’re at aaa you could make your debut any day. With his positional flexibility to play CF or SS he could get the call at either position in the event of another Mitchell injury or Ortiz continuing to be lost at the plate. 
 

I do think they should add a veteran starter to add a little stability and to eat some innings. My guess is it would be someone for $8m or less. 
 

overall I think it was a reasonable trade. 

[jay87shot]

Just doing some reading and highlight watching Sproat struggled the 1st half but had a 2.44 era the last 11 starts of AAA. He has a solid 5 pitch mix that will undoubtedly would be improved when our staff adds a cutter. His slider is rated as the better breaking ball however the couple clips I watched the curveball is eye-opening at least as a strikeout pitch. It is in the low 80's and tunnels well with fastball up. The slider looks more 3-9 movement in the 86-90 range. When in the upper 80s it does look like a cutter so I think if he can just throw that like 85-87 with more movement and the get a cutter at 92-94 his arsenal has ace potential.

Williams has a very nice swing and the highlights look like there is solid power to all fields. I does look alot like Durbins swing but less lean back hopefully resulting in more line drives and less pop-ups than Durbs. I would guess that he should be a 20 HR guy if he can hit enough. I dont mind having a lineup full of guys who hit 15-25 HR if everyone can hit like .260 with an obp around .340 and steal 20 plus bases and plays above average defense.

 

[jay87shot]

If we were trying to do Peralta for the w prospects straight up it would have been nice to at least get a lotto style prospect as a 3rd piece when we added Myers. That is probably nitpicking but we say what Myers can be in 2024, I'm not sure if Hall or Gasser can quite reach that quality.

[WiscoSportsHub]

I believe in the prospect return exclusively because they play for the Milwaukee Brewers right now, but I do think the Brewers did a good job of finding their targets and making a deal happen to get them. We will all miss Freddy and while I wish the Brewers could've considered making a bigger boom or bust move (i.e. Marlins getting Owen Caissie), they did a fantastic job of letting the market continue to expand until they got their guys. From what I see Jett and Sproat will be two consistent short kings over the next half decade, hopefully some of our other young pitching develops so the special infielders in the farm system can continue the Brewers' past 8 seasons of success.

[tombot1214]

This is getting hard to see year after year. Even tho i understand it, the business side of sports sucks. Who cares about the true fans anymore?

Putting our faith  in that Woody can stay healthy all year is not the brightest idea. Ill be surprised if he makes it to the All-Star break. Woody deserves a shot with the Brewers just not a 1. Lets add another outfielder in already crowded area. They should have never gotten rid of Myers in the deal either. Hes proven he can be somewhat of a reliable starter so we give up to starters for unproven prospects and 1 in an area we dont need! We should have used peralta for some leverage to try and get a shortstop who can hit. 

This will not be a well liked comment so sorry in advance. Pay Yelich what he is being paid and get rid of one of the best starters again in the game! Yelich i think should almost call it a career. Love the guy bit last year half the games he didnt even seem like he wanted to be there. 

Another sad release in my opinion is Hoskins. We screwed him last yeat keeping him from playoff roster which i think big mistake. They should have thrown a little bit of money at him to stay. Watch you can see hIm getting better and better the farther away from his off year! Hes another proven stud and they are gambling on a giy with a goodnyear. Keston Huira sound familiar? Look at that one hit wonder! Lets bring him back im sure he would come cheap enough for ownership! 

Baseball will never be totally fare until they put together some type of salary cap that actually is real and not where you can pay excess tax or whatever it is. This crap with small market teams compared to big market teams shouldnt matter. Look at the Packers, smaller market than the Brewers but a hell of a lot more success! 

I would rather go watch players playing ball because they are good and love the game and get paid reasonable over somebody who thinks they are better than me because the make $250 million over 7 years and can be divas. They have ruined the game. Nobody is worth that kind of money!