5 NY Mets trades that would swap David Peterson for another starting pitcher

5) Jack Flaherty

Okay, admittedly this one might be a step back. Fortunately, it’s probably not going to happen. The Mets have passed on adding Jack Flaherty countless times when he changed teams in the past at the trade deadline or in free agency. In all honesty, we can’t discount anything, though. This team traded Brandon Nimmo and let Edwin Diaz walk away. They might have something interesting up their sleeve involving a Peterson for Flaherty swap.

Flaherty’s 4.64 ERA last year for the Detroit Tigers had him opting into his contract for 2026 which went from $10 million to $20 million because he made 15+ starts. He made 31, surprisingly. 15 of them were losses.

The Tigers aren’t a team in a major need to shed salary. This might be more of a change of scenery type of contract and a part of something bigger. The inclusion of a Tigers reliever and a Mets position player is probably the direction this would go. Reese Olson was previously traded by Stearns to the Tigers back in his Milwaukee Brewers days. We’ll take someone of less magnitude if it lessons the position player the Mets need to sacrifice. It’ll be tough to part with Brett Baty after the season he had.

Makes sense if...the Mets get a reliever in the trade and the Tigers get a position player.