NY Mets don't deserve blame for Freddy Peralta, maybe they do for someone else

In case you’ve been avoiding it, Freddy Peralta hasn’t shined since joining the Tampa Bay Rays. A theory ahead of the trade deadline was that the New York Mets were to blame for his 2026 failings. Now the owner of a 7.17 ERA in 4 starts for Tampa Bay, it doesn’t look like advice from Justin Willard was the real reason why Peralta faltered.

Declaring Peralta a Mets problem no longer fits a narrative. However, there is someone else who could match it.

After pitching to a 6.09 ERA, the Mets found the Chicago Cubs as a taker for David Peterson. He has since logged 50.1 innings, 9 starts and a relief appearance, and posted a 3.93 ERA. He has gone 6+ innings three times. Of his 24 runs allowed for Chicago, 10 came in a single horrific outing. Peterson has, all of a sudden, fallen back into form.

Maybe the Mets deserve some of the blame for David Peterson

It’s not all coaching with Peterson. A heavier contact than strikeout pitcher, he is definitely benefitting from the far better and arguably best defense in the league behind him. His .279 BAbip with Chicago is better than what he was regularly posting with the Mets. For his career, it’s at .316. This stat is kind of important for a guy who doesn’t overpower you with strikeouts as it tracks a batting average for balls that don’t actually leave the yard while giving a little more of a suggestion about how the defense around has performed.

His 50.1 innings is a large enough sample size for the Mets to question what they were doing wrong. It’s especially strange with Peterson having never pitched for another organization previously. Was the philosophy change too different?

The Mets get credit for not sticking with the same plan with Peterson for his entire 2026 stay with the team. When he was no longer an effective starting pitcher, they wasted little time turning him into a bulk guy. Mixed results but more favorable than not, the Cubs have stuck with him in a more traditional starter role and gotten one of the better performances. He isn’t his 2024 self, going 10-3 with a 2.90 ERA. He’s a more than competent back-of-the-rotation arm. With the Mets, it got to the point of being unusable in any scenario.

The unique aspect of Peterson is he never had any pitching coach but Jeremy Hefner until this year and despite that consistency, he was rarely consistent. The real test of whether or not the Mets deserve blame is how Peterson does after this season. A free agent sure to catch the attention of multiple teams, he’s probably not the next Zack Wheeler but maybe he has another All-Star season in there somewhere.

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