Original Freddy Peralta trade will have NY Mets fans bullish on newly added prospect

When we look at stars who have come out of the international market, like Freddy Peralta, it's easy to get enamored with the established production and forget where they came from. Peralta is now the established ace that the New York Mets craved.

However, 14 years ago, he was a hungry teenager from the Dominican Republic who signed with the Seattle Mariners for the paltry sum of $137,000. After three short and nondescript seasons with the Seattle Mariners, a 19-year-old Peralta made his way to the Milwaukee Brewers organization as part of a package in exchange for first baseman Adam Lind.

Lind spent just one year with the Mariners in 2016, posting a 93 wRC+ and -0.1 fWAR. He'd move on for one more (better) year with the Washington Nationals, but after 2017, his career was over. Peralta made his big league debut in 2018 and now has two All-Star appearances and a top-five Cy Young finish on his resume.

Obviously, had Seattle known what he would become, they never would have included him in a deal for a replacement-level first baseman a little over a decade ago. And that history is exactly why you should be enthused about one of the newest Mets' prospects, Yordan Rodriguez, who was acquired in the Jeff McNeil trade.

Freddy Peralta's history shows why you should be cautiously optimistic about new Mets prospect Yordan Rodriguez

When it comes to international prospects from Latin America and beyond, it's the seven-figure guys who get the juices running. Everyone is waiting for Elian Peña to break into the top-100 this year. The thievery of Wandy Asigen from the New York Yankees exhilarated fans.

But as our friends in the Bronx have shown us, it's much more complicated to hit on these talented youngsters. If you look around the league, there are plenty of stars from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and elsewhere who were not big signing bonus guys.

Arguably, the top free-agent starting pitcher this offseason was Framber Valdez, who originally signed with the Astros for just $10,000. Similarly, Ranger Suarez was highly coveted in free agency, but originally signed for just $25,000. Philadelphia Phillies ace Christopher Sanchez signed with the Tampa Bay Rays for $65,000. The Yankees' top pitching prospect, Carlos Lagrange, was another $10,000 signing. Now, he throws 102 miles per hour and was rated as having the best stuff in the entire minor leagues by Baseball America.

While all prospects are a crapshoot, the guys coming in from overseas are even more mysterious than their drafted counterparts. That's because, although they're eligible to sign after their 16th birthday, most of these deals are agreed upon years before then. We're talking about committing millions to kids who, in some cases, aren't even in high school yet.

That brings us back to the live-armed Rodriguez. The newly minted 18-year-old signed last January with the Athletics for $400K, a more substantial sum than Peralta or any of the hurlers mentioned above. Still, it's a far cry from what the top-rated teens in his class received.

He threw just 15.1 innings in the DSL last season, striking out 31.7% of batters, but walking 12.7%, while posting a 2.93 ERA. The sample is way too small to draw any meaningful conclusion, other than that he is raw with a high-octane arm.

And that's what makes the Jeff McNeil trade so brilliant. New York's options were either to swap the useful but overpaid vet for a fringe roster piece to fill out the end of the bench or bullpen, or exchange him for a teenage lottery ticket. As you can see, while these lottery tickets still have longodds, they're much better than your shot at winning the Mega Millions at your corner bodega.

Comparing Rodriguez to Peralta is unfair, except for the fact that Peralta was once a lottery ticket like Rodriguez, and his trajectory represents one possible path that Rodriguez can take. It will be years before we find out if that has any chance of coming to fruition, but he'll be someone who is fun to check in on from time to time while we wait for a definitive answer.