It sounds like Freddy Peralta isn't the only former NY Mets player teams are willing to buy into

FanSided’s Robert Murray profiled multiple underrated free agents and within came a few familiar names to New York Mets fans. Freddy Peralta made the list. How could he not? A turnaround with the Tampa Bay Rays and an awesome pair of starts in the postseason have made him much more in line to receive a fat contract.

What about any of those other players with a Mets connection?

Even more worthy of a potential adjective of underrated is David Peterson. Maybe a Tier-C starting pitcher at best behind the one-man class of Tarik Skubal in Tier-A and the Tier-B with players like Clay Holmes, Michael King, and Peralta, one could make the case Peterson is a pitcher who, in the right situation, can thrive.

Within Murray’s story is the most important line of all in regards to Peterson:

“...there are folks across the league who believe that Peterson's best days are still ahead of him.”

Is David Peterson on the verge of becoming another Mets player whose career takes off after leaving?

Peterson pitched to a 3.70 ERA for the Chicago Cubs compared to the 6.09 ERA he had with the Mets. Interestingly, his FIP got worse. It went from 3.85 up to 4.06. He went from a perception of being incredibly unlucky to being only a little bit so.

Defense definitely played a factor. Similar numbers other than the ERA with the Mets and Cubs, more ground balls resulting in outs instead of hits was one of the bigger differences. He secured only 3 ground ball double plays with the Mets. He had 10 with the Cubs in a close enough sample where you’d think it wouldn’t have more than tripled.

More doubles with the Mets than the Cubs, 13 vs. 10, and 4 triples allowed for New York without any as a member of Chicago, it was the Northsider’s outfield defense that also aided in a better finish than start for Peterson. The hard-hit percentage did drop with the Cubs, which helps to partially explain it. In either case, the situation with the Cubs seemed to be far more favorable than it was for the Mets this past year.

Peterson was far from a project that never got off the ground. He was effective in his swingman role in 2022. In 2024, he was excellent from start to finish after starting the year on the IL. The problem for him in 2025 was running out of gas around the 120 inning mark.

Going 148.1 frames this past year and not running out of steam bodes well for Peterson. Spotrac has him projected to get around a one-year deal worth $10 million. This is based on a way-too-wide variety of comparisons. They compare him to Cal Quantil who got less than $2 million on a recent one-year deal as well as Zac Gallen who got slightly over $20 million to return to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

A candidate to get either a one or two-year deal with that second season including some sort of option, the belief that his best days are still ahead has a chance to embarrass the Mets and not just the version led by David Stearns. The team, under a variety of coaches, never fully got him to reach his first-round draft pick ceiling. The infield defense wasn’t always atrocious. There were moments when Peterson looked like a legitimate mid-rotation arm.

Peralta will be the one to cash a big paycheck this offseason. Peterson should do pretty well for himself, too. He has the potential to have a team built for him to be a success to reward him with more than a one-year commitment. Whether it’s the Cubs or someone else, there has always been something about Peterson that seems one or two steps away from being reliable every fifth day. The 2026 Mets were far from the best match to make it happen.

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