The NY Mets trade for Freddy Peralta vs. what they turned down for Edward Cabrera

As president of baseball operations David Stearns retooled the New York Mets roster this offseason, it became increasingly clear as time went on that he would not be delving into the higher tiers of free agency to land starting pitching help. Impact starting pitching would have to come through the trade market. Of course, Stearns famously came through to land Freddy Peralta,, who has once again found himself as the subject of trade speculation now that the Mets are struggling.

The Mets, of course, gave up right-hander Brandon Sproat and versatile positional prospect Jett Williams in order to reel in Peralta (alongside Tobias Myers). That wasn't the only option the team had at their disposal, however. It's well-known at this point that the Marlins were seeking two players from the front office in trade talks surrounding Edward Cabrera: infielder Brett Baty and center fielder A.J. Ewing. Now that we're deep into the 2026 season, which deal would've been better?

Entering the season, virtually any fan would've said that Baty was the most substantial piece being talked about in either of those trades. Not wanting to lose Baty was surely a big part of the team's decision not to pull the trigger on that deal, but the 26-year-old has been roundly disappointing so far this year with an OBP that's struggled to stay above .300 and limited power.

After hot starts to their Brewers careers, Williams and Sproat have mostly performed more or less as expected. Sproat has been a decent but unspectacular back-of-the-rotation piece for Milwaukee, while Williams has a solid .370 OBP at Triple-A that's held back by a lack of power. Peralta and Myers have similarly produced as expected, with Peralta looking as expected through nine starts and Myers posting surprising solid numbers as a long relief arm.

The Mets made the right trade despite tough start to Brett Baty's season

Comparing a trade where all players involved are performing more or less as expected to one where one of the key pieces the Mets would've surrendered is struggling badly might make fans wish they had unloaded Baty while he was still at his most valuable. That's certainly understandable, but the reality is that the club still made the correct trade even in spite of their misguided call to hold onto Baty.

That's in large part due to the emergence of top prospect A.J. Ewing, who flew up from Double-A to Triple-A before making his big league debut on May 12. MLB.com's Anthony DiComo indicated at the time of Ewing's call-up that Luis Robert's uncertain injury timeline could give him plenty of runway as the Mets' starting center fielder, and Ewing has made an incredibly strong first impression through his first few games in the majors. Dealing him away right before his breakout would've been a big mistake.

Perhaps losing Ewing would be justifiable if Cabrera had been an impact pitcher so far this year, but the opposite has been true. The righty has struggled in his first season with the Cubs, with a 4.06 ERA and 4.49 FIP through nine starts. He's racking up lots of strikeouts, but hasn't done much else. Even factoring in the extra years of control Cabrera would've come with, the Mets were still right to trade for one strong year of Peralta rather than sacrifice Ewing to get three mediocre years of Cabera.

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