The Freddy Peralta era in New York felt like it lasted about as long as one of his starts.

The Mets traded Peralta to the Tampa Bay Rays, according to The Athletic‘s Will Sammon. The Mets will receive prospects OF Aidan Smith (No. 15 in the Rays’ system, according to Pipeline), INF Émilien Pitre (No. 27), and RHP Gary Gill Hill (No. 26), according to Mark Feinsand.

  • Smith is a 22-year-old outfielder currently in High-A. His glove is seen as better than his bat right now, as he’s able to play all three positions. He has power potential and good speed, though results have been mixed this year when repeating High-A.
  • Pitre is a 23-year-old infielder from the suburbs of Montreal. He currently has a .943 OPS in 37 games at the Double-A level.
  • Gill Hill is a 21-year-old righty from Westchester County (soon to be 22), who has a 4.49 ERA across High-A and Double-A.

MLB Pipeline has since updated the Mets’ system rankings and rank Smith 12th, Pitre 15th, and Gill Hill 17th.

Jon Heyman reports the Rays will take on all of Peralta’s remaining $2.47 million salary.

Hopes were high when the Mets landed Peralta along with Tobias Myers in January in a deal with the Brewers for pitcher Brandon Sproat and prospect Jett Williams.

Peralta, 30, was coming off the best season of his eight-year career. He went 17-6 with a 2.70 ERA in 2025, struck out 200+ for the third straight year, made his second All-Star team and placed fifth in Cy Young voting.

“Fringe benefit of the Peralta deal is that any pressure there might have been on Nolan McLean to become an instant ace has now been alleviated,” Mets radio broadcaster Howie Rose tweeted on Jan. 21.

But Peralta never found the consistency he did in Milwaukee. He allowed a career-high 10 runs in a June 20 loss at Philadelphia, after a loss in Toronto on July 1 he said he was “probably” going through the worst stretch of his career and after he gave up seven runs in his return to Milwaukee on July 20 he was asked what changed from last season.

“I don’t know,” he told reporters. “I don’t even know how to answer that question. But I don’t know how to define it or if there’s only one thing. But I just, I don’t understand, sometimes, but I got to keep fighting trying to get through this.

“Because I feel good. My stuff is good. Everything is there. Velocity is there. I think compared to last year even, I have the sweeper or the slider better than last year even. So I don’t know. I’ve been working trying to figure out, but I’m not going to give up on this, just keep going through this and keep fighting.”