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By Jackson Roberts
Contributing Sports Writer
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The New York Mets showed themselves to be comfortable with blockbuster trades on Sunday.
According to multiple reports, including one from ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Mets and Texas Rangers agreed to a shocking swap that will send outfielder Brandon Nimmo to Texas and second baseman Marcus Semien to New York. It's a move that should boost the Mets' defense up the middle, but their biggest need by far remains starting pitching.
As New York has deep prospect reserves and didn't touch them to grab Semien, could the next move be a more traditional deal that packages multiple young players to land one big fish?
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Freddy Peralta of the Milwaukee Brewers would be an ideal addition to the Mets' rotation, and because president of baseball operations David Stearns is entering his third year in New York after coming over from Milwaukee, there's plenty of familiarity here. But what would it realistically take for the Mets to acquire Peralta?
On Monday, Jim Bowden of The Athletic proposed a hypothetical trade that would send Peralta to the Mets in exchange for right-handed pitcher Brandon Sproat and utility player/speedster Luisangel Acuña, assuming the latter won't miss serious time with a wrist injury he sustained on a hit-by-pitch in Venezuelan winter ball on Friday.
"The Mets could offer Sproat, who reached the big leagues at the end of the 2025 season and is one of their top pitching prospects," Bowden wrote. "He needs to work on control and command, but profiles as a solid mid-rotation starter who has potential upside greater than that if he can sharpen his command.
"The 23-year-old (Acuña) batted .234 in 175 at-bats in the majors for the Mets last year. However, at Triple-A Syracuse, he slashed .303/.347/.385 in 109 at-bats. He could compete with Ortiz for playing time at shortstop or be used as a super-utility player (he can also play in the outfield)."
Peralta pitched to a 2.70 ERA and struck out 204 batters in 176 2/3 innings this year, and if the Mets had been able to call upon someone like that every five days, there's little doubt they would have secured a playoff berth. And with only an $8 million salary, Peralta would barely raise the Mets' payroll, which will also grow slightly for the first two years Semien is under control.
Based on Peralta's proven stardom and the lack of big-league production from the two Mets youngsters, it's tempting to call this hypothetical a lopsided win for the Mets. But the equalizer is the fact that New York only gets one year of control, and there's no guarantee they'd have any advantage in securing Peralta when he hits free agency.
More MLB: Mets Expected to Trade $50M All-Star After Brandon Nimmo Shocker: Insider
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