Free Agent Afterthought Now Set For Huge Payday This Offseason

September 20, 2026 , ,
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As midseason rolled around, it looked like a top-of-the-rotation arm had cost himself many tens of millions of dollars on the free agent market this winter. Coming into the year, bracing for his first season with the New York Mets and going into a contract year, Freddy Peralta was refusing any advances by the Mets to sign an extension. The 30-year-old right-hander was reportedly seeking a 7-to-8-year commitment, and Mets GM David Stearns wasn't interested.

Then Peralta went out and fell flat on his face. He had an ERA of 4.99 for New York by the time of the trade deadline. The Tampa Bay Rays took a chance anyway and dealt for him. Everyone in baseball knows that the Rays have a way of getting the most out of players. It worked with Peralta.

Although he did get hammered a couple of times in his first four starts with Tampa, he has since settled back into being one of the top starters in baseball.
 Over his last five starts, he has a 0.94 ERA and a 0.70 WHIP with a 23:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 28 innings. He'll now be a major factor in the postseason for the soon-to-be-crowned AL East champions. And he's revived his free agency hopes.

He still might not get that $200M type of deal that he was hoping for, that the very top arms on the market have gotten the last couple of years. But he's probably jumped himself back into triple-digit territory ($100M+). 

“I never give up," Peralta said after a recent start. “Sometimes it’s hard when you are going through difficult times. This moment right now that I’m living, the last three or four games, is what I was waiting for. I just want to continue like that until we make it to the World Series.”

And until he gets that big-time free agent offer. 
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