that he preferred<\/a> a long-term deal. Such a desire may not necessarily jibe with the Mets\u2019 inclination under president of baseball operations David Stearns. After three offseasons with the Mets, Stearns has yet to sign a pitcher for more than three years.<\/p>\nStearns has not embraced contract extensions with the Mets; he allowed Pete Alonso to reach free agency twice, as well as Edwin D\u00edaz last winter, without substantive negotiations beforehand. Stearns wasn\u2019t especially active on extensions in Milwaukee, where running a team in a smaller market makes them more pivotal to retaining talent over the long term.<\/p>\n
The acquisition of Peralta in January figured to test Stearns and the Mets\u2019 resolve when it comes to extensions. New York had surrendered two top-100 prospects in Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat to put Peralta at the top of their rotation. At the time of the trade, Peralta held interest in an extension; he enjoys New York City (where several family members live) and liked the idea of getting his contract situation ironed out ahead of a potential walk year.<\/p>\n
If things are headed toward the Mets and Peralta revisiting talks in the offseason, then the likelihood of a resolution at that juncture also looks tricky.<\/p>\n
Based on history, security matters to Peralta. In February 2020 (and while with a different agency), he agreed to an extension with the Brewers, who were under Stearns\u2019 leadership. At the time, Peralta called it a \u201csomewhat\u201d easy decision; he wasn\u2019t yet a full-time starter. Plenty has changed since, including Peralta making two All-Star teams, and yet he is making $8 million in 2026, a bargain salary relative to his production and peers.<\/p>\n
After Dylan Cease received seven years from the Toronto Blue Jays in free agency over the winter, would it be crazy for Peralta to eye something similar? The idea of Peralta taking fewer years if it means securing a higher annual average value should not be ruled out. Either way, he is on track to present a fascinating test case for the Mets\u2019 philosophies.<\/p>\n
Peralta profiles as a pitcher worth banking on, a top executive from a different National League team said. He cares about winning. He takes care of his body. And, in a worst-case scenario down the road, a team could shorten him back up as a reliever, the NL official said, because it\u2019s not as if he hasn\u2019t worked effectively in such a role before.<\/p>\n
Peralta\u2019s season got off to a solid yet unexceptional start. Against the Pirates, he allowed four runs, including two home runs. He recorded seven strikeouts without issuing a walk. He threw 80 pitches. After a shaky first inning in which he surrendered a two-run home run and threw 19 pitches, Peralta settled in.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, I thought he was very good,\u201d Mendoza said.<\/p>\n
Peralta is capable of plenty more. As the Mets\u2019 new ace, Peralta\u2019s performance in 2026 was always going to play a huge role in the team\u2019s success during a season in which New York is under significant pressure to win. Without an extension, his showing in 2026 would potentially carry serious weight for his career, too \u2014 whether he remains in New York or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 Before taking a seat behind a microphone for a news conference Wednesday, the day before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,1189,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-550426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-new-york-mets","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}