The Brewers Dodged a Major Bullet...

The Brewers dodged a major bullet in trading away Freddy Peralta for the last year of his contract, but does that fully keep out of question? Could the Brewers find a way to bring Peralta back for the second half of the season? That's what I want to dive into today on Brewers Digest. I'm your host, Taylor Rettel, and I got you covered on everything you need to know about the Milwaukee Brewers. Freddy Peralta returned to Milwaukee, Wisconsin at American Family Field and started in game one of this three-game series between the New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers. I'll flash what he did last night against the Milwaukee Brewers. He only lasted five and a third innings, and that was in 107 pitches. He gave up eight hits, seven runs, which were all earned, two walks, and six strikeouts. So not a pretty outing at all for Freddy Fastball, at least that used to be his nickname in Milwaukee. The velocity seems to be down, which is a concern as well. But with that return, good or bad, this has been a rumor for Freddy Peralta to come back to the Milwaukee Brewers. But it is good or bad, and now it is bad or really bad in what Peralta has been putting together this season. And that's just such an unfortunate way to put it. What he's done with the New York Mets, there really hasn't been any glimpse of hope outside, like really early into the season. I want to put the stat up here in an article from New York Mets on SI, really emphasizing the struggles that Freddy has had this season, which is something the Brewers have to pay attention to. It says, to say this season has been a nightmare for Peralta and the Mets might be putting it lightly. For this season, Peralta now has a 5-9 record and a 5.01 ERA, with two weeks left until the trade deadline. The last time he had an ERA north of 5 was in 2019 at a 5.29, but he wasn't a full-time starter at that time. And to make matters worse, the underlying stats don't look much better for Peralta. So yeah, huge struggles right there, but the Brewers are desperate for starting pitching. They need an arm, the Brewers never really spend much at the trade deadline. They're a smaller market, but no matter how good they are, which right now is the best record in baseball, it never seems like the Brewers make that big move. The last big move at a trade deadline, I can really think, you have to go all the way back to CC Sabathia in 2008. So, will the Brewers do something at those levels? I would be absolutely shocked. So, Freddy Peralta stays a rumor. He's low cost because of how much he's struggling, and he's formerly been with the Brewers for eight seasons before this year. There's also another piece that I want to put out there, really emphasizing the struggles in the starting rotation because of the injuries, how thin it is. This is from Bob Nightingale in a joint article on USA Today. He had a lot to write on the situation saying, with the news that right-hander Brandon Woodruff will miss the rest of the season, Milwaukee, which was already looking for starting pitcher help, could look to bring back a familiar face in mentioning Freddy Peralta. It says the Mets are reportedly shopping everyone, including Freddy Peralta, whom Milwaukee traded to New York during the offseason. The Brewers need to bolster their rotation beyond ace Jacob Mizrowski and left-hander Kyle Harrison, who is currently on the I-L with minor forearm tightness. That I-L stint for Kyle Harrison is the 15-day I-L, so he could be gone for a good while. He continues on by saying, beyond that, Milwaukee is relying on some mix of Logan Henderson, Shane Drohan, Brandon Sproat, and Robert Gasser. If you read that last chunk, that bottom graph entering this season, and put that with the fact that the Brewers have the best record in baseball, you would probably tell me that I am absolutely crazy. I mean, it is crazy to read that the Brewers are relying on Logan Henderson, Shane Drohan, Brandon Sproat, and Robert Gasser, and still have the best record in all of baseball, which shows, if they just add an arm or two, I mean, this could be a very dangerous team going into the postseason. So could that arm be Freddy Peralta? That is the question that we are trying to answer today. But what he did against the Brewers yesterday showed so many signs of struggles, and I just want to take a look at his game log from June and on, especially with last night's outing, because that's more recent play. That is what Peralta has put together over the past month and a half, and these numbers are not great at all. The first thing I actually want to touch on, before we even get to the ERA, is how deep he goes into outings now. We know Freddy Peralta with the Milwaukee Brewers, he did have issues getting in high pitch counts. He'd get to a lot of 0-2's, then it would be a 3-2, even if it ended up in a strikeout. Freddy Peralta usually could only go about six innings with the Milwaukee Brewers, but with the New York Mets, has really struggled to even get to that mark. The last time he pitched six full innings was probably back on June 9th. Yesterday against the Milwaukee Brewers, he went five and a third, but that's in 107 pitches. You see the stat line right there, which I read to you earlier, just not great at all, and the last outing where Freddy Peralta gave up zero runs, you have to go back to June as well. Nearly a month ago, June 25th, which, funny enough, is against the Chicago Cubs' arrival to the Milwaukee Brewers, but these are just really not pretty numbers. It's hard to find something that's attractive about this that you can say, oh, it's a quick fix. The walk numbers are high. I mean, I guess the strikeouts are still there, but outside of that, there is nothing really good to look at there, so that's what you got to monitor about Freddy Peralta if the Brewers were to make this move, but Peralta, the Mets just want to dump him. He has this half a year left on his contract. The Brewers might want him back, but with the Mets just wanting to dump him, maybe they're not going to ask for much at all. If you can see what they could have asked for Peralta at the start of the season, which obviously not trading a guy that you just traded for at the start of the season, but then compared to now, I mean, those are two totally different stories, so I want to also take a look at just his career with the Brewers in this one season with the Mets because he's not at just season lows. He is at like some career lows. Very, very bad. This is his baseball reference page right here. I want to look at the per nines. That is what I attest to right here. We're going to start off. Let's just talk about his strikeouts. I mean, Freddy Peralta, he's one of those pitchers, even if you give up, you know, three runs, three or six innings with maybe a homer, he still would always get those strikeouts, kind of like Dylan Cease as is what he had last season in 2025, especially a 5.54, 17 and six record 2.7 era. You look at it though, his strikeouts per nine this season, just at nine, the previous couple of seasons, nearly every season of his career was in double digits. He was sitting right at 9.9 in 2022, but that it's not good at all. The walks per nine at a 3.8. That's the highest since 2019, which was his worst season of his career. You go to the home runs per nine. He usually always gives up, like I said, that one home run, but now it's at 1.4, which ties the worst in his career. His hits per night at a 9.4. That is the worst by far, just not nothing pretty here. His whip 1.459, the worst since 2019. I mean, you have to go back to 2019 to find when these numbers were this bad. That is the problem. I don't really need to emphasize it any more than that. It's unfortunate. It's concerning. And it's the question, will the brewers even go for something like this? I don't know. Like, I think there's better. I mean, there obviously are better arms out there. I think the brewers need to go for an arm. You can trust. I know Peralta is the former brewer. It would be great to have him back. He did so much for the community. I absolutely loved him there, but these struggles are too concerning when you have the best record in baseball and you were trying to make your first world series since 1982. I think it is too much of a risk, but you know, you want to bring him back. You want to bring him back with his former teammates. He met up with some of the brewers teammates before the game, good vibes, all smiles, nothing bad to say about him. Another guy that didn't have anything bad to say about him was Pat Murphy. Here's a quote right here. This was in a press conference talking about Freddie Peralta. He had one before the game and one after the game. And he said here, anybody in baseball would welcome Freddie Peralta in their clubhouse. Nobody would turn down Freddie Peralta. And of course, everybody here would be ecstatic. So it's not a question about character. It's a question about the talent that Freddie Peralta holds. And if the brewers were truly co after that, I just don't think that they should. I also want to take a look at one more thing, his stat cast. This was absolutely fascinating, I guess in the wrong way to look at just the amount of drop off that Freddie Peralta has had this season. And there's one thing that I really want to highlight right here. So this is side by side on the left is with the New York Mets this season on the right is with the Milwaukee Brewers just last season. The thing that I really want to touch on is strikeout percentage. I mean, Freddie Peralta relied on those strikeouts. Like I said, even when giving up those couple of runs, he would still get the strikeouts. Look at the light blue. It's turning compared to very high in that 84th percentile in 2025. That is concerning. But the biggest concern, in my opinion, average fastball velocity just in the 44th percentile this season. It's not like he was super high in that. But again, 58th percentile in 2025, that is a sizable drop off. And could it be because of something like his extension? You go to the very bottom here, his extension way lower this season with the Mets than last year with the Brewers. So he's changed stuff mechanically, which gives you the one question. Could he come back and get these things fixed? Bring it back to the Chris Hook style. I think it's a possibility, but I don't think you could change someone from over 5 ERA back to the 2.7 form he was last season. Maybe if he could put together like a 3.5, you'd be satisfied with that. But so many concerns sit right there for Freddie Peralta. So you guys feel free to let me know what would you do with Freddie Peralta if the Brewers brought him in? I actually have a question for you. If they really did, what role would you want him to have? Put him in the starting rotation. Could they make him a low leverage relief arm? I mean, he would be able to go multiple innings, kind of be what Lance McCullers was last night. It's a big lead. The Brewers have just put Peralta in for that role or vice versa. If they're down really big, just make him a plug and play guy. I'd be shocked if the Brewers made a trade for a plug and play guy when you're losing, though a high leverage relief arm. I mean, this still Freddie fastball. Do you trust him out of the bullpen or do you want him to maybe go to the Nashville Sounds to fix some mechanics? I'm not sure at all. Again, the Brewers would have to trade for Peralta, so you'd have to give things up. Would you give things up to bring a guy in and put him in your bullpen when he's supposed to be a starter or put him in Triple A when he's supposed to be on the major league roster? I honestly would not do that, and that's what makes this the biggest question mark of it all here, but I want to leave that up to you guys to answer that down below. That's all I got for this episode of Brewers Digest. Freddie, I love the man. I love what he's done for Milwaukee. I just don't think it'd be the right move for the Brewers. You have the best record in baseball. You need to get a bigger arm that has proved it more than Freddie Peralta this season, but hey, I'm going to leave it up to you guys. You put in the comments down below. Should the Brewers bring back Freddie? Yes or no? If they do, how should they use him, and if they don't, what arm would you want the Brewers to go after? Maybe a little sunny gray action, but hey, those Red Sox are hot. They might not be dealing anyone as well. Should be a pretty crazy trade deadline. Hoping the Brewers make the right move come at the end of July.