BREAKING: Freddy Peralta TRADED... David Stearns LIED To Us

Breaking news! Freddie Peralta has been traded and David Stearns lied to us. We all knew the Mets were going to trade Peralta, but seldom expected a deal like this, given discussions that the Amazons would receive a top 100 MLB prospect. I'm your host today, Mike Duda, here to dive into it all, only here on Mets Digest. We're going to talk trade details, what the Mets got, and why David Stearns lied to us in the long run. But first, I want to thank each and every single one of the over seven and a half thousand subscribers that we have on the channel. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to hit that free subscribe button. And if you're part of the 68% of viewers who has not yet done so, please consider on the road to 8,000 subscribers. It's free and it's worth your while. We got videos coming out each and every single day between myself and Josh Byrne, sometimes two, three, and even four videos in a given day. Thank you so much in advance. And the MLB insider, as we all know, Jeff Passan, of course, reported the trade, but it was actually Will Salmon, a local New York reporter, who was on it first saying, the Rays are acquiring starting pitcher Freddie Peralta in a trade with the New York Mets. League sources tell The Athletic. But of course, Passan was on it, adding his two cents as well from ESPN, saying the Tampa Bay Rays are acquiring right-handed Freddie Peralta in a trade with the New York Mets. Sources tell ESPN. The Rays get their starter, who joins Drew Rumson, Shane McClanahan, and Nick Martinez in one of the American League's best and finest rotations. The first on the news was, of course, Salmon. And this is huge for Tampa. They got their guy. Yes, Peralta has severely underperformed in a pressure-filled New York scenario, but Tampa Bay has a lot less pressure, and they have been a pitching organization for years and years on end with great developmental guys, great pitching coaches, bullpen catchers, bullpen coaches, anything you need to improve as a pitcher. So in all likelihood, Peralta will head over to the Rays and perform great. And maybe it means the Rays make a deep playoff run. Who knows? What I care about is the Mets return package. So let's turn to my personal favorite reporter, Anthony Tacoma, for the first sign of that, where he said, source, the Mets are trading Freddie Peralta to the Rays for multiple prospects. Will Salmon was first on the news. Now, the fact that it said multiple prospects threw me off from the fact that David Stearns and the insiders promised us a top 100 prospect in return for Peralta. The fact that they got multiple basically threw that out the window. And as we'll dive into a I was absolutely correct. They got nowhere near a top 100 prospect. But before we dive into the details of the trade, let's say goodbye to Freddie Peralta by going back to a narrative from two days ago, that being the start that was scratched because the Mets wanted him to be healthy ahead of the trade deadline. With negotiations intensifying three days before Monday, 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time trade deadline, the Mets scratched right-handed pitcher Freddie Peralta from his scheduled start against the Miami Marlins about five hours prior to first pitch. Peralta had been scheduled to pitch against the Marlins, which could have helped boost his value heading into the deadline. But multiple league sources noted that Peralta has been drawing significant interest despite his struggles, which include a 7.34 ERA over his last nine starts and some pretty bad statistics overall with a 4.99 ERA, five and nine record in 22 starts, 113 and strikeouts, so less than a nine strikeout to nine rate and a 1.48 width. In fact, his negative 0.2 war is the second worst of his career, paired with that 4.99 ERA. And he had the worst of his career with the New York Mets in each of the following categories, winning percentage at a 357. He was five and nine, as you see on your screen, ERA plus at an 83, meaning he was pitching to 17 ERA plus worse than the average MLB pitcher, the worst width of his career at that 1.48 worst hits per nine at nine and a half over nine hits per nine. That means he gives up more than a hit per inning, which is really, really bad, especially for an ace caliber pitcher like Peralta, 8.9 strikeouts per nine. That's the only time he's less than nine in his entire career, as I've mentioned, and a 2.35 strikeout to walk rate. So overall a very bad season for Freddie Peralta, but we can say goodbye to him and now head over to sleeper Mets for the return package. What did the Mets get? Well, update the Mets will be receiving outfielder Aiden Smith, number 15 in the race system, second baseman million Petrie, who is 27 in Tampa system and starting pitcher Gary Gil Hill, who is number 26 with the race from them for Freddie Peralta, according to a different insider who was first on the Mets return package. So let's dive into each and every one of these prospects, starting out with the highest ranked prospect, number 15 Aiden Smith. He is an outfielder currently in high a ball, 22 years old, six foot one, one 90 double righty fourth round pick back in 2023 with an ETA of coming up to the pros relatively soon next season in 2027. But the scouting grades aren't all there, 40 on the hitting 55 on power. So he's got some pop and he can run with a 60 on there and a 60 arm 60 fielding. So he's probably a defense first guy. Think a Pete Alonzo type at the plate, just with really good defense for an overall 45 prospect on the 20 to 80 grading scale, 20 being the worst and 80 being the best. So we're going to dive into each of these prospects, but keep in mind, Tampa Bay had four top 100 prospects in the entire MLB in their system. And instead of getting their number four, three, two, or one who would be a top 100 prospect, the Mets fell all the way to 15th for the best prospect that they acquired. This of course, being Smith, whoever is four seasons in the MLB has a two 46 batting average and a seven 60 OPS, but has never been at a league higher than a plus ball. He's never been in double light, nor has he ever been in triple light. So let's turn to the insiders. What do they have a little bit more on this narrative? Well, Smith turned a big senior season at Lovejoy high school in Texas and an impressive showing at the 2023 MLB draft combine into a $1.2 million bonus as the Mariners fourth round pick getting more than double the assigned slot value pulled Smith away from his commitment to Mississippi state. And he quickly proved himself to be a legitimate prospect at only 19 years old during his first full season debut with Seattle in 2024. That performance also captured the Ray's attention. And at the time they viewed him as the lead price in their return for the world series hero, Randy Orozarena at the 2024 trade deadline. Smith showed a well-rounded skillset in 24 before and after the trade hitting two 88 401, four 73, which is incredible with 41 stolen bases in 98 games at the single lay level. But he tried to sell out for more power and wound up striking out 31.2% of his plate appearances hitting just two 37 and seeing his double total drop from 33 to 14 in high a ball. Some minor swing adjustments may help, but improvement is dependent mostly upon a return to his controlled gap to gap approach because Smith still has the tools to be an impact player at the plate. Last season wasn't a lost year for Smith though, because he answered every question about his defensive future. There were some questions about his ability in Seattle where he spent as much time in the corner outfield positions with the organization prioritized to other players, but he's now viewed as an excellent defender in center field with a strong arm to match. He uses his plus speed well, runs clean routes, works well around the wall and got better at closing plays in 25. Combine his defensive value with his aggressive, successful base dealing and his bounce back potential at the plate. And there's still plenty of upside here. However, the stats are not that impressive in my opinion, and they don't favor this particular prospect being anything special moving forward, especially because he's an outfielder and the Mets outfield hopefully is locked up for the next five, 10 plus years with Juan Soto, Corson Bench and AJ Ewing. So if anything, you hope that Smith does well. Maybe he becomes a top 10 Mets prospect, ideally possibly top seven, top five, and they can treat him once he's in AAA or even if he hits the pros relatively soon at the end of 2026, let's say, and can ship him off in the off season with potentially some better value. But again, this guy highlighting the prospect isn't something that I particularly love. So let's dive into the next rank prospect who is 26. That is Gary Jill Hill, who is a right-handed pitcher currently in AA, also has had four seasons of MILB experience with a 3.99 ERA and a 126 whip combined. He is currently at the highest level he's ever been in AA and has a 4.43 ERA in 81 and a thirds innings this season. So let's once again, dive into MLB.com. What do they say about Hill? Well, Gil Hill has outpaced perhaps even the Ray's initial expectations for his development, a testament to his maturity off the mound and ability on the field. He was 17 when the Ray's selected him out of New York's Westchester County in the sixth round of the 2022 draft. So he's a relatively local product, and he was quite raw as a player who didn't focus exclusively on pitching until his junior season of high school. That may have shown during his professional debut in 23, but he took a massive step forward in his first full season for single A Charleston in 24 and kept progressing through the system with a full season for high A Bowling Green last season. Gil Hill's numbers took a step back in 25, but his arsenal is largely the same. He has a four pitch mix of average or above average offerings headlined by a pair of 93 to 95 mile an hour fastballs that can touch all the way up to 97 and a putter in the upper eighties. He also throws a bigger sweeping slider and a changeup with the former taking a step forward last year, and he does it all from an upper three quarters delivery that can create depth on his off speed stuff and therefore help his pitches. He's not a huge strikeout artist, which I think is fine, but he puts the ball on the ground a lot similar to, let's say, a David Peterson, who gets a very high ground ball rate, which is something I am never opposed to. But the jump in his ERA last season was mostly a product of his increased home run output, as he gave up 17 dingers in 25 starts after allowing only 12 during his first two MILB seasons combined. The 21 year old helps himself by limiting walks. That's good. He issued only two free passes per nine innings last year, and he has earned high praise for his competitive maturity at such a young age. He might need to develop a plus pitch to separate himself, getting that fifth pitch in the arsenal from his peers, but he has a deep enough arsenal and a good enough feel for it to stay on a starting track. So hopefully that's the case. And he pans out. As for the rest of his details, Gil Hill is 21 years old, as we now know, six foot two, 160 pounds, double righty and a sixth round pick back in 2022 with an ETA of hitting the pros in 2027. And as we know, all four pitches work for him very well. Doesn't get a lot of strikeouts. He's got some run on that fastball, got some velo, at about 95 miles an hour up to 97. So I can see the potential for Gil Hill. And with the Mets having such a form system that has basically no pitching whatsoever and a team that is always in dire need of some starters, I think Gil Hill is not the worst prospect to get in return. Either he pans out and he can be a backend rotation guy, let's say two to three years from now, possibly even next year with that ETA at 2027. Or once again, if all goes well, he does very well in AA, gets promoted to AAA, performs great, and then can be traded, hopefully for another big piece. If the Mets are competitive next season at the 27 trade deadline. So let's dive into the last prospect. The Mets got my personal favorite, who is number 27 in the race system, Milian Petre, who's a second baseman currently in AA, 23 years old, 5'11, 185, a little bit on the smaller side hits from the left fields as a second round pick back in 2024, also with an ETA of hitting the pros next season in 27. And as for his scouting grades, 50 on the hit, 40 power, 50 run, 50 arm, 50 field for an overall 40 prospect. But it's the narrative and the stats that I really like. Over his three combined seasons in the MILB is a 285 batting average and 806 OPS. And right now in AA, his highest level, he has a 323, excuse me, batting average 943 OPS in 37 games played. So as he increases his level, his stats are increasing and getting better, which is always a great sign. So let's dive into the narrative. One last one before we wrap up today's video. No, Petre never played hockey growing up. Yes, that's unusual for a kid who grew up in a Montreal suburb, but instead Petre played soccer and baseball with a particular fondness for hitting. He became well known on the Canadian amateur circuit playing travel ball that took him into the United States for the first time as a teenager. And he starred on Canadian providential teams before playing for the national junior team. But Petre was undersized as we saw from the height and weight saying he weighed just 130 pounds in high school. So even as Quebec's top position player prospect in 21, he needed time in college to develop and more importantly, get some size. He learned English in Ontario during the COVID pandemic and wound up attending Kentucky sight unseen where he played well enough to become a second round pick in the 24 draft. Petre's experience and polish prompted the raise to send him straight to single a Charleston after he was drafted. No rookie ball and he slashed 299, 402, 403 with more walks at 12, then strikeouts at 11 in 21 games. Excellent first professional season. His skills were as advertised mature approach, excellent high end hand eye coordination, great strikes on awareness and contact to all fields with playable power. Despite a flat swing that will likely limit his home run output. He got away from some of that when he moved up to high a last year, perhaps attempting to sell out for more power and his performance slipped in the early going. He rediscovered a more gap to gap contact oriented mentality and wound up having a solid season at the plate with a 122 WRC plus 22 points better than the average player in 118 games. Petre has solid speed and used it aggressively in college and in his pro debut. He only stole 14 bases while being caught six times last year in 25 limiting his overall impact, but he's been much more efficient on the base paths early in 2026. He's one of the most technically sound infielders in the entire Tampa Bay system with good pre-pitch preparation, strong footwork and efficient angles on grounders though he needs to be more consistent nailing down the routine plates. The race felt good enough about his defense to slide him over to shortstop at times in his full season debut, but he's back as a full time contact heavy second baseman this year and I definitely think he can pan out, especially out of the three prospects the Mets got for Peralta because there is a spot for him. Unlike Smith in the outfield who has a jam up and Gil Hill who might even have a jam up in the rotation depending on what the Mets do this offseason. Petre likely will have a spot when he's ready to come up with Marcus Simeon on the severe decline, so hopefully he pans out. I could see him being on the Mets roster in the future. That's why he's personally my favorite prospect out of this entire package, but go down there in the comment section and let me know what you think. Is he your favorite prospect? Do you like someone else better than the Mets got? What do you make of this entire return overall for Freddie Peralta, especially given David Stearns and the Insiders promise that the Mets would get a top 100 prospect in return? But how about his new home in Tampa? So now they're up to three trades total with a possibility of four because Waskar Brazovan was just seen live in the Mets game right now, waving goodbye, handshakes and hugs with his guys, probably indicative of the fact that he will be traded. With that, let's grade right now the Mets 2026 trade deadline. I see what David Stearns is doing, bulking up that prospects and bulking up minor league system. But can you personally get behind it? Right now, David Peterson, AJ Minter, Freddie Peralta have been flipped for Cole Mathis, who is 14th in the Mets system. Bruin Agbayani, 22nd. Bailey Amick, not ranked. And of course, the three prospects we just went over. But let me know your thoughts down below. Let me know if you agree or disagree with me. Unfortunately, that's all the time I have for you in today's video. Thank you so much for watching and let's go Mets.