Had this sentence been uttered when Freddy Peralta was still with the New York Mets, San Francisco Giants fans would absolutely pass.

Now that Peralta is dealing with the Tampa Bay Rays, a team in the American League Championship Series, it's absolutely a conversation worth exploring.

Peralta's value may have slightly gone down after his horrific pre-trade deadline stint with the Mets, but no one can take anything away from what he's done with the Rays.

Peralta, 30, may have saved himself from having no suitors in the offseason. A potential lockout could change things, no doubt, but for now the impending free agent should have a ton of eyes back on him, and the Giants need to be at the top of that list.

By the end of the year, the Giants were doing whatever they could to just get through 162 games.

They had an all-time bad year, and there's no world where they shouldn't have been sellers at the deadline.

That undoubtedly hurt their rotation down the stretch, but they had no choice to move on from a guy like Robbie Ray.

Now, they can set their sights on Peralta, someone with a career 3.71 ERA. Peralta made a name for himself with the Milwaukee Brewers, the same team where he became best friends with shortstop Willy Adames, as mentioned by San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser.

Slusser recently compiled a list of five free agent pitching targets for the Giants to go after, and Peralta was the fourth name she mentioned.

Her list had no particular order, but Slusser noted how much his value has risen now that he's looking great with a World Series contender. She added that this isn't a Giants team who is "isn't necessarily looking to splurge."

The pitching market is going to be very interesting this offseason, but Peralta's market starts with the Rays.

They were the team that went out and acquired him at the deadline. Tampa Bay knew he was a rental, but should they fall short here in the ALCS, would they consider bringing him back on a short-term deal to try and go for broke in 2027?

Only time will tell, but Peralta is going to be looking for a long-term deal, and the Giants need that type of stability in their starting rotation.

With how well he's looked down the stretch, it seems like Peralta is worth every penny, and it could help rejuvenate Adames's career.