Mets' Asking Price For SPs Peralta, Holmes Extremely High

The New York Mets are one of a few teams that are bona fide sellers ahead of the trade deadline, which falls on Aug. 3 at 6 p.m. EDT, but deals with them may come in the final hours.

The Mets have had an extremely disappointing season after revamping one-third of the roster with players that would help with run prevention, and that includes position players and pitchers.

The plan backfired tremendously – the Mets are one of the worst defensive teams in all of Major League Baseball and the return on certain pitchers has been underwhelming. The bullpen has been excellent, and new addition Luke Weaver has been outstanding which may have him in a different uniform despite having another year on his contract.

Two pitchers that don’t have another year on their deals and will be free agents at the end of the season, right-handed starters Freddy Peralta and Clay Holmes, have generated tons of interest around the league because of the high demand for starting pitching but only one of them has had a good season.

And yet, the Mets’ asking price on them is absurdly high.

“The bar for accessing starting pitching remains really high with two days left until the trade deadline,” ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez wrote Saturday.

“The New York Mets in particular have been asking some teams for their best prospect in exchange for Freddy Peralta, who has had a rough year and is a free agent at season's end. The ask for Clay Holmes, who will probably opt out after this season, is even higher.”

Peralta has been mediocre at best, posting a 5-9 record with a 4.99 ERA, 1.48 WHIP and 113 strikeouts to 48 walks through 22 starts (113.2 innings). After having an incredible 2025 season with the Milwaukee Brewers, a year in which he finished fifth in National League Cy Young voting, Peralta was traded to the Mets and just hasn’t been reliable.

After three consecutive 200-strikeout seasons, Peralta is on pace for only 165, which is still good but not up to his standards.

Holmes has only made nine starts this season because of a fractured fibula suffered in mid-May, but he was pitching like an ace prior to being sidelined. Holmes is 4-4 with a 2.39 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 45 strikeouts to 18 walks over 52.2 innings.

He’s still working his way back from the injury, but he has had great returns in his rehab starts and should be back to pitching MLB games very soon. I still wouldn’t be willing to part with my top prospect for him, though, and certainly not for Peralta.

Peralta has shown he can be elite, but if I’m a contender and want someone who can be a proven guy in the postseason, I’m not trading my best prospect for a guy with a 4.32 career ERA in nine playoff appearances.