Mets acquire Brewers ace Freddy Peralta in exchange for Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams
Freddy Peralta of the Milwaukee Brewers on Oct. 04, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Credit: Getty Images/Michael Reaves
About nine hours after the Mets officially introduced Bo Bichette at Citi Field, they traded for the front-line starting pitcher they desperately desired.
The Mets acquired righthander Freddy Peralta, a two-time All-Star, and righthander Tobias Myers from the Brewers for two of their top prospects — righthander Brandon Sproat and middle infielder/centerfielder Jett Williams — the team announced on Wednesday night.
Peralta, 29, was named an All-Star and finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting last year, going 17-6 with a career-best 2.70 ERA, 1.075 WHIP, 204 strikeouts and 66 walks in 176 2⁄3 innings.
Peralta, who spent the first eight seasons of his career with Milwaukee, has an $8 million salary in 2026 and is set to become a free agent after the season.
Myers, 27, pitched 50 2⁄3 innings in 22 games (six starts) for the Brewers last season, going 1-2 with a 3.55 ERA, 1.362 WHIP, 38 strikeouts and 15 walks. He went 9-6 with a 3.00 ERA as a rookie starter in 2025.
Williams was the Mets’ No. 3 prospect and Sproat their No. 5, according to MLB.com. The Mets drafted Williams in the first round (14th overall) in 2022 and Sproat in the second round (56th) in 2023.
Sproat, 25, was called up last September, joining fellow top prospects Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong in the rotation amid the Mets’ playoff push. He went 0-2 with a 4.79 ERA in four starts. Williams, 22, had a .261/.363/.465 slash line with 17 homers, 52 RBIs and 34 stolen bases in 130 games with Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse.
Bichette all-in at third
Bichette stood inside his new digs at Citi Field on Wednesday afternoon, donning his Mets hat and pinstriped No. 19 jersey for the first time.
The news conference featured all the pomp and circumstance that the arrival of a star player to New York usually does. But the 2026 season will provide a new setting in more ways than one for Bichette, the Mets’ new third baseman — a position he’s never played in MLB or the minor leagues.
His thoughts?
“I’m excited for the challenge,” the two-time All-Star said. “I mean, it’s just like anything else. It’s going to take work to be good at something, and I’m willing to put in that work and we’ll get after it. I mean, I’m already getting after it, but we’ll get after it more when I get down to Port St. Lucie.”
The 27-year-old Bichette, who spent his first seven seasons in Toronto, has logged 716 career regular-season games at shortstop and five postseason games at second base (all during the 2025 World Series after he returned from a knee sprain). He said the last time he played third base in a game was in travel ball.
“I think all my ego about shortstop was thrown out the window in the World Series,” he said. “I just wanted to win. That’s why I [played second], and the same applies here.”
Bichette has started fielding grounders at third, and he thinks that switching from shortstop — a position that also requires long throws — could ease the transition. But challenges exist.
“I think positioning, I think bunt plays, all of that, just things that I’ve never really had to deal with,” he said. “I think a ground ball is a ground ball, and a throw to first base is a throw to first base. You have to work at those things to be good at those things too.”
Bichette is a career .294/.337/.469 hitter with 111 homers and 437 RBIs in 748 games. He had a .311/.357/.483 slash line in 139 games for the Blue Jays last season. He shined in the World Series, batting .348/.444/.478 and belting a three-run homer off Shohei Ohtani to open the scoring in Game 7, which the Dodgers won, 5-4, in an 11-inning epic.
The Mets and Bichette agreed to a three-year, $126 million deal with two opt-outs last Friday.
Bichette did not fare well analytically at shortstop in 2025, ranking in the first percentile in MLB with negative-13 outs above average and the 36th percentile in arm strength (82.3 mph), according to Baseball Savant. Mets president David Stearns noted that shortstops who do not have great range generally have “pretty good range” at other positions.
“This is a player who is universally respected for his aptitude and his work ethic on the field,” he said. “And so when you combine those two things, it generally gives you comfort that they can make adjustments, make changes.”
Extra bases
The Mets signed righthanded reliever Luis Garcia to a one-year deal. Garcia went 2-2 with two saves, a 3.42 ERA, 48 strikeouts and 26 walks in 55 1⁄3 innings with the Dodgers, Nationals and Angels last year.
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
