Former Brewers ace Freddy Peralta lands in AL East race as trade deadline momentum surges

Just over 24 hours remain before Major League Baseball's midseason trade deadline and the Milwaukee Brewers are still searching for an impact addition to their starting rotation. The Brewers, rumored to be one of the finalists in the Tarik Skubal sweepstakes, ultimately missed out on the Detroit Tigers' ace and are now left shuffling through their fallback options.

Plenty of starting options remain on the trade market, including high-end options like Skubal's teammate Casey Mize, Reid Detmers of the Los Angeles Angels, and Trevor Rogers of the Baltimore Orioles. However, one starting option, who represented a complicated situation for the Brewers' front office, is now officially off the board.

As first reported by MLB insider Will Sammon of The Athletic, the New York Mets have traded former Brewers' ace Freddy Peralta to the Tampa Bay Rays, who currently hold a 3.5-game lead in the AL East and were reportedly interested in Skubal as well. The Mets received three prospects in the trade, all of whom rank among MLB Pipeline's list of the top 30 prospects in the Rays' highly rated farm system. New York acquired outfielder Aidan Smith (Rays' No. 15 prospect), right-hander Gary Gill Hill (No. 26), and middle infielder Émilien Pitre (No. 27) in the trade.

With momentum building before tomorrow's deadline, the deal not only takes another option off the market for the Brewers but also establishes a price for the second tier of starting pitching -- one that should have Milwaukee's front office encouraged about their ability to add a top-tier starter in the next 24 hours.

Rays set price for second-tier starting pitching options after acquiring former Brewers' ace Freddy Peralta from Mets

As previously mentioned, the Rays farm system is a talented one. Baseball America, one of the leading prospect evaluation sites in the industry, ranked the Rays' farm system the second-best in all of baseball, behind only the Brewers, at the beginning of July. Therefore, three prospects ranked between 15 and 27 in the Rays' farm system is a better haul for the Mets than it may initially look. Given the fact that Peralta is flirting with an ERA above 5.00, acquiring three solid prospects and not having to cover any of Peralta's remaining salary is a win for David Stearns the Mets' front office.

The Brewers certainly have the depth of talent to execute a similar deal for one of the many starting pitchers remaining on the trade market. In fact, a deal that includes several second-tier prospects rather than one top-ranked prospect works better for the Brewers, who have an overflowing amount of talent in their farm system.

Meanwhile, Peralta, who the Brewers reportedly didn't end up trying too hard to reunite with, will now be at the center of an exciting division race in the AL East. Entering play on August 2, the Rays held a 3.5-game lead over the New York Yankees in the division -- a shocking divergence from preseason expectations. Underlying metrics indicate that while Peralta has taken a legitimate step backwards this season, he's due for some improvement to his stat line before the end of the season. Additionally, his 33.1 innings of postseason experience should come in handy for the Rays in October.

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