When the news finally dropped that Freddy Peralta was officially swapping a Brewers jersey for New York Mets pinstripes, the reaction in Queens was predictably electric. People have spent months screaming for a legitimate ace to anchor a rotation that looked shaky at best during the 2025 stretch run.
Landing a guy like Peralta, who just finished fifth in Cy Young voting after a dominant 17-win season, is the kind of move that changes the entire vibration of a clubhouse. You don’t just stumble upon a pitcher coming off a 2.70 ERA with 204 strikeouts while everyone is packing their bags for Port St. Lucie.
David Stearns Finds His Ace
As much as the back pages are going to obsess over Peralta, the real genius of David Stearns might be hidden in the other guy in the deal. Tobias Myers isn’t a household name yet, but he’s exactly the kind of Swiss Army knife that championship teams obsess over.
He is 27 years old, under team control for half a decade, and possesses a certain brand of fearlessness that you simply cannot teach. While the city celebrates the arrival of a frontline starter, it’s the guy with the 3.55 ERA from last year who might actually save this staff’s season when the inevitable injury bug bites in July.
The numbers on Myers tell a story of a pitcher who refuses to beat himself. Between 2024 and 2025, he has proven that he can navigate high-leverage situations without the catastrophic walks that usually plague young arms in this league.
He ended his Milwaukee tenure with a career 3.15 ERA, but look closer at the splits and you see the true value. As a reliever, the man has been lights out, posting a ridiculous 1.62 ERA in eighteen appearances out of the pen. That kind of versatility is a luxury the Mets haven’t had in a long time.
The Wisconsin Connection
Mets fans probably remember him best for the wrong reasons, specifically when he carved them up during Game 3 of the 2024 Wild Card Series. He threw five scoreless frames that night, looking entirely unbothered by the pressure of a winner-take-all postseason atmosphere.
Stearns said, per SNY, that Myers isn’t afraid to fill up the zone and challenge hitters with his entire arsenal. He has a splitter that made hitters look foolish last year, holding them to a .108 average. That’s the kind of dog you want on the mound when the bases are loaded and the season is on the line.
The flexibility here is what makes the trade a masterstroke rather than just a desperate grab for a starter. Myers has a minor league option left, which gives the front office a safety valve if the roster gets crowded, but let’s be real. He belongs in the Bigs.
Whether he’s giving them multiple innings out of the bullpen or jumping into the rotation to cover for a sore shoulder, he provides a level of insurance that keeps a season from spiraling. Peralta is the sizzle that sells the tickets, but Myers is the steak that’s going to keep this team fed through 162 games.
The High Price of Contention
Trading away top-tier prospects like Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat is a massive gamble that will be debated at every sports bar from Astoria to Bayside. It’s a steep price, no doubt about it, but Stearns is clearly tired of waiting for someday to arrive. By bringing in a proven workhorse like Peralta and a versatile weapon like Myers, the Mets have effectively declared that the window is wide open right now.
The rotation now looks like a heavyweight contender, with Peralta at the top followed by the electric Nolan McLean and a hopefully healthy Kodai Senga. Adding Myers as the ultimate “break glass in case of emergency” arm gives the Mets a depth they haven’t seen since the 2015 run. It’s a bold, slightly reckless, and entirely necessary move for a franchise that is done with moral victories. Queens finally has its ace, and they got a stone-cold killer in the swingman role as a bonus.