RVH – Evaluating the Mets 2026 Trade Deadline Moves: Looking Beyond the Headlines

 

As the trade deadline approaches, speculation naturally centers around one question:

Who are the Mets going to trade?

I think the more interesting question is this:

What is David Stearns trying to accomplish?

Too often we judge the deadline by comparing names or debating whether one team "won" a trade. While that's entertaining, it rarely reflects what a front office is actually trying to achieve.

Every trade is an exchange of organizational assets. The objective isn't simply to acquire the best player available. It's to maximize the long-term value of the organization.

With that in mind, here's the framework I'll be using to evaluate whatever David Stearns does over the next few days.

First, classify the asset.

Not every player represents the same type of organizational asset.

Expiring Assets

These are players whose value largely disappears once the season ends.

For the Mets, that group includes Freddy Peralta, Clay Holmes, Brooks Raley, Tyrone Taylor and Luis Robert. A.J. Minter has already been moved.

The objective is simple:

Convert a depreciating asset into future organizational value.

That value can come in several forms:

• Useful prospect capital.

• A controllable major league player.

• Payroll relief.

• Or some combination of the three.

Controllable Assets

Players such as Luke Weaver, Luis Torrens, Francisco Alvarez and Sean Manaea fall into a different category.

There is no urgency to move them.

Instead, the question becomes:

Does another organization value this player more than the Mets do?

If the answer is yes—and they're willing to pay accordingly—a deal makes sense. Otherwise, there is little reason to trade a controllable asset simply for the sake of activity.

Core Asset

For me, there is currently one true core organizational asset.

Francisco Lindor.

Every organization has one or two players whose value inside the organization exceeds any realistic trade return.

Lindor is that player.

I simply don't see him being traded unless another club presents a truly overwhelming, franchise-altering offer that unmistakably makes the Mets a better organization over both the short and long term. Those opportunities are extraordinarily rare.

The Hidden Variable: Cash Efficiency

One theory I'll be watching closely has little to do with prospects.

It has to do with cash efficiency.

The Mets have already committed significant dollars to players who are unavailable, underperforming, or simply no longer providing value commensurate with their contracts. Those dollars are sunk costs.

What Stearns can still influence is the remaining payroll commitment for 2026.

Moving expiring contracts over the next few days reduces both salary obligations and the associated Competitive Balance Tax penalties. Because the Mets remain deep into the highest luxury tax tier, every dollar removed from payroll saves substantially more than a dollar in total cash outlay.

This isn't about whether Steve Cohen can afford it.

It's about avoiding inefficient spending.

Reducing unnecessary payroll commitments helps offset some of the dead money already on the books while making future roster decisions more flexible. It may also make it easier to move on from veterans whose future value no longer justifies their remaining contracts.

Viewed through that lens, payroll relief becomes another organizational asset.

Setting Realistic Expectations

Every fan hopes for a headline prospect package.

History suggests that's unlikely.

Elite prospects rarely change organizations unless elite talent is moving the other direction. Players such as Juan Soto or Tarik Skubal command those types of returns. Most deadline deals do not.

Instead, successful organizations often acquire players who fall into more practical categories:

• Upper-level prospects with a realistic chance to contribute.

• Young players blocked within another organization.

• Players with one or two standout tools that a player development staff believes it can unlock.

• Organizational depth that fills future needs.

The goal isn't necessarily to find the next superstar.

It's to steadily improve the inventory of controllable talent throughout the organization.

The Bigger Test

In many ways, this deadline represents an important evaluation point for David Stearns.

The 2026 season has fallen well short of expectations. Whether due to injuries, roster construction, underperformance, or simple miscalculations, the organization now has an opportunity to recover value where it can.

That means making disciplined decisions on expiring assets.

It means improving cash efficiency.

It means adding useful prospect capital.

And it means creating opportunities for the next wave of players already in the organization.

Additional bullpen arms. Young starting pitchers. Ronny Mauricio. Christopher Morel. Others who deserve an opportunity to prove they belong.

Roster spots are organizational assets, too.

Sometimes the most valuable deadline move isn't the player you acquire.

It's the opportunity you create.

My Scorecard

When the deadline is over, I won't be asking whether the Mets "won" individual trades.

I'll be asking a different set of questions.

• Did they maximize the value of their expiring assets?

• Did they improve the organization's inventory of controllable talent?

• Did they improve cash efficiency?

• Did they create opportunities for younger players?

• Did they leave the organization healthier, deeper and more flexible heading into 2027?

That's the framework I'll be using over the next few days.

Now let's see what David Stearns has in mind.

Cautious Optimist - Inconvenient Truths about the Baseball Trade Deadline

This is a post for true Mets fans. 

As I see it, a true Mets fan shares two fundamental character traits revealed as follows.  

1. A true Mets fan appreciates dark humor as cathartic especially if it comes from a good place and at an appropriate time.

2. A true Mets fan is someone who has sat (or would sit ) through the entire original Star Wars Trilogy having bet on the Empire to be victorious. Indeed, would lay the same bet even upon seeing the Trilogy a second or third time.

Not because he or she wants the Empire to emerge victorious.  Quite the opposite in fact.  Our loyal Mets fan longs for Hans Solo and team to defeat the Emperor, Darth and their legion.  His bet is instead a form of emotional insurance designed to offset in part what he assumes to be his invariable and otherwise unbearable disappointment.  

And so, with this as a backdrop, I bring you today's post on the impending trade deadline.  

For reasons that will become clear, I am a 'trade deadline' cynic.  There is something about a trade deadline that triggers my dark side.

With the ever banal trigger warning that 'your mileage may vary', here I am and 

If you want it darker, I am your man.

Have you ever given serious thought to why every major sport includes a trade deadline at just about this juncture during the season?  

I have, and this is what I've come up with as the primary (not the only) explanation -- though I suspect many will disagree vehemently. 

Professional sports leagues establish a trading deadline during the season to spike interest at just that point in the season when the fans of most teams are poised to abandon all hope that their team's season will end well.  

The deadline is NOT designed to offer genuine hope for the near hopeless nor is it designed to provide preemptive rewards for the likely victors, though most trade deadlines do both -- and quite well, if disinegenously.

No, the trade deadline is designed to create energy in a flagging season in order to create revenue to offset falling attendance and cover team carrying costs until the real season -- the post season -- arrives.    

To be sure, for those diehard fans willing to believe with a capital B the trade deadline remains the last flicker of hope that a spark will ignite the team and carry it all the way to the post season.  

But not just the diehards, as the trade deadline draws the attention of even the realists among a team's fanbase.  It provides the realists who have already written off the season -- which in many cases should have occurred much earlier than it in fact does -- reason to believe that their team is taking steps to retool themselves sufficiently to keep hope alive -- if not for this year, then for the next or one of the many years thereafter.

Trade deadlines stimulate debate, fuel speculation, hope, fear and loathing, disappointment and anger -- all genuine emotions that display signs of life  -- that generate conversation, publicity and advertising revenue for a few weeks.  

If you think I am overstating the 'revenue generating' appetite that is fed by the yearly trade deadline, I beg to differ as the last month's worth of baseball publications has picked up steam accelerating story after story of possible trade scenarios.  The preferred form of transmission being one or another kind of list.

For your perusal, as Rod Sterling might have said

* The six teams that must sell at the deadline

* The ten teams that will be buyers

* The thirty teams who may or may not be buyers or sellers.

* The top 75 potential players who will change uniforms at the deadline

* The one player on every team that will change uniforms

* The General Managers who are on the hot seat at the deadline.

* The Yankees interest in Francisco Lindor that won't go away

* The Orioles are at an inflection point

* Does San Diego go big again?

* Can the Blue Jays be buyers now for next year

And it goes 'On and On.'

This is nothing compared to the outpouring from baseball insiders:

*  'Five trades I would like to see at the deadline' 

followed in a day or so by articles entitled, 

* 'Why the five trades I wanted to see happen at the deadline won't happen at the deadline (or ever)'.

The most interesting hours of the actual trade deadline occur immediately after it ends as fans and radio hosts alike wait for news that rarely comes of last minute trades that have been made but not yet been sent to the Commissioner's office as part of the official notification process.  

It's a lot like waiting for the mail in ballots to arrive and be counted, potentially shifting the results on the Original Big Board.

We now know what the Deadline is FOR, but what actually occurs up to and including the deadline?

From the point of view of the sellers, almost nothing good happens, beyond off loading expensive talent (which is not to be taken lightly). The inconvenient truth for sellers, however, is that:

 Over 70% of all prospects traded at the deadline either never make the majors or fail to accumulate a positive career WAR. 
Fewer than 7% of all minor leaguers moved in these summer deals go on to produce a major-league career value of 5 or more bWAR. 

If we assume that buyers at the deadline are purchasing major league players in return for which they send out minor league prospects (a reasonable general hypothesis that does not apply in all cases), it is fair to say that the trade deadline is basically an institutional arrangement that shifts net value from sellers (those teams that already suck) to buyers (teams that are already performing comparably better).

That my friends is what the statistics quoted above tell us.

And so we should conclude that two things happen leading up to and including the trade deadline.

1.  Revenue that would otherwise not be created fills the coffers of those within the baseball ecosystem (i.e. the pie gets larger), and

2. Baseball value is shifted from the have nots to the haves.

Given that this is essentially what happens at every trade deadline, it should come as no surprise that Baseball is universally recognized as America's pastime.  It is an institutional mechanism for increasing wealth while redistributing it from the least well off to the most well off. 

(Though even I have difficulty referring to any baseball owner as anything other than very well off :-)).

So if you are a Mets fan hoping for an infusion of potential major league talent into the farm system by offloading the likes of genuinely good major leaguers like Weaver, Taylor, Holmes or Torrens, as Graham Parker puts it,

                             'Don't Get Excited!'

What comes next

After the tradeline and its aftermath have come to a halt, the lull in the season returns for the fans of most teams, while many journalists try, usually in vain, to keep the excitement going by speculating about the impact the trades that have been made will have on the pennant races.  

Other journalists, especially those with insider information, will explain to a waiting audience why various trades did not materialize.  

After a week or so, maybe less, the writing, fantasizing and speculation will come to a close and we journalists will return to normalcy, which in the case of most of us covering particular teams consists largely in our going back and forth between lamenting the absence of action at the deadline and optimism borne out of the fact that the team's failing to do anything is a signal of just how good their minor league prospect pool is.

So what's it all about Alfie? 

Eyes and entertainment dollars.  It generates conversation, some of it interesting.  It generates hope, little of it warranted.  It generates revenue, all of it welcomed.  And if anything, it widens the gaps between the haves and the have nots.

Ironically, the 'small market team that has benefitted most by activity at the trade deadline' is the one that has most often done the least at the deadline: namely, the Brewers.

Every trade deadline the same lyric runs through my mind: "Oh Momma, can this really be the end, to be stuck inside a mobile with the Memphis Blues Again?'

And on an optimistic note

I would never leave you in a state of anticipatory dismay.  Here we are on Saturday, just a few days from the end of the trade period, and there remains so much to be optimistic about.  

And so, as the house optimist, I am here to tell you that by Monday, the Mets will make several trades by the deadline, most involving their excellent reliever corp, for minor leaguers we scamper to learn more about over the coming weeks.

Ever the futurist as well (like the guy who keeps showing up on my email feeds who 'called' NVDIA at $1.10 a dozen or so years ago -- and is now probably living somewhere on the streets of San Francisco - I am certain that Mets will also pull off the most remarkable trade at the deadline. 

Please see the link below for a short video in which I provide the names of the players involved so that you may have actionable information to employ on your Kalshi prediction market account. The video is free; no credit card information requested.  (Unnecessary of course, since once you click on to see the video I will have all the information I need to hound you mercilessly for the next year or so!) .

There is no end to many ways a sport can become a source of revenue -- directly and otherwise.

Every good story is compatible with a number of different outcomes, some of which flatly contradict one another.  

In that spirit,

I also predict that the Mets will be unable to trade Baty, Vientos, Semien, Polanco, Senga, Manaea, or Robert Jr, though they continue to entertain offers for both Mr. and Mrs. Met -- individually and as a team.  I have it on good authority that the FO is engaged in conversations with the Phillies who are looking to part ways with the now tiresome Philly Fanatic, and the Brewers, who are prepared to part ways with either a galloping bratwurst or an aging Polish sausage -- but not both.

And so dear reader, I leave you with two expressions of wisdom that have carried me through many baseball trade deadlines.

The first is owed to my onetime now sometime doppleganger, Nick Lowe, who in his first album, originally released in the UK under the title, Jesus of Cool "  and in the U.S. under an equally catchy but potentially less offensive title, "Pure Pop for Now People" perfectly described a baseball season (not by reference howeever)

"And so it goes, and so it goes, but where it's going no one knows.'

Which I quite like, but nowhere near as much as I like the even better lyric,  "If you don't know where you're going any road will take you there."

Sounds a lot like most baseball front offices.

But literally nothing can top (for me) the wisdom of the bard of bebop comedy, Lord Buckley, who reminded us in his telling of the Biblical story of Jonah and the Whale, that "When you get to it and you cannot do it, there you jolly well are, aren't you."

Enjoy the Deadline

Ambiguously speaking, Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing

  

Reese Kaplan -- Let's Consider How They Do Whatever They Do

For a moment let’s shift away from the names of the players in question who may or may not be traded by Monday at the 6:00 PM deadline for midseason roster transactions and instead look a bit at the process itself.

For purposes of this exercise, forget baseball, it’s entertainment focus, the fight for pennants and the questions about payroll.  Instead, let’s consider the approaches that could be taken and what it means for the returns given in prospective trades.

Think for a moment about a produce market where you arrive to a bevy of tempting treats of all kinds available to the first taker at whatever high price the seller chooses to demand.  The advantage here is hard to define.  The buyer gets his choice of the best of the best but acknowledges that by doing so he’s agreeing to pay an over-market price to ensure his top choices don’t go anywhere else.

Now instead think of the buying and selling process more like residential real estate in a planned housing community.  The early buyers here often get bargain prices knowing that they will have to live with construction noise, full facilities not yet readily available and a lot of uncertainty.  By contrast the late buyers get properties fully finished, streets, parks and other amenities all ready to use but the prices have skyrocketed to pay for the move-in conveniences ready to use. 

Now let’s circle back to baseball and think a bit about the process in place.  We’ll leave out the early deal sending David Peterson over to Chicago as it is not really deadline relevant as much as the still yet-to-be-made deals will be.  Instead, let’s focus on the August 1-3 period of roster activity and how it will impact the Mets for better or worse.

In this scenario it would appear that David Stearns is more in the real estate mode of late buyers and sellers than the produce market model of being rewarded for going first.  If, for example, a team needs a healthy starting pitcher to help propel them into October baseball and the Mets are sitting on both Freddy Peralta, Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga as possibilities, the longer the buyers wait to make a deal it would seem that the higher the prices would go for these players as there is a diminished market of alternatives readily available.  

This approach could be justified for that reason alone.  You could add in relievers A.J. Minter, Brooks Raley and Huascar Brazoban for pretty much the same reasons.  Waiting on Clay Holmes is more about him proving his health before he vaults towards the top of the readily available and desirable list.  When there's very little left prices tend to get higher.

Then there are the wholly less desirable pieces who clearly no one is advocating being a part of the team’s future.  This group could include Marcus Semien, Luis Robert, Tyrone Taylor and Jorge Polanco.  You could do the “take whatever you can get” approach simply to make the change and potentially relieve payroll obligations.  Trading away pending free agent Tyrone Taylor for a prospective bag of balls is not desirable but it would be understandable.

For the other three in this list it could require extensive creativity to push transactions to happen.  One obvious route used in the past such as the summer of 2023 is to pay down future payroll obligations to entice another club to embrace a less than ideal solution at a relatively less onerous price.  This approach does not make the accountants happy in Metsville but it does open the door to moving otherwise unmovable pieces.

The other approach to take which is less often done successfully is to tie the most desired players on the roster to unwanted ones in order to make the trades actually take place.  In this case you could say to a new team, “Do you want Clay Holmes and his 2.39 ERA?  Well, you can have him but only if you accept Luis Robert as part of the trade.”  

Now for opposing clubs, a two month rental with no further obligation is not that big a burder to swallow, but for the Mets it gives them an option to rid themselves of roster underperformers by tying them at the hip to the players most desired by other clubs.  You can work this same type of exercise on any of the others in the Mets top list.

Finally, there’s the buyer’s side of things where he has to decide as the clock ticks down whether a bounty of questionable prospects is an acceptable return on whomever the other team desires in order to set up the Mets for theoretical success in the future.  With over 700 prospects moved and the VAST majority of them never cracking the majors this approach is certainly risky.  Still, making changes is in itself a public relations reward even if the returns are not guaranteed.

In the interim, we simply sit, wait and ready our analysis when actual deals take place. 

MACK - HOT ARMS - Alsy Torres, Connor Ware, Dan Hammer

  

PERIOD:  7/16 – 7/25

 

Alsy Torres/DSLO –     0.67-WHIP, 3.0-IP, BB, 0.00

Alsy Noel Torres is an 18-year-old right-handed pitching prospect in the New York Mets organization (born October 29, 2007, in San Jose de Ocoa, Dominican Republic).

He stands 6'3" and weighs 160 lbs.

The Mets signed him as an international free agent to a minor-league contract on September 29, 2025.

As of mid-2026, he has pitched sparingly in the Dominican Summer League (Rookie level), mostly in relief.

Split appearances show some inconsistency

He is a very early-stage developmental arm with limited professional innings. Expect him to stay in the DSL or move to a U.S. complex league soon, with a realistic path to Low-A in 2027 if he progresses well.

As a lanky, projectable 18-year-old Dominican signee, he fits the typical profile of a high-upside arm with room to add strength and refine stuff.

Torres is a raw, low-level lottery ticket in the Mets' system. He has the physical upside (height, youth) to develop into a rotation piece or high-leverage reliever, but it's far too early for firm projections.

 

Connor Ware/A-St. Lucie –     1.00-WHIP, 3.0-IP, 4-K, BB, 0.00

Conner Ware is a 22-year-old left-handed pitcher (born August 25, 2003) in the New York Mets organization.

He stands 6'4" and weighs around 205-220 lbs, bats and throws left-handed.

The Mets drafted him in the 15th round (No. 463 overall) of the 2025 MLB Draft out of LSU, and he signed for $150,000.

Ware grew up in Madison, Mississippi, and played at Germantown High School. He spent two seasons at Pearl River Community College (JUCO) before transferring to LSU for 2025.

Injuries (back issues and arm soreness) limited his innings early on, but he showed promise with low ERAs and high strikeout rates in limited action at the JUCO level.

At LSU in 2025, he appeared in 16 games (6 starts) with a 4-1 record and 5.48 ERA in 21.1 innings (18 BB, 23 K). He had strong moments early (e.g., 4 perfect innings vs. Dallas Baptist) and some relief success, including consecutive scoreless outings against an SEC opponent, but struggled with consistency and command later in the year. He was not used in the postseason.

Professional Career (as of mid-2026)In 2025, he was assigned to the FCL Mets after signing. In 2026, he started with the St. Lucie Mets (Single-A, Florida State League). He has dealt with injuries (including a 7-day IL stint) but has made appearances as a starter and in relief.

Early minor-league stats show a 5+ ERA with decent strikeout ability but control and home run issues (consistent with college). He is a developmental prospect with upside but significant refinement needed.

 

Dan Hammer/AAA-Syracuse –     1.20-WHIP, 3.1-IP, 8-K, 2-BB, 0.00

Dan Hammer (full name Daniel Hammer) is a right-handed pitcher in the New York Mets organization, born September 10, 1997 (age 28) in Philadelphia, PA.

He stands 6'2" / 210 lbs, bats and throws right, and was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 13th round (out of the University of Pittsburgh) in 2019.

Hammer spent most of his early pro career in the Orioles system (reaching Double-A), was selected by the Rays in the 2025 minor-league Rule 5 draft, and signed a minor-league deal with the Mets in March 2026.

He has never made a Major League appearance—he was called up to the Mets' active roster on July 9, 2026 (for a bullpen spot amid roster shuffling), but was designated for assignment the next day without pitching, making him a "phantom ballplayer." He was later outrighted back to Triple-A Syracuse.

Career Minor League Trends (through 2026): Strong strikeout ability (career ~10.8–10.9 K/9) but persistent control issues (~7+ BB/9). His ERA has fluctuated (often 4–6+ range in earlier years), with a career mark around 4.9–5.3. He profiles as a high-upside but high-risk reliever whose stuff plays when he throws strikes.

Hammer is a power right-hander who relies on velocity and a strong breaking-ball mix.

Four-Seam Fastball: Primary pitch, sits 95–96 mph (touches 97+ mph, up to 97.5–98 in showcases/bullpens). Good ride/velocity.

Cutter: ~90 mph; frequently described as a "plus Major League pitch" or "wipeout" offering. This is a key weapon for him.

Slider: Mixed in occasionally; part of his breaking-ball arsenal.

Curveball: Used at times (seen in Statcast data alongside the others); can vary in shape.

Earlier reports also mentioned a changeup and possible two-seamer/sweeper (he reportedly added a two-seam and sweeper in the 2025–26 offseason). In one 2026 Triple-A outing visualized on Baseball Savant, he threw four-seam, cutter, slider, and curveball (velos ~82–96 mph).

Strengths: High strikeout rate driven by velocity and the cutter/fastball combo. Generates swings-and-misses at an above-average clip when located well. Weaknesses: Below-average command/control leads to too many walks and inflated pitch counts. Success depends on attacking the strike zone consistently.

In short, Hammer is a classic "stuff-over-results" relief arm with legitimate big-league potential if he sharpens his control.

OPEN THREAD - Minter Trade

MINTER TRADED

The Mets traded RP AJ Minter to the Minneapolis Twins for 2B Bruin Agbayani and 3B/1B Billy Amick

This is an OPEN THREAD regarding this trade.

Reese Kaplan -- Who's the Mets Most Disappointing 2026 Player?

Who would you characterize as the most disappointing of the current Mets?  There’s no need to delve back into the roster for the plethora of bad trades, draft picks and free agent signings that didn’t pan out as expected.  All we want to consider is the team David Stearns built to win the pennant in 2026.

Jorge Polanco’s contract caught many Mets fans by surprise.  First of all, no one felt he was going to be a legitimate replacement for the departed Pete Alonso.  Everyone was aware of his long injury history.  While he has decent power and in 2021 provided 33 HRs with 98 RBIs and a .269 average while playing for the Twins.  The problem has always been his availability.  Only twice in his 13 year major league career has he played 150 games.  The Mets learned first hand how that feels during his initial season in New York.

Marcus Semien’s acquisition was a puzzling one on a few levels.  Yes, he had been a major star player in the American League replete with 3 All Star appearances during his 14 year career.  Unfortunately between age and health he hasn’t been all that productive in the past few years.  Giving up home grown Brandon Nimmo for a more expensive player albeit on a shorter contract for a former star in decline didn’t seem to make a lot of sense.  Thus far the naysayers have been proven right.

Luis Robert is a stellar fielder with terrific home run power who also has not been able to stay on the field.  He had that one stellar season in 2023 but before and after have not show much from the man.  That year he hit 38 HRs and drove in 80 while stealing 20 bases and showing Gold Glove defense over 145 games.  It resulted in an extended contract in the $20 million per year range.  Before and after that outlier he has been in fewer than 100 games most seasons with 100 exactly in 2024 and 110 in 2025.  The only positive was the increase to 33 stolen bases last season.  This year he’s not going to play in 100 games yet again.

Brett Baty has his fans but lately they are becoming rather difficult to find.  Playing parts of five seasons he’s a career .229 hitter with moderate power and increasingly suspect defense in a variety of positions.  Isn’t it time to declare this experiment over when the season ends?

Mark Vientos at least had that one outstanding season in 2024 but before and after he has the Brett Baty disease with even worse defense.  A career .234 hitter with more power and RBIs than Baty, the difference is not significant enough to advocate giving him any more time to prove himself.  Being on the IL is helping him not contribute to more Mets losses.

Sean Manaea was a mid-rotation starting pitcher when David Stearns brought him here during the Mets’ last post season team in 2024.  He delivered better than expected and was rewarded with a new deal for $75 million over three years.  He missed most of 2025 and part of 2026 after getting booted from the rotation.  Now he’s a flip of the coin each time he takes the mound and definitely not worth his paycheck.

Kodai Senga is perhaps the most puzzling of all of the disappointing players.  He was pitching like a frontline starter when he first got here but between his health and his performance he’s also pitched his way into the bullpen.  He’s still under contract but everyone from the pitching coach, the fans and the media all cringe visibly whenever he takes the mound

Freddy Peralta was obviously a star pitcher for the Brewers and David Stearns knew him quite well from his days heading up that club’s front office.  The trade price for him in his walk year was a bit stiff though neither of the sacrificed players have done much for Milwaukee.  Right now he’s as unreliable as Manaea but with free agency pending he will surely be on many clubs’ wish list for a last minute 2026 trade. 

Devin Williams is another former Brewer who seems to have left whatever was working for him in Wisconsin.  His 2025 tenure in the Bronx was terrible and although on paper it seemed a worthy gamble to have him step in as a replacement for the now gone Edwin Diaz, he’s demonstrated a second consecutive year of poor performance.

So, if you’re going to vote on the most disappointing player on the roster, who would it be?  Personally I would have to go with Peralta who seemed positioned to be a top of the rotation starter now and in the future with a firm relationship with David Stearns.  Now he's trade bait.