Freddy Peralta holds a few “best” categories for David Stearns’ time running baseball operations for the Brewers from Sept. 2015 through the 2022 season.
Peralta was the key return in the best trade Stearns made in his Milwaukee tenure, the swap with the Mariners in which Peralta came with Carlos Herrera and Daniel Missaki for Adam Lind on Dec. 9, 2015. Peralta emerged as one of the best pitchers in Brewers history, a two-time All-Star who finished fifth for the NL Cy Young last year and pitched to a 117 ERA-plus in 931 regular-season innings.
Peralta also represents the best contract Stearns signed for the Brewers — a five-year, $15.5 million extension on Feb. 28, 2020, that included club options for 2025 and 2026. FanGraphs had Peralta’s actual value in the period since at $125.5 million.
But his worth to the Brewers did not end there. Because he was on such a team-friendly $8 million option for 2026, he was a highly sought player in the trade marketplace. The Yankees, among many others, tried hard to get him (along with a reliever such as Trevor Megill). But Milwaukee received two top-100 prospects — Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams — from the Mets to reunite him with Stearns.