Don't blame the Mariners for not knowing what Freddy Peralta would become

When it comes to the world of professional sports, the amount of times a team is second-guessed about decisions they make is off the charts. However, if anyone even attempts to claim they knew the Seattle Mariners were making a big mistake when they traded Freddy Peralta to the Brewers just over 10 years ago, then they're just being disingenuous.

Peralta was part of a trade package sent to the Milwaukee Brewers in Dec. 2015 in order to acquire Adam Lind, a one-time Silver Slugger who previously received AL MVP votes. Now, the righty is in the news again following another trade, this time to a New York Mets team hoping he can help revitalize their rotation and by extension the team as a whole.

The reason this is such a big deal is because Peralta is coming off a career-year which saw him set single-season bests with a 5.5 bWAR, (NL best) 17 wins, 2.70 ERA and 154 ERA+. He also proved to be durable with career highs of 33 starts and 176.2 innings pitched, as he was named an All-Star and finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting.

What could have been with Freddy Peralta ...

This understandably has Mariners fans wishing Peralta was still in Seattle (even allowing for the M's rotation already being pretty damn good), especially when you add in that Lind produced a career-low -0.3 bWAR in his one year with the team and was out of baseball after 2017. However, any opinion that the M's messed up can only be made with the benefit of hindsight and even then, not until at least a few years after the trade.

When the Mariners acquired Lind, he was coming off a 2015 season where he had a career-high 3.6 bWAR and had hit 87 RBI, which was tied for the second-most of his career. He was a utility player of sorts with extended experience (and success) at DH, first base and in left field, and he was expected to help boost a team with a new manager in one Scott Servais.

On the flip side, Peralta was one of three minor league pitchers who headed to Milwaukee and it was not as if he was seen as some hot shot talent, with Baseball America ranking him as the Mariners' number 15 prospect ahead of 2016 and with not much projection left. In summary, the publication profiled him as more of a back-end starter/reliever than a future ace.

Jerry Dipoto still settling in as Mariners GM

It is also worth noting that even though Jerry Dipoto was a big fan of Lind, he was also only a couple of months into his job as M's general manager at the time of the trade. In any event, there was still no indication of what Peralta was going to become even in 2019 during his second season in the majors with the Brewers, as he endured a terrible campaign which included career-worsts of a -0.7 bWAR, 5.29 ERA and 1.459 WHIP.

It was only in 2021 that the 29-year-old finally showed just how special he could be, when he earned the first All-Star selection of his Major League career. Now the stage is set for him to be the staff ace on the big stage in New York, with the chance to earn a massive payday when he becomes a free agent after the 2026 season.

By all means, regret that the Mariners did not keep hold of Peralta and feel free to curse Lind for picking his one season in Seattle as the time to have arguably the worst campaign of his 12 years in the majors. Just don't try to make out that you knew at the time that Peralta was going to develop into a star pitcher, or you will quite rightly be called out for your shenanigans.