Cubs' second chance at Freddy Peralta looks more intriguing after Rays' ALCS breakthrough

Freddy Peralta was in peak form on Tuesday night for the Tampa Bay Rays, leading his team to a huge win in Game 2 of the ALCS. 'Fastball Freddy' lived up to the billing, firing six scoreless innings and averaging just under 97 MPH on his four-seamer, including his fastest pitch of the season at 99.4 MPH.

After a rocky tenure with the New York Mets, Peralta has looked more like the pitcher Chicago Cubs fans became all too familiar with during his eight-year run with the rival Milwaukee Brewers, settling in near the top of the Rays' starting rotation heading into October.

Since being dealt to Tampa Bay, Peralta posted a 3.25 ERA in 10 regular-season starts and his first postseason appearance couldn't have gone much better, with his efforts helping the Rays even the best-of-seven series at one game apiece as it shifts to Cleveland. Looking at this winter's free agent class of starting pitchers, a breakout October could dramatically boost Peralta's stock and put him squarely in the Cubs' croshairs again this winter.

But do we trust the Cubs to maintain this version of Freddy Peralta?

The Mets seemed to break Peralta this season. He looked nothing like the frontline starter he'd been for years. Then, he escaped Queens, and the Rays helped him unlock his dominant ways.

But how much faith do we all have in the Cubs to, frankly, not mess this up? The pitching infrastructure is under a microscope on the heels of a disappointing season that was, at least in part, derailed by free agent and trade misses by Jed Hoyer and the front office and an inability to help guys like Edward Cabrera take the next step.

Peralta would bring more than Cabrera to the table, with a resume that speaks for itself and deep connections to manager Craig Counsell. While the Cubs acquired Cabrera in hopes of helping him translate his plus stuff into consistent results, Peralta has done that consistently for the better part of a decade. Letting Freddy be Freddy seems like the play and getting this version of the two-time All-Star atop the Cubs' rotation for years to come would be a major step toward rectifying one of the team's most glaring weaknesses: a true ace to lean on.

And it hasn't been all losses for the Cubs organization, either, as we saw with the dramatic turnaround from David Peterson this season after coming over from the Mets. If the Cubs are going to make a serious run at Peralta (and they should), please, for all of our sanity, I hope they dial it back a bit and don't try to reinvent the wheel with him.

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