MLB insider breathes new life into Cubs' trade target on the back burner

The Chicago Cubs' pursuit of starting pitchers this trade season is and will be no secret. With injuries and underperformances ransacking the rotation, the team can't afford to play things cautiously leading up to the deadline.

As such, they've been connected to nearly every hypothetically available pitcher on the market, from Tarik Skubal to Joe Ryan. Longtime fans will obviously be dubious of Jed Hoyer's willingness to go all-in on a team that's been dangerously close to falling below .500 recently, but a good starter (or two) could change the complexion of the roster.

Naturally, that means Freddy Peralta's name is going to pop up in a lot of Cubs rumors over the next few weeks. His experience in the NL Central (and with manager Craig Counsell) makes him a rather seamless fit atop the team's rotation, at least according to MLB insider Jon Heyman.

In his first season outside of the confines of Milwaukee, Peralta hasn't quite been at his best, accruing a 3.90 ERA and 4.05 FIP across 15 starts with the New York Mets. His five-and-dive habits also wouldn't be of great benefit to an already-taxed Cubs bullpen.

Yet, as a battle-tested starter with ample postseason experience, he would give the North Siders the frontline pitcher they've been seeking since Cade Horton went down.

Freddy Peralta is a reasonable Cubs trade target, but there are a lot of factors to overcome

The 30-year-old right-hander has been connected to the Cubs since the moment the Mets came out of the gates limping, and in truth, they would have made a play for him over the offseason had the Brewers been willing to trade him to a division rival.

Peralta doesn't have a no-trade clause, but his extension demands (something in the range of Max Friend's eight-year deal) basically guarantee that he'd be a rental addition by the Cubs. That's not something Hoyer has ever shied away from, but it does add an extra layer of complication to finding an agreement of value in a trade.

That's especially true if the Mets, who surrendered two top-tier prospects in Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat for Peralta, hope to recoup a majority of the talent they sent out in the first place. The Cubs' equivalent of that package would be something akin to Jaxon Wiggins and Pedro Ramirez, which is obviously an absurd price to pay for a few months of any pitcher not named Tarik Skubal.

Now that the 2026 season is nearly halfway over, would one of those prospects get the deal done? Maybe, but it's hard to imagine the Cubs surrendering Wiggins without getting a long-term starter back, and it's difficult to think the Mets would trade Peralta without acquiring a pitcher to replace him.

If Hoyer and David Stearns (another former Brewers figurehead with lots of experience with Peralta) can bridge that gap, then a deal should be made. If not, Hoyer must pivot to other targets quickly, lest we get a repeat of the Michael Soroka situation from last year.

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