Mets To Trade David Peterson To Cubs

That pushed Peterson’s earned run average up to 6.09 across 68 innings. The 30-year-old southpaw has a below-average 19.7% strikeout percentage against a 9.4% walk rate. He’s getting ground-balls at a strong 51% clip and has been plagued by an elevated .350 average on balls in play. Peterson’s underlying marks are a little more encouraging than the ERA would suggest, albeit still pointing to him as a fifth/sixth starter.

The Cubs aren’t in position to be too particular. They’re without Cade Horton for the entire season. Justin Steele might return late in the year, but he won’t have time to build up as a starter. Jameson Taillon is out beyond the All-Star Break with a hamstring strain. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said on Tuesday morning that the front office was exploring the trade market for depth arms.

Within 24 hours of Hoyer’s comments, they lost two more arms. Edward Cabrera strained his hamstring in a start against the Mets on Tuesday. Ben Brown, a reliever conversion who has been their best pitcher over the past six weeks, went on the shelf with a neck strain this morning. The Cubs will get Matthew Boyd back from a meniscus repair tomorrow, plugging one of those vacancies. That still left them with a four-man starting staff of Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Colin Rea and Javier Assad.

Peterson should be a better fifth starter than Jordan Wicks or out-of-options swingman Bryse Wilson, whom the Cubs claimed off waivers from Philadelphia this afternoon. At the very least, Peterson’s grounder-heavy approach should play better in front of a Chicago infield that leads MLB in Outs Above Average than it did in Queens. The Mets were 23rd in Outs Above Average entering play Wednesday, and they’ll probably drop further after tonight’s ugly showing.

We’re less than a year removed from Peterson taking the mound at Truist Park in the 2025 All-Star Game. He’d followed up a 2.91 ERA showing in 2024 with a 3.06 mark in the first half of last season. The Oregon product looked like an upper mid-rotation arm at the time, but he allowed a 6.34 ERA in 12 starts to close the season. Those struggles carried over, and Peterson has a 5.84 mark over 146 innings within the last calendar year.

Peterson is playing on an $8.1MM salary in his final arbitration season. Half of that has yet to be paid. Unless there are cash considerations changing hands, the Cubs will take on just over $4MM. They entered the day with an estimated $229MM cash payroll and $246MM luxury tax number, putting them just above the $244MM base threshold. They’ll pay a 20% tax on spending up to $264MM, so the Peterson acquisition costs them an extra $800K in taxes. It’ll drop New York’s cash payroll to roughly $360MM. They’re paying a 110% tax on overages, so they save roughly $4.45MM in taxes as well.

The Mets announced this morning that they were moving Kodai Senga to the bullpen. It’s unclear if that’ll remain the case now that they need to fill two rotation spots. Nolan McLean and Sean Manaea took the ball for today’s twin bill. Freddy Peralta, who seems increasingly likely to be traded closer to the August 3 deadline, will go against Boyd tomorrow.

The plans for a weekend series against the Phillies are wide open. Christian Scott will probably return from the injured list to start on Saturday. They’ll either need spot starters or bullpen games for the other two contests. Jonah Tong and Zach Thornton are depth options on the 40-man roster. Tobias Myers could work multiple innings to lead a bullpen game or tandem start.

Mathis, 23 next month, was Chicago’s second-round pick in the 2024 draft. A two-way player at the College of Charleston, he has been a full-time position player in pro ball after undergoing Tommy John surgery post-draft. Mathis missed a good chunk of the ’25 season to another elbow sprain and just went back on the injured list with an undisclosed issue this week.

Around the health concerns, Mathis has posted strong minor league numbers. That’s to be expected for a college draftee facing low level arms. Mathis has ridden a patient approach to a .248/.371/.508 batting line through 310 professional plate appearances, all in A-ball. Baseball America ranked him ninth in the Chicago farm system, while he was 13th at MLB Pipeline. Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs were quite a bit lower, slotting him 33rd in the organization on their writeup last month.

Evaluators generally credit Mathis with good bat-to-ball skills and solid but not exceptional power. FanGraphs raised questions about potential passivity in his approach, which has led to slightly elevated strikeout rates. Baseball America’s writeup calls him a potential second-division regular based on the hit/power combination. He’s at least a couple years away but will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft after the 2027 season.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Cubs were acquiring Peterson. Will Sammon of The Athletic was first on Mathis as the return. Image courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images.