The Baltimore Orioles may have another shot at Freddy Peralta, and this one would look very different from the pursuit they lost this past offseason. After missing out on him in the bidding war with the Mets, Baltimore could now try to land him as a pure rental before he reaches free agency after this season.
That matters because the Orioles still need help in their rotation, and Peralta's current production is not matching what he did in the 2025 season. He has been solid but unspectacular, a step down from the version that made him so appealing in the first place, yet he would still be a major upgrade for Baltimore if he kept pitching this way.
The price is the first reason the Orioles walked away before. Trading for Peralta in the offseason would have cost two of their top prospects, with Dylan Beavers and Trey Gibson cited as examples of the kind of return the Brewers wanted. Baltimore set its sights elsewhere after that and watched the Mets win the fight for him, even though the Brewers were trying to move him after a career season.
There is a familiar shape to all of this. A few seasons ago, the Orioles and Brewers completed a similar deal involving Corbin Burnes, and that history makes another conversation easier to imagine now that Peralta is back in play. The difference is that this time the calculus is shorter-term: the Orioles would not be buying years of control, only the rest of a season that already has them searching for pitching help.
That is where the friction sits. Peralta was traded for by the Mets with Cy Young candidate expectations, but he has been disappointing there, and the Mets are sitting at the bottom of the NL standings. Even so, if he gave Baltimore the same level of work he has offered this year, he might be the best starter in the Orioles' rotation. That is why the question is not whether Peralta still has value. It is whether the Orioles are willing to pay for a rental when the cost could once again be prospects and when free agency is waiting on the other side of this season.
