There could be more behind the Dodgers’ reported interest in Freddy Peralta – Dodgers Digest

A few weeks agoan unexpected name came up related to the Dodgers: Freddy Peralta. That didn’t make much sense at the time, and it still doesn’t. But since Katie Woo, Dodger beat The Athletic writer, wrote about the Dodgers’ interest There appears to be more smoke in Peralta yesterday than initially thought.

I, in short, touched the first Peralta rumor earlier this month.

“If (the Dodgers) were to add a starter, I’m not sure how much sense Peralta makes, despite his Statcast profile littered with numbers the Dodgers like their pitchers – limited hard contact, whiffs, good expected numbers. First of all, Peralta would be, at best, the fourth-best starter in the Dodgers’ current rotation, and I still would Tyler Glasnow about him based on fame and ceiling. Second, trading for Skubal would mean strengthening the rotation from top to bottom. Trading Peralta slightly strengthens the back end of the rotation, while the top remains the same. Unless the Dodgers plan to move someone else, it would be a tough sell considering the cost and the fact that they don’t. need another starter, let alone a quality No. 2/3 type. Moreover, the Brewers would almost certainly demand Emmet Sheehan in return, which makes sense for them, but I would hope that if the Dodgers do trade Sheehan, it would be for a controllable, younger bat.

Peralta, 29, is coming off a strong season as the Brewers’ ace. He pitched to a 2.70 ERA (career best), 3.64 FIP and a 19.1 K-BB%. His 3.42 xERA was 12th best among qualified starting pitchers, while his .207 xBA was 7th best. While his 9.1 BB% isn’t great, the Dodgers don’t seem too concerned about some of their starters having a 10% walk rate. Peralta’s rate would still have been better than Glasnow’s 11.7 BB%, Snell’s 10.2% and the Dustin May‘9.3%. What’s wild is that his 28.2 K% would only have been better than May’s 21.3 K% and Clayton Kershaw‘18.6%.

What Peralta is good at is his speed and quickness, even if he has made some drastic changes to his usage starting in 2024.

The biggest change was the use of the slider. And that’s coming off a 2024 season in which he held hitters to a .203 batting average while posting a 41% whiff rate. The batting average against dropped to .175, while the whiff percentage rose to 53.4%. It was the second-best whiff rate among starting pitchers behind it Ranger Suarez (55.8%; 4.2% use). It was a situation where the reduced use actually produced better results. FanGraphs rated the pitch at 3, compared to -0.6 in ’24. Statcast saw his slider run value increase from -3 to +4 in ’25.

The usage changes also helped his other non-fastballs from ’24 to ’25.

Curveball

• FanGraphs run value: +0.8 to +3.1
• Statcast run value: +2 to +5

Change

• FanGraphs run value: +4.5 to +8.6
• Statcast run value: +4 to +9

And this is in addition to the fact that we already have it one of the best fastballs among starting pitchers in baseball.

The questionable fit is not due to Peralta’s skills or durability. He has thrown at least 165 2/3 innings each of the past three seasons, including a career-best 176 2/3 innings in 2025. The questionable fit is due to roster limitations.

Here’s what the Dodgers’ rotation currently looks like:

1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto
2. Blake Snell
3. Shohei Ohtani
4. Tyler Glasnow
5. Roki Sasaki
6. Emmet Sheehan

That doesn’t even include the likes of River Ryan, Gavin Stone or swingman types like Ben Casparius And Justin Wrobleski. If you add Peralta (where the cost is probably someone listed after Sasaki), it’s still a pretty full rotation. And as mentioned earlier, strengthening from the top makes more sense than strengthening from the middle.

That brings me to mind Pull Skubal.

I wrote about Skubal earlier this winter. At this point, Skubal is still a Detroit Tiger. With his record-breaking arbitration request and the Tigers’ offer, it appears a divorce is more than likely – be it now, at the trade deadline or after the season. What if the Dodgers were to acquire Peralta or involve the Brewers in a three-team trade with the Tigers, which would give the Dodgers Skubal and the Tigers Peralta, since Detroit is coming off a season where they were one win away from the American League Championship Series and they don’t want to move Skubal away for A-ball prospects, no matter how much potential those prospects might have.

While the Dodgers could match the asking price for Skubal on their own, it might make it a little easier if they had a Peralta type to dangle, especially since he’s making $8 million in the final year of his contract. While Glasnow is probably a more accomplished pitcher, he’s not nearly as durable, nor is his $27.31 million average annual value as attractive to a team currently unwilling to pay the going rate for the best pitcher in baseball (and the Dodgers told him they’re not trading him).

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There’s a reason the Dodgers are connected to Peralta. Andrew Friedman is always looking for premium talent. Although the fit is not very clear, other factors may be at play. If the Dodgers end up with Peralta or Skubal, there will be a good reason for it. And it will piss off baseball, maybe even more than their signing Kyle Tucker.

I don’t expect anything to come of this, but it’s a rumor that still hasn’t gone away.