Shortly after getting swept in a doubleheader by the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, the Mets traded David Peterson to the Cubs, sending the left-hander to the visitor’s locker room for minor league prospect Cole Mathis.
Manager Carlos Mendoza spoke about the trade before the series finale between the two teams on Thursday and was sad to see Peterson, who was in his seventh season playing for New York, go.
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“It’s a tough one because obviously you understand this is a business, but, especially from my end, I had a really good relationship with Petey,” Mendoza said. “This is a guy that will come in the office and have coffee and just talk about life. We’ve been together since I took the job [in 2024] and we’ve been through the ups and downs.”
Mendoza’s introduction to Peterson in the skipper’s first year on the job happened while the left-hander was rehabbing from hip surgery which caused him to miss the beginning of the season.
When he recovered, though, Peterson became one of the best pitchers on the Mets and was instrumental in their surprise playoff berth and again during their run in the postseason that saw New York reach the NLCS.
In 21 starts that season, Peterson went 10-3 with a 2.90 ERA to go along with a 2.92 ERA and a save in five games (one start) during the playoffs.
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The southpaw returned the following season and kept up his brilliant pitching in the first half. For his efforts, Peterson was named to his first All-Star selection and was on his way to becoming a front-line starter for the Mets.
Unfortunately, the 30-year-old’s second half was not nearly as good and played a part in New York’s collapse of not making the playoffs.
However, determined to revert back to his All-Star potential and the Mets believing he was capable of that, Peterson began his 2026 campaign with 5.1 scoreless innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. But after that, things quickly went downhill for the lefty, who eventually lost his spot in the starting rotation and was used as the long man coming out of the bullpen.
Injuries to the staff and better results as a reliever helped get Peterson back in the rotation, but after his latest clunker against the Philadelphia Phillies rose his ERA as a starter this year to 7.71, it became clear to New York that he no longer had a role with the team, especially because fellow struggling starter Kodai Senga has already been moved to the bullpen.
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“I’ve seen him have success, make the All-Star team,” Mendoza said. “I’ve seen him struggle a lot and how he handles it, but it got to a point where we needed the flexibility on the roster.
“Talking to David [Stearns], we already have Kodai on the pen and just continuing to have starters in the bullpen, it’s just not gonna be sustainable so there was an opportunity to make a deal and we’ll move forward.”
Despite the unsatisfactory results, Mendoza praised Peterson’s willingness to do whatever was asked of him this season with no complaints and said he represented the team “in a quality way” on and off the field.
“He’s a professional and he’s always willing to do whatever the team needed,” Mendoza said. “Whether it was as a bullpen guy, as a piggyback, as a starter, he’s done everything for us.”
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The skipper was then asked why the Mets were unable to get Peterson back to the version of himself that became an All-Star and Mendoza said the failure is on him and that it’s something he’s always thinking about regarding any struggling player.
“It’s a question that we’re always asking ourselves when players are not performing at their best,” Mendoza said. “In Petey’s case he was an All-Star last year and then kinda everything went the other way. Credit to coaches that were here last year that put everything to continue to help him [and] this year’s coaching staff, but it just didn’t work for some reason.”
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