Mets Prepare to Open the Vault for Free Agent Ace Tarik Skubal

The New York Mets are doing what they do best: preparing to throw their massive wallet at the biggest, shiniest object in the room. Jon Heyman reports the Mets have an exclusive meeting lined up next week with superstar free agent pitcher Tarik Skubal.

Skubal is the undisputed prize of an unusually thin pitching market. He won back-to-back Cy Young awards in 2024 and 2025, and just finished last season with a 12-7 record and a 2.72 ERA while splitting time between the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers.

"Jon Heyman noted the Mets are among the favorites due to their big need for pitching and ability to pay."

The Tigers reportedly tried to extend him a year ago for under $80 million, which is objectively hilarious considering Skubal is now looking for a deal in the neighborhood of $250 million. Offering a guy with two Cy Youngs less than $80 million is like trying to buy a Ferrari with a handful of expired store credit.

Enter Steve Cohen and the richest team in baseball. After back-to-back big-market disasters, nobody in the sport is as desperate for a savior as Queens. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns made a top-of-the-rotation starter his primary winter objective, and Skubal is the exact prototype.

The durability is the real selling point here, even with a minor elbow loose-bodies scare that required surgery back in May. Skubal is one of only two pitchers in baseball to log over 590 innings since 2024, alongside Cristopher Sanchez.

The Mets are already being positioned as the heavy favorites to land him, a move that would immediately tilt National League East win totals and shift World Series futures. We will find out next week if Cohen's checkbook is enough to convince the best pitcher on the planet to take on the most stressful job in sports.