After a stunning collapse in the standings, the New York Mets will be looking to make some changes.
The team will have to decide if it wants to re-sign Pete Alonso just one year after protracted contract talks led to a short reunion. But perhaps most important will be how the team addresses its starting rotation.
After dominating for a portion of the regular season, the Mets starters suffered a brutal collapse that drove the team’s postseason absence. And if they want to keep that from happening again, perhaps they will consider a former general manager’s trade pitch for the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner.
“Here’s what would get you in the conversation,” Jim Duquette said while presenting a proposed trade of Jett Williams or Carson Benge, Brandon Sproat or Jonah Tong and Ryan Clifford for the Detroit Tigers’ Tarik Skubal, during an appearance on SNY. “The price is going to be very, very high. … It’s going to be expensive, there’s no way around it.”
Skubal is favored to win his second-straight Cy Young Award after another stellar season, but he’s headed toward his final year under team control without an extension, so there’s reason to believe the Tigers might be willing to trade him away for the right price.
And Duquette’s proposal certainly includes a lot of prospect value in return for the pitcher. But if it means the Mets only have the ace on their roster for next season, it might be too high of a price to pay, even for the best starter in the sport.
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