Pete Alonso opted out of his deal with the New York Mets, and so did Edwin Diaz. However, this double blaster is no reason for Steve Cohen and Co. to stop and gloat when they have the issue of a thin pitching depth at the forefront. And they need the guy for the job—Tarik Skubal.

The Tigers’ ace this season has a 2.21 ERA, 6.6 bWAR, 241 strikeouts, and a 13-6 record. This is the guy they need, but getting him won’t be simple. Not because the Tigers won’t let go, but because teams like the Boston Red Sox are apparently in that chase too.

Jim Bowden mentioned in The Athletic, “The Red Sox are focused on adding starting pitching, and they have plenty of prospects in their strong farm system to perhaps trade for top arms like Tarik Skubal, Hunter Greene, or Freddy Peralta.”

The Boston Red Sox do have the deep pockets to land one of the top starters in free agency. So, what Jim Bowden is saying might make sense.

Imagine a Boston rotation with both Garrett Crochet and Tarik Skubal – it sounds like a dream. Plus, Detroit and Skubal’s situation is on shaky ground, so they might be forced to listen to offers.

Reports have suggested that Skubal and the Tigers are strangely far apart. In fact, Jon Heyman of The New York Post has mentioned that there is a “massive gap” in the contract talks.

The number is $80 million, which is way below the market value. Moreover, Skubal is coming off back-to-back ERA titles, is a 2024 Cy Young winner, plus is also a Scott Boras client. So, anything less than near $400 million seems like a lowball.

And the Boston Red Sox right now have the pieces to get this deal done.

Insider Jen McCaffrey highlighted that a deal for the Tigers ace would likely start with Payton Tolle or Connelly Early. Plus, maybe a young hitter like Jarren Duran or Franklin Arias. Sure, it is a big price to pay for the Boston Red Sox, but for the best pitcher in baseball, it might be worth the money and chase.

For the Mets, they cannot really afford to sit around and blink.

They missed the playoffs by one game, and with Alonso and Diaz gone, their rotation looks thin with Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, and a handful of unproven arms. So, they need a guy like Skubal. But if there is one reason why they won’t chase Skubal, Mets fans can maybe lay the blame on Frankie Montas!

Skubal aside, The New York Mets can’t afford to make this grave mistake again!

The New York Mets thought that they were being clever, joining the MLB experts in giving “pillow contracts,” which are short-term deals with opt-outs to the bounce-back candidates. This is something that the New York Yankees did and regretted, but even then, the younger brother did not learn from the mistakes.

The Mets literally fell into the same trap as the Yankees with Frankie Montas. And that gamble has backfired.

After a season of just 38⅔ innings and a 6.28 ERA, Montas opted in for 2026, locking in his $34 million salary and officially leaving the Mets with a wrecked rotation and an even more gruesome payroll. And it’s almost deja vu for the Yankee fans, who lived through this move back in 2022.

The Yankees, too, believed that Montas could be their frontline starter.

Instead, he ended up giving them a total of just 39⅔ innings and a 6.35 ERA before a shoulder surgery ended his time in the Bronx. The Mets should have seen where this story was headed, but no!

Now with Montas, Sean Manea, and Kodai Senga all failing to meet expectations, the Mets are stuck in a dire situation, which is why they need Tarik Skubal more than ever. But even Steve Cohen’s billion-dollar pocket has its limits, and given Montas’s contract clogs that big chunk of their budget, it could make chasing an elite free agent like Skubal rather tough.

So maybe next time, the Mets should focus on reliability rather than “a reclamation project.”