Scott Boras knows that he has just a few weeks to secure a historic payday for Tarik Skubal, before MLB almost certainly plunges into a lockout that may or may not reshape the economic landscape of the sport. So it should come as no surprise that the Skubal sweepstakes are already underway, with meetings with interested teams set to begin soon.
What might be a surprise is just who that first confirmed meeting is with: the New York Mets, at least according to the New York Post's Jon Heyman, who wrote on Tuesday that the two-time Cy Young winner has a meeting set with Steve Cohen and Co. "sometime next week".
Of course, we don't yet know what other teams Skubal will be meeting with; presumably the Los Angeles Dodgers will be on that list, among others. And it's still far too early to call the Mets favorites here by any stretch. But nothing in Boras World happens by accident — and it's not too hard to see all the smoke out of Queens of late and sense some desperation, or at least some urgency, to get Skubal's market where he expects it to be.
Scott Boras is desperate to drag the Dodgers into a Tarik Skubal bidding war
It's obvious that news of Skubal's meeting with the Mets came from the player's camp, and almost certainly Boras himself. New York has no reason to want that information to become public. The only person who would is Skubal himself, and the reason is clear enough: to communicate to other potentially interested parties that the richest owner in baseball is involved and ready to get aggressive.
Why else would the Mets be first on Skubal's list, at least publicly? Why else would Heyman — who, it bears repeating, has a long history of serving as Boras' man in the media — float New York as the early favorites earlier this week?
Skubal is facing a surprisingly tricky free agency. He's undeniably one of the best pitchers alive right now, if not the best, a unique blend of durability (even when an elbow issue put him on the shelf midway through the 2026 season, he came back far quicker than expected) and dominance. He's also about to turn 30 later this month, and even the most trustworthy pitchers are volatile assets. The list of teams with the appetite to approach the $400 million mark, or even blow past the $325 million given to Yoshinobu Yamamoto back in the winter of 2023, figures to be pretty small — and that's without even considering the looming specter of a salary cap, which could turn any such deal into an albatross.
If Boras is going to deliver the sort of historic payday his client (understandably) expects, he's going to need to do what he does best: Create a bidding war, much like he did with Juan Soto two offseasons ago. But a bidding war requires two or more desperate parties, and that's where he and Skubal might have a problem. Because the Dodgers might not be quite so desperate to bring the lefty back as everyone assumed.
The Mets are Tarik Skubal's only chance at landing his record payday — and recent reports prove it
The Dodgers are facing an underrated financial crunch moving forward, especially if a cap comes into place. Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Blake Snell and Yamamoto are currently slated to take up more than $130 million in payroll through the 2029 season, and that's without even considering the possibility that Kyle Tucker opts in for 2028 and 2029 at more than $50 million per year — a possibility that looks much more likely now after how the 2026 campaign went.
Even Los Angeles has its limits, financially speaking, no matter how much revenue Ohtani brings in. They also have tons of starting pitching depth even without bringing Skubal back, with a bullpen that needs reinforcements and a lineup that got old in a hurry in their NLCS elimination this past October. Is throwing $400 million (or something close to it) at Skubal really the wisest course of action? Suddenly, the Dodgers could find themselves in a salary cap world with six players taking up the lion's share of their payroll.
Boras knows that all too well; you don't become MLB's preeminent super agent without being able to read the tea leaves. He also knows that, if the Dodgers aren't strong suitors here, he'll have a hard time drumming up the sort of contract that will both leave Skubal happy and also reaffirm his own status as one of the sport's power brokers.
Enter the Mets, with extremely deep pockets, a clearer cap sheet moving forward and desperation to improve after missing the playoffs for two straight seasons. Arguably no team, not even the Dodgers, combine motive with willingness to pay quite like New York. Which is why it behooves Boras to leak the suggestion that the Mets are the leaders in the clubhouse, in hopes of trying to shake the rest of the league out of its stupor and remind them that the chance to sign a future Hall of Fame lefty doesn't come around all too often — and that if they don't act fast, it could pass them by.
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