Former New York Mets general manager Jim Duquette made it clear Tuesday that the team’s path forward hinges on landing one particular free agent this winter.
Speaking on “The Show” podcast with Jon Heyman, Duquette zeroed in on the Mets’ starting rotation as the club’s most pressing problem after a dismal 2026 season.
The Mets entered the final stretch of the year with a 53-67 record, sitting at the bottom of the National League East after dealing away several key players at the trade deadline. The moves marked a full retreat from contention following an offseason that failed to deliver the expected results.
Duquette did not mince words about what the front office under president of baseball operations David Stearns needs to do next.
“The philosophy that David Stearns has had, it just doesn’t work in New York,” Duquette said on “The Show.”
“They have to sign Skubal. I don’t believe there’s any other way out of this if they don’t get Skubal.”
He also stated simply, “(The Mets) have to sign Skubal.”
That pitcher is Tarik Skubal, the left-hander who was traded from the Detroit Tigers to the Los Angeles Dodgers just before the deadline. Skubal is set to hit free agency after the season, giving the Mets a chance to pursue him without surrendering any prospects in a trade.
Skubal arrives with an impressive résumé. He captured the American League Cy Young Award in consecutive seasons before this year. After missing time following elbow surgery, he has still performed at a high level, posting a 7-6 record with a 2.93 ERA, 128 strikeouts and a 0.93 WHIP in his outings so far.
The Mets never positioned themselves as serious trade candidates for Skubal during the season. Their focus now shifts to the open market, where the price tag is expected to be enormous. Signing a pitcher of his caliber will require a major financial commitment, the kind New York has shown willingness to make in the past.
Duquette argued that the current roster construction leaves little alternative. Without a proven ace to anchor the staff, he said, the variables become too great in a market like New York, where consistency in the rotation has defined recent success for rivals such as the Yankees and Dodgers.
The Dodgers remain the favorites to retain Skubal, given their resources and recent championship pedigree. Yet if they cannot lock him up before free agency begins, the Mets would stand as one of the strongest threats to land him.
For a franchise that has watched its bold plans unravel this year, the offseason already looks critical. Adding Skubal would provide the kind of high-end starter that has been missing and could reshape the team’s trajectory heading into 2027.
Whether the Mets can pull it off remains uncertain. Skubal’s market will attract interest from other big-spending clubs, and the negotiations are likely to stretch into the winter once a new collective bargaining agreement is in place.
Still, Duquette’s message was straightforward. In his view, the Mets’ best and perhaps only realistic route back to relevance runs through securing the services of the standout left-hander.
The coming months will show whether the organization shares that assessment and is prepared to act on it.
