Mets Eyeing Cy Young Award Winner As Option To Improve Rotation

It sounds like the Mets are targeting a two-time Cy Young Award winner to help the rotation

The New York Mets very well could end up landing a star pitcher this offseason.

New York has an excessive amount of money to spend and plenty of open roster spots. The Mets clearly are going to be adding this offseason to the roster. New York already has brought in former New York Yankees All-Star Luis Severino to help the rotation but it will need to make other moves.

The Mets' top choice reportedly is Orix Buffaloes star Yoshinobu Yamamoto but they will have extremely stiff competition to land his services. At this point, it seems like the Yankees may have the edge for Yamamoto. If New York misses out on the 25-year-old star, it reportedly could turn its focus to San Diego Padres star Blake Snell, according to the New York Post's Jon Heyman.

"While rival teams were suggesting they viewed the Mets as a big player for Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, many believe that is far from a certainty with every big-spending team in the mix," Heyman said. "The Mets aren’t assuming anything and are showing interest in other free-agent pitchers, including Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, and Eduardo Rodriguez. Among the fallback options, they may have a possible preference for Snell."

Snell -- like Yamamoto -- would be a major upgrade for the Mets' rotation. He is just 31 years old and has two Cy Young Awards under his belt. Snell led the National League with an eye-popping 2.25 ERA across 32 starts for the Padres in 2023. He struck out 234 batters across 180 innings pitched.

New York needs to make a major splash to improve the rotation for the foreseeable future and Snell could be just that.