The Mets have spoken with the Cleveland Indians about a trade for Corey Kluber, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
Before the Indians traded catcher Yan Gomes to the Nationals, the Mets had been speaking to Cleveland about trading for Gomes, with SNY's Andy Martino suggesting that with the Indians looking for young outfielders, it might make sense to expand a potential deal to include Brandon Nimmo for Kluber.
Along with Kluber, the Indians have made Trevor Bauer and Carlos Carrasco available.
Kluber, 32, is under team control for three more seasons. He will earn $17 million in 2019 and has team options in 2020 and 2021 for $17.5 million and $18 million respectively. Either year can be bought out for $1 million.
He had a 2.89 ERA (3.12 FIP) and 0.99 WHIP with 222 strikeouts in 215 innings (33 starts) this past season, when he finished third in voting for the American League Cy Young award.
A source recently told Martino that after the Mets' blockbuster trade with the Mariners for Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano that there would be "more aggressive moves to come."
One of those aggressive moves could be trading Noah Syndergaard to either restock the farm system or bring back major league-ready talent and replacing Syndergaard with a high-impact starting pitcher via trade or free agency.
If the Mets don't use Nimmo or another major league player as a centerpiece for a potential deal for Kluber, they would need to attempt to build a deal around their top prospects who remain after trading Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn to Seattle. Those prospects include Andres Gimenez, David Peterson, Anthony Kay, and Ronny Mauricio.
The above might be difficult, though, since Cleveland wants to contend in 2019 and may want any deal for one of their big pitchers to be built around major league talent.