After missing out on their top free-agent target George Springer, it seems the New York Mets are still talking with another big fish that remains on the open market.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that based on conversations with industry sources, the Mets and Los Angeles Angels are “the two teams believed to have the best chance” at landing Trevor Bauer. The Dodgers and Blue Jays remain possibilities as well according to Feinsand, but the Dodgers are seen as a long-shot.

Bauer, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, has remained one of the larger mysteries this offseason, as he has spent a large portion of his winter releasing YouTube videos and social media posts talking about all the different teams he could potentially join next season, but no one has been able to really pin down the teams with a legitimate shot thus far.

The Mets and Bauer have flirted with each other in the last few months. Mets team president Sandy Alderson was asked about Bauer during an interview on WFAN in November and gave an open-ended answer.

“This is an entertainment business. We’ve got to be open-minded about how players express themselves. The thing that’s interesting about Bauer is he brings along with him a lot of ideas, a lot of routines, a sort of technical orientation that I bet we can learn from. If a guy can perform. It doesn’t really matter to me as long as it’s not disruptive in the clubhouse and basically, if guys see someone performing, they’ll live with whatever the baggage is.”

Bauer touched on those remarks in an interview with Anthony DiComo of MLB.com shortly thereafter.

“I heard Sandy’s comments, and it was refreshing to hear him speak that way about me. In the past, a lot of the narrative surrounding me is I couldn’t handle a big market, a big media market, I was a head case, or whatever the case is, that’s kind of been the narrative. So to hear that someone as high-ranking as Sandy feels the way he feels about that is refreshing and good to hear him speak like that. I’m certainly very appreciative of that.”

Bauer has talked in the past about wanting to take only one-year deals, but he may have changed that stance after such an impressive 2020 campaign. Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported in late-December that Bauer is seeking a five-to-six-year deal worth close to $200 million.

We’ll just have to see how things play out over the next few weeks with pitchers & catchers expected to report to Port St. Lucie on February 17.