Carlos Correa, Chicago Cubs. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Mets pulled an overnight stunner, sweeping in and stealing Carlos Correa from the San Francisco Giants. As you would expect, Twitter was on one.
The Giants had Carlos Correa. He had agreed on a 13-year, $350 million contract with the team which was set to be finalized and announced officially at a Tuesday press conference. Then word leaked that the announcement had been postponed because of something that had turned up in his pre-signing physical. We were told the deal would still eventually get done.
We were misled.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, word broke that Correa was now going to the New York Mets for 12 years and $315 million. This deal will still need to pass whatever medical hurdles held up the Giants deal, but presumably, the Mets are aware of what they’re getting themselves into. And what they’re getting themselves into is a payroll unlike any MLB has ever seen before.
The deal he is signing with the Mets is, notably, a year shooter and about $35 million lighter than what he had in place with the Giants. It’s not clear at this point if Correa changing paths is because the Giants were trying to renegotiate terms based on whatever turned up in his medical evaluation, or if Correa was simply put out by their hesitation.
We’ll undoubtedly learn more today but, as you would expect, Twitter is having an absolute blast with one of the weirdest MLB free-agent developments in recent memory.