After Carlos Correa reversed course and signed with the Mets, the Giants were left with nothing. Where does this leave each team?
In the wee hours of Tuesday night, as Carlos Correa’s deal with the San Francisco Giants was in jeopardy due to an issue with his physical, New York Mets owner Steve Cohen phoned Correa’s agent, Scott Boras, to rekindle conversations.
Cohen had eyed Correa as perhaps his top target all offseason and attempted to get involved in the bidding before the star shortstop agreed to a deal with the Giants, but Boras and Correa were too deep in conversations with San Francisco. Entering the bidding late, and missing on Correa, bugged Cohen, as he told Jon Heyman of the New York Post last week: “We would have gotten a great ballplayer and it would have given us a great ball team.”
With Correa potentially available again, Cohen took no chances. Cohen, who was on vacation in Hawaii, worked with general manager Billy Eppler on a deal to bring Correa to New York — and sometime late Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, the two sides struck a 12-year, $315 million contract that brought Correa to the Mets, putting the exclamation point on an offseason that has sent shockwaves throughout the industry.
“(Cohen) is a wild man,” one rival executive said, “but goddamn is he great for the game.”
What Correa to New York means for the Mets
The contract seemingly took a few hours to complete, but as Cohen told The New York Post, it was a continuation of their previous talks. And with the Mets adding Correa, Brandon Nimmo, Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana, Edwin Diaz and David Robertson, the Mets have spent a record $806.1 million this offseason. Their payroll is estimated to be around $384 million. Their luxury-tax payment will exceed $111 million.
“That’s more than our entire payroll,” one rival executive quipped.
Correa, 28, will play third base for the Mets, alongside one of his best friends and shortstop Francisco Lindor. He is one of baseball’s premier infielders and has a long history of winning with the Houston Astros. And in his one season with the Minnesota Twins, he posted a 5.4 WAR, hit .291/.366/.467 with 22 home runs and an .834 OPS, and should be a seamless fit in New York.
The Mets are not done. They remain on the lookout for another bat and bullpen help, according to a source, and while another big move does not appear likely, nothing can be ruled out with Cohen. They have checked in on Chicago White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks, among others, and left-hander Andrew Chafin would be a strong fit as another left-hander in the late innings. Right-hander Carlos Carrasco and catcher James McCann have been the subject of trade discussions.
In three years, Cohen has spent money unlike any other owner in baseball history, and it has put the Mets in a strong position to compete for a World Series in 2023 and beyond.
What Correa to New York means for the Giants
All offseason, the Giants made it clear that they could afford any free agent they wanted. They aggressively pursued Aaron Judge. They aggressively pursued Carlos Correa, agreed to a deal and watched it fall apart after their medical team discovered an undisclosed issue with his physical.
They swung and missed — and are unlikely to salvage this abject failure of an offseason.
The best available offensive player is Michael Conforto. The best available infielder is Jurickson Profar. The only problem? They each are represented by Boras, who also represents Correa, and is surely upset after the Giants nixed a $350 million contract for his client.
The Giants signed outfielders Mitch Haniger and Joc Pederson, as well as starters Ross Stripling and Sean Manaea. So it isn’t all bad. But president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi promised to cap off the offseason with a big-name free agent to keep the team in contention with the division rival San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers.
And came up short in the most stunning of ways.
“We’ve never seen anything like this happen in baseball history, not that I know of,” a rival general manager said. “Not this publicly.”