Roughly 12 hours after the San Francisco Giants were scheduled to hold a press conference to announce their signing of superstar Carlos Correa, New York Mets owner Steve Cohen swooped in from Hawaii to land a stunning coup.
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the Mets and Correa agreed to a 12-year, $315 million ($472m AUD) contract, pending a physical — which is where Correa’s initial agreement with the Giants on a 13-year, $350 million ($524m AUD) deal fell apart because of a medical concern.
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Barring another snag in his physical with the Mets — the hope is that the medical evaluation will happen by this weekend — Correa will move to third base with his fellow Puerto Rican and good friend Francisco Lindor already entrenched at shortstop.
Shortly after the Mets made an 11th-hour push to sign Correa last week, he appeared headed for San Francisco as the two sides agreed to a $350 million deal. Instead, Correa’s ensuing physical presented a cause for concern for the Giants, who postponed Tuesday’s scheduled press conference just hours before it was set to begin.
“While we are prohibited from disclosing confidential medical information, as Scott Boras stated publicly, there was a difference of opinion over the results of Carlos’ physical examination,” Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said in a statement Wednesday. “We wish Carlos the best.”
Correa has dealt with back issues in the past, but that was not the holdup in his deal with the Giants.
The Post reports the deal fell apart over an injury the shortstop suffered eight years ago.
A 2014 ankle injury when Correa was a 19-year-old in the Astros’ minor-league system led to surgery to repair a fractured right fibula and ligament, and the Giants “had concerns” about that injury, according to NBC Sports Bay Area.
Boras, Correa’s agent, reportedly gave the Giants more time to review the medical information, but by around 4 p.m. ET Tuesday, the team told the superagent they were not ready to move forward with their letter of agreement, according to Sports Illustrated.
That opened the door for Cohen to pick up where he left off in negotiating a deal with Boras, which the Mets owner did while having dinner and a martini in Hawaii. By early Wednesday morning, they had reached a deal.
Correa’s arrival is set to push the Mets to another level, and not just in luxury tax payroll, which now sits at roughly $382 million for 2023 — the highest in North American sports history and $89 million past MLB’s highest tax threshold — after securing nine free-agent deals this offseason worth a whopping $806.16 million in total value. Overall, combining the payroll and luxury taxes, Cohen is projected to be on the hook for $491.709 million in 2023.
Correa, the 2015 AL Rookie of the Year, has a .279 career batting average with 155 homers and 553 RBIs in eight big league seasons. He also has been a standout postseason performer, with 18 homers and 59 RBIs in 79 games.
