A late-night Carlos Correa tease ends with him going to the Giants for 13 years, $350 million
Late on Tuesday night, Mets fans were enthralled by reports that the team was in on Carlos Correa. Less than an hour later, he signed with the Giants.
What’s Up with the Mets? 🍎
The Mets were linked to SS Carlos Correa’s free agency on Tuesday night, but it was short-lived as he signed a 13-year, $350 million contract with the Giants just an hour later (The Athletic)
Earlier on Tuesday, Mets owner Steve Cohen had ‘liked’ a tweet advocating for the club to sign Correa
New York is listening to trade offers on RHP Carlos Carrasco (New York Post)
The Mets will formally introduce offseason acquisitions LHP José Quintana, LHP Brooks Raley and RHP David Robertson on a Zoom later today
Newly re-signed CF Brandon Nimmo will have a press conference with GM Billy Epplier on Thursday
The extremely short-lived dream of Carlos Correa ✍🏻
Well, that didn’t last long.
After what seemed like nothing more than fan-generated speculation and hope, reports surfaced late on Tuesday night that the Mets had, indeed, entered the sweepstakes for free agent shortstop Carlos Correa and oh man, was Twitter abuzz… for about 45 minutes or so.
Seemingly out of nowhere, after some extremely mild speculation in previous days, the Mets had been officially linked to one of the biggest free agent stars on the market this winter, and suddenly visions of grandeur were running through the minds of every single fan. Social media was blowing up just at the notion that this franchise was suddenly thrust into the sweepstakes of another high-priced free agent after already spending $386.7 million over the last 10 days.
Thoughts of a 2017 World Baseball Classic reunion between Correa and Francisco Lindor were prominent once more, and everyone who had access to a computer was drooling at Correa’s postseason stats over on Baseball Reference.
It would have been an incredible boost for this franchise and a serious message to the rest of the league that this team really meant business.
And financially, it wouldn’t have big that pill of a swallow for the Mets (although that doesn’t matter anymore with the Mets, obviously).
But alas, it was not to be. As quickly as the chatter began, it was tamped down as Jeff Passan reported that Correa had instead signed with the San Francisco Giants to a record 13-year, $350 million deal — beating Lindor’s record-setting contract for a shortstop signed less than two years prior.
Assuming the Mets could’ve signed Correa for the same terms he signed for in San Francisco, the average annual value of the deal being $26.9 million, the Mets would likely traded Eduardo Escobar and his $9.5 million salary for 2023 and $9 million option in 2024, thus lowering the short-term, effective cost to $17.4 million for Correa in 2023, $17.9 million in 2024, and a higher albeit team-friendly(ish) $26.9 million in 2025 with the cash value of course going down over time.
Oh well.
It was a rumor that even as it gained legitimacy felt as if it were too good to be true, and ultimately that’s exactly what it wound up being. There were too many teams out there - the Giants included - that could simply sign Correa to be their franchise shortstop. The Mets simply could not do that, and even if Correa apparently said he would be willing to play third, he didn’t re-enter free agency at this time to not net premium shortstop money.
You also have to wonder if this was an instance of the Mets being used by an agent for leverage. I mean, it hard for me to believe that it’s simply a coincidence that within 90 minutes of the report that baseball’s biggest-spending (yes, the Mets!) were interested in Correa, the Giants went the extra mile and closed the deal.
And remember, this is Scott Boras we are talking about, the agent of all agents in professional sports.
When you’re a franchise that suddenly throws the kind of money around that the Mets do, this is a side effect of that. Occasionally, Boras or any other agent is going to fluff up your level of interest to pressure another team to up their ante and get a deal done. It’s par for the course at this rate, but something we’re not entirely used to yet as fans of this team.
It was truly a wild night with so many twists and quick turns that I wound up having to write this very newsletter three separate times (I guess my piece on Christian Walker will have to wait for another day).
At the end of the day, while it’s somewhat disappointing that the dream of Correa in Queens didn’t even last as long as the trade for Carlos Gómez, it is unbelievably exciting and refreshing to know that the Mets are legitimately contenders for any and every big-time player on the market.
The era of the Wilpons and boasting of signing players like Alejandro de Aza and Rick Porcello is over. It’s hard to get used to but this is who the Mets are now under Steve Cohen. They won’t always get everybody, but they’re damn sure to always be in contention and that in itself is a welcome change.
Hot Stove 🔥
The Giants had been in contact with free agent SS Dansby Swanson prior to signing Carlos Correa to a record deal (Morosi)
Free agent LHP Carlos Ródon prefers the Yankees as his destination, but the Twins and Cardinals are also showing interest (NJ.com)
The Giants officially signed RHP Ross Stripling to a two-year, $25 million contract
The Guardians signed C Mike Zunino to a one-year, $6 million contract (Rosenthal)
The Marlins are showing interest in former Cardinals reliever Alex Reyes (Miami Herald)
The Royals officially signed LHP Ryan Yarbrough to a one-year, $3 million contract