In a stunning, late-night switch, Carlos Correa’s massive deal with the San Francisco Giants has fallen through — and he’s heading to the New York Mets.
The rich keep getting richer — and general manager Billy Eppler gave the writers fair warning when he told us not to make any travel plans this week after Justin Verlander’s introductory press conference on Tuesday.
As first reported by Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Correa has agreed to a 12-year, $315 million deal with the Mets where he will play third base — shifting over from shortstop — to play next to his friend, Francisco Lindor.
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Correa had signed a 13-year, $350 million deal with the Giants last week and was scheduled to have his introductory press conference with the team on Tuesday, but it was canceled due to an issue with his medicals. It was then that the Mets swooped in and brought him to the east coast.
“We need one more thing, and this is it,” Cohen told Heyman. “This was important … This puts us over the top. This is a good team. I hope it’s a good team!”
It is believed that something aside from a back issue had popped up on the 28-year-old’s medicals to void the deal.
The Mets had shown interest in Correa in the final hours of his free agency before agreeing to a deal with the Giants, but Cohen admitted that the Mets had gotten there too late. Things reportedly picked right back up from where they left off once the Mets learned that Correa was back on the market.
With the signing, the Mets’ payroll catapults even higher to approximately $380 million — the highest in baseball history by far — though that doesn’t matter to Cohen, who has continuously preached that this is the price of putting a winning product on the field in 2023.
Yet, Correa makes a 101-win Mets team from last season that much better on paper. New York was in need of another big bat to add to a lineup that had received little from the DH spot last season. This allows the Mets to move Eduardo Escobar — for the time being — to the DH spot to provide another option alongside Daniel Vogelbach.
Over his eight-year career with the Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins, Correa has slashed .279/.357/.479 (.836 OPS) with 162-game averages of 28 home runs and 101 RBI.
He’s the latest jewel to put in the Mets’ crown after a jaw-dropping offseason that has seen them retain Edwin Diaz and Brandon Nimmo with nine-figure deals while rebuilding the starting rotation with Verlander, Kodai Senga, and Jose Quintana.
