In a shocking twist, Carlos Correa He agreed to join the Mets for a 12-year, $315 million contract. John Heyman from the New York Post reports. Correa had previously agreed to a 13-year, $350 million deal with the Giants, so far. reports It emerged yesterday that an unknown issue with Korea Physicians caused the Giants’ introductory press conference to be put on hold for a short hiatus. The 28-year-old Correa is represented by the Boras Corporation, and his deal with the Mets will become official once he passes a physical.
As Suzanne Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle Tweetsthe “Giants have tagged something in [Correa’s] The physicist and the doctors disagreed.Slusser also reported yesterday that Correa’s back wasn’t the problem, though back pain sent the former All-Star to the injured list on multiple occasions during his career.
Whatever the Giants objected to in Correa’s physicality, the issue clearly wasn’t enough to deter the Mets from adding yet another high-priced superstar to their already overloaded roster (and payroll). said Mets owner Steve Cohen last week The team made a late bid of nearly $300 million to acquire Korea, but agent Scott Boras rejected that offer because talks with the Giants had already reached an advanced stage.
As it turns out, that late attempt from Cohen was apparently all Boras needed to quickly secure another huge deal for his client after the agreement with San Francisco collapsed. As Cohen told Heyman, “We picked where we were before and it just workedOver the course of four or five hours of additional negotiation.
Correa’s new contract with New York is one year shorter and its value is slightly lower in annual average value ($26.25 million with the Mets compared to $26.92 million with the Giants). It is also “only” now the 10th largest contract in baseball history by total value, while the $350 million deal with San Francisco was the 4th largest in history.
However, the deal easily beats MLBTR prediction For nine years, a $288 million deal for Korea. Like the original Giants contract structure as well as other deals signed before Xander Bogaerts And the Tria Turner This winter alone, the longer length allows the team to spread the luxury tax over more years, while still getting the player their money plus the added security. The Mets themselves used a version of this strategy in re-signing Brandon Nemo To an eight-year, $162 million deal, Nimmo’s tax figure is $20.25 million. Korea now joins Nimmo’s Francisco Lindor The Mets signed players after the 2029 season, though the Mets’ expenses this winter varied wildly.
The overall numbers for the Mets’ spending spree continue to reel. Assuming that Korea’s contract pays him $26.25 million in each year of the deal, Amazon’s payroll would now climb past $377 million for 2023. Having already passed the fourth and highest degree ($293 million) of competitive credit tax penalties, New York pays 90% tax on every dollar spent after the $293 million threshold. This adds roughly $23.62 million to the Mets’ tax bill, thus putting their luxury tax figure at $386 million.
korea, nemo, Justin VerlanderAnd the Edwin DiazAnd the Kodai SingaAnd the Jose QuintanaAnd the David RobertsonAnd the Adam OttavinoAnd the Omar Narvez The star-studded roster of free agents signed and re-signed by New York accounts for this offseason alone, not to mention the previous big spots since Cohen bought the team just over two years ago. Needless to say, Cohen set new standards for spending, since the owner didn’t worry about wanting to immediately make the Mets as competitive as possible. The result was a 101-win season in 2022, but the Amazons didn’t make it past the first round of the Expanded Playoffs, losing to the Padres in three games in the Wild Card Series.
Korea’s signatureReally makes a big differenceCohen said. “I felt our show was in good shape. We needed another hitter. This puts us at the top. “
In fact, most of the Mets’ focus has been on revamping the spinners and the board full of free agents. While Diaz and Ottavino were re-signed, a lot of holes had to be filled after that Jacob DeGrumAnd the Chris BassettAnd the Taeguan WalkerAnd the Seth LugoAnd the Julie RodriguezAnd the Trevor WilliamsAnd the Trevor MayAnd the Michael Givens They are all located elsewhere. Nimmo has been the biggest hanging free agent on the position player side, and Narvaez should help boost the team’s catch, but Cohen and GM Billy Eppler won’t curb their aggressiveness.
To that end, one of baseball’s best shortstops in Korea will now not be just a shortstop, as Correa will now move to third base out of respect for Lindor. Correa won a Platinum Glove, Gold Glove, and Fielding Bible Award for his work at shortstop only in 2021, and his career experience at third base consists of one game with the Astros’ Double-A affiliate in 2015. However, Lindor is a player Excellent in his own right, Outs Above Average and UZR/150 overall metrics favor working the glove in short time over Correa over the course of their career. There’s not much doubt that Correa should be able to translate well into the hot corner, thus improving the Mets’ defense as well as the impact it will have on the lineup.
With Korea now the new third base commander, Eduardo Escobar Suddenly he got out of work. It wasn’t until 13 months ago that Escobar was one of New York’s biggest signings in the 2021-22 season, signing a two-year, $20 million contract. Escobar was decent if unspectacular, hitting .240/.295/.430 with 20 homers in 106 wRC+ over 542 plate appearances in his first year at Queens.
‘Decent if not great’ wasn’t enough for a team so bent on winning, so Escobar could now join Louis Gillorm as deep as the lowest. It stands to reason that the Mets could explore trading Escobar (and the remaining $10 million in his deal) to a team that needs a dependable veteran, or New York could simply keep Escobar as a backup option in case Correa is injured or a starting second baseman. Jeff McNeil.
Further down the depth graph, the higher the probability Brett Patti He is also a third baseman, as is Mark Ventus (MLB Pipeline ranked it the seventh-best minor league in New York’s farm system). Bate has gotten some time as an outfielder and can now be considered as a potential replacement for Canha in left field, while Vientos may be destined to move from third base anyway, with first base likely to be his final fielding spot. With Correa now locked in the hot corner, there seems to be a growing possibility that the Mets could shop any of these prospects for other promotions.
Today’s news marks the latest development in Correa’s controversial career, which is largely related to his participation in the Astros’ 2017 World Series championship-winning team, which was later clouded by the sign-stealing scandal. Correa’s time in Houston came to an end when he signed a three-year, $105.3 million deal with the Twins last winter, though that shorter-than-expected contract was designed to allow for a quick return to free agency. Correa had opt-out provisions after both the 2022 and 2023 campaigns, and he exercised this first opt-out for an untimely re-entry into the market that was not interrupted by the lockdown.
467 with 22 homers over 590 plate appearances in his only season in Minnesota, with his 140 wRC+ being the third-highest of his eight MLB seasons. After a solid year off the platform and still younger than most free agents once they hit the open market, Correa had every expectation of finally getting the expensive long-term contract he initially wanted last year.
The result was two Expensive, long-term contracts, with the Mets storming in to keep Corea away from the Giants. It would probably be wise not to fully assume Korea’s agreement with the Mets is a done deal until the physical has passed and an official announcement has been made, given the staggering nature of the past 24 hours. Yesterday’s reports of the delay certainly raised red flags about the status of Korea’s agreement with San Francisco, but with no concrete news out there, there was no reason to believe Korea wouldn’t eventually end up in the Bay Area. .
Instead, the Giants’ winter plans have now suffered an almost unfathomable setback. The Giants fell to an 81-81 record after a 107-win season in 2021, leaving President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi in search of a major acquisition. San Francisco has plenty of payroll space and plenty of needs around the roster to accommodate at least one new superstar, and there seemed little doubt that the Giants were lining up to make their first real, huge signing of Zeddy’s four-year tenure.
Aaron Judge The top priority was clearly heading into the offseason, the Giants It said Judge was offered about $360 million before the AL MVP would take the same salary over nine years to re-sign with the Yankees. With Judge off the board, San Francisco then turned into a shortstop market, with Correa emerging as its prime target (ahead of Turner, Bogaerts, or Dansby Swanson). The $350 million deal represents the largest contract in franchise history, and a resounding contrary to any argument that the Giants front office was unwilling or unable to get top-tier free agents.
It’s not entirely true that the Giants are back at square one, because they also signed Mitch HanigerAnd the Ross StriplingAnd the Sean Manea In free agency, W.J Jock Pedersen through qualified offer. But, Carlos Rodon The team was left to also sign with the Yankees, removing another superstar from the 2022 roster. The league-wide rush on free agent signings has left the market devoid of most high-profile names, so Zaidi and company will now have to explore the trade market (and possibly make some tough decisions about trading leads). ) in order to get another expensive star…if one was necessarily available.
Conjecturally, the Giants could try to use their payroll space in a different way, perhaps by offering a deal for both a star player and a junk contract on a team looking to cut spending. With over three months until Opening Day, there’s plenty of time left for the Giants to strike moves, yet it’s hard to imagine they could make an addition anywhere near Korea’s level.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports Pictures
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