How did Carlos Correa end up at the New York Mets after agreeing with the San Francisco Giants?

Whether you believe it or not, the reality is that Carlos Correa is now a New York Mets player which as one can imagine, has left both the league and a certain team in San Francisco very shocked.

Carlos Correa signs for the New York Mets

According to reports, the New York Mets and Carlos Correa have come to an agreement on a 12-year, $315 million deal late on Tuesday night. It is understood that Mets owner Steve Cohen and Correa’s agent Scott Boras hammered out the details of the massive contract while the billionaire was in Hawaii

The former Minnesota Twins player, who is an All-Star short stop will now move to third base due to the fact that the Mets currently have Francisco Lindor at shortstop. Incidentally, Correa and Lindor are close friends and if one can recall, the former actually deferred to the latter while both played for Puerto Rico during the 2017 World Baseball Classic. As one can imagine, the deal has obviously had an effect on the financial picture facing the Mets. With Correa’s acquisition the New York based franchise now has Competitive Balance Tax payroll of approximately $388.4 million with more or less $115.3 million in CBT payments. With that in mind, the Mets are looking at somewhere in the realm of $503.7 million to be spent on players, but if one thing is clear, Cohen doesn’t seem bothered in the least.

What about the Correa and the San Francisco Giants?

If you’re feeling a little confused, we forgive you. Yes, it was also on Tuesday that the San Francisco Giants who had previously agreed with Correa on a 13-year contract valued at $350 million, declared that they would be delaying his introductory press conference - planned for that day - because of a ‘medical concern’ which was discovered during his physical examination. There has been no official word on what that concern was. None the less, the end result is that Correa did not put pen to paper on what would have been the fourth largest contract in MLB history. While that may seem bizarre to say the least, it’s worth mentioning that the large majority of high-figure contracts aren’t finalized until the player passes a physical performed by the signing team. Take for example the case of J.D. Martinez’s five-year deal with the Boston Red Sox, which was delayed because of his medical exam.

Is Carlos Correa worth it?

Despite the fact, that he has had his share of health and injury related issues over the years, including a recent bout of covid-19 this past season, the former Astros and Twins player has always been top tier. A two-time All-Star, Correa hit .291/.366/.467 while launching 22 home runs across 136 games in 2022. He is a career .279/.357/.479 hitter who known for his excellent defense at shortstop. In total, he’s got 39.5 WAR and is still just 28. That’s to say that while there is definitely room for improvement, we’re likely looking at a future Hall of Fame inductee.

Interestingly, his stint in with the Twins was the result of a one-year contract worth $35.1 million with a two-year, $70.2 million insurance policy in the event that he failed to perform or suffered a season ending injury. As we now know, neither happened and that brings us to the present. Where the Mets are concerned, the team posted a record of 101-61 in 2022, which led to a tiebreaker with the Atlanta Braves that the team lost. The Mets would eventually go on to lose to the Padres in three games in the Wild Card Series. This is all to say that if the Mets are going to go further in the post season this year, Carlos Correa will be a key part of their effort.