The New York Mets are the second team to have concerns about signing Carlos Correa after the star shortstop underwent a physical exam, but they may wind up stuck with the original agreement because of the way Steve Cohen handled it.
Correa’s 13-year, $350 million agreement with the San Francisco Giants was nixed due to issues uncovered in his physical. The Giants were worried about a lower leg injury that Correa suffered eight years ago when he was in the minors. Cohen and the Mets then swooped in and agreed to a 12-year, $315 million deal with Correa.
Cohen obviously was not worried about the old injury. He commented publicly on his team unexpectedly landing Correa when he told Jon Heyman of the New York Post, “We needed one more thing, and this was it.” He also said “this puts us over the top.”
The Mets conducted their own physical with Correa. They flagged the same medical issue with Correa’s leg, and the two sides are trying to figure out how to proceed. There has been talk of the deal being reworked.
Correa’s agent Scott Boras may have a case to force the Mets to stick with the original $315 million agreement. As Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic notes, Major League Baseball has warned teams in the past not to comment publicly on free-agent deals until they are finalized. Doing so might persuade an arbitrator to side with the player in the event that a grievance is filed.
It may not come to that, as both Correa and the Mets have plenty of incentive to get the deal done. Cohen has already bragged about signing the star free agent. If Correa risks going back to free agency, he will do so with two teams having backed out of agreements due to a medical issue. That could complicate things for him.
The two sides will probably come to an agreement eventually, but it will be interesting to see if Cohen’s public excitement costs his team money.
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