Signing Carlos Correa: Why his free agency was a tale of incomplete contracts, unknown owners and old injuries

It’s been more than two weeks since star infielder Carlos Correa agreed to a 12-year, $315 million deal with the New York Mets, but the two have yet to finalize the deal. The holdup is suspected to stem from concerns the Mets have about Correa’s lower right leg.

Mets and Correa agent Scott Boras continued negotiations for the changed terms on Thursday, but the news said Borras had “renewed contact with at least one or two other teams of interest.” At this stage, it was more likely that Correa and the Mets would find a solution or Boras would find better terms from another club. is unknown.

Like any well-adjusted human being, if you’ve been paying attention to family matters over the past three weeks as part of the holiday season, chances are you’re out of the loop on everything that happened to Correa. We at CBS Sports have barely adapted, so we thought we’d provide a handy, dandy explanation that answers his six questions about the situation.

let’s start.

1. Wasn’t Correa already signed with the Giants?

It might be better to start here.yes correa Reached a technical agreement with the San Francisco Giants in the form of a 13-year contract worth $350 million. The Giants scheduled a press conference to introduce Correa, and he and his family even went house hunting in the San Francisco area.Before the full day is over, Correa You have agreed to the terms of this contract with the Mets.

2. What happened to the Giants contract?

This may sound familiar. The Giants became concerned about the long-term condition of Correa’s right lower limb during a physical. .

“We came to an agreement. We had a written agreement. We gave them a time frame to implement it,” Boras told The Athletic. “They told us they still had questions. They still wanted to talk to other people, other doctors. Give it a try.”

“I said, ‘Look, we’ve given you a reasonable amount of time. We need to go ahead with this. Give us a time frame. If you don’t do it, we’ll have to talk to other teams.’

Boras has certainly spoken to other teams, leading to the current situation.

3. Why is the team worried about Correa’s legs?

Correa suffered a severe injury to his right foot when he was a minor league player in the Houston Astros system. Since then, Correa has not needed a stint on the injured list for his leg, but physical is often about predicted value rather than prescription value. In other words, the doctor is looking forward, not backward.

Doctors may be justified in highlighting Correa’s legs as an area of ​​interest, but Correa can remain relatively healthy regardless of the plate. If you don’t have enough information to consider.

4. What could be included in the amended Correa Agreement?

In theory, the Mets and Correa could insert offsetting words that would protect the club should Correa’s foot become a problem. explained what (Tap NBC Sports Bay his area for the podcast transcript.)

“The way to do it in a situation like this is to have something called an ‘exclusion clause’ in the contract, which basically says that if a player stays on the injured list for X days with this particular injury, that Certain injuries can void future years or lower the warranty if he loses part of his leg. “There are all sorts of ways to do it,” Rosenthal said. Clearly, no two are the same.”

It is unclear whether the two sides have discussed exclusion clauses or whether Boras and Correa are open to the possibility of introducing such clauses into the deal.

They could also add a more general team option to the contract that would allow the Mets to bail should Correa’s health become an issue going forward.

5. Are there any other considerations for the Mets?

In fact, the Mets’ situation with Correa is trickier than the Giants’ situation. That’s because owner Steve Cohen may have opened the team to complaints from the Major League Baseball Players Association if the Mets made public comments about Correa and walked away from their arrangement.

After the initial deal with Correa was announced, Cohen told the New York Post, “We needed one more. This is the end. This was important… this put us on top. This is a good team.” I hope we are a good team!”

There’s a reason officials never comment on players or deals until they’re official. I can understand why Cohen was excited, but his overzealous nature might end up costing him here if he doesn’t hit the deal with Boras.

6. Is Correa worth the fuss?

yes. He was a two-time All-Star at his 28-year-old, and has recorded 128 OPS+ over the past three seasons while excelling defensively at shortstop. CBS Sports ranked him as the third-best free agent going into the winter, behind Aaron Judge and Jacob deGrom. Correa is, in a nutshell, an elite player. It is a pity that the events of this winter obscure that fact.