Where were you when the latest meaningless “update” regarding the Mets’ negotiations with Carlos Correa hit the internet? I’m not gonna lie, folks, it’s only been a few days since The Athletic‘s report dropped saying team doctors flagged something in Correa’s physical/medicals, and I’m already tired of it.
With each day that passes and no news of an agreement is revealed, it’s easy to get increasingly nervous about things falling through. That’s exactly what happened with Correa and the San Francisco Giants not long ago. But this is a much different situation. We can also look to the past to remain confident.
Carlos Correa, Mets are motivated to make this work
Remember how things happened between Correa/Scott Boras and the Giants? His introductory press conference was postponed, and then by the next morning, he agreed to play for the Mets.
The Athletic‘s report hit the interwebs on Christmas Eve, and here we are, on the morning of December 28th. While there’s still no agreement, both sides are still working together. There have also been minimal leaks on the status of these negotiations (no matter how many times Jon Heyman of The New York Post wants to tweet about it).
One of the latest actual bits of news is that Correa isn’t willing to restructure the number of years or amount of money that was originally agreed upon. While an insider says there’s only a 55% chance for a deal to ultimately get completed, we saw in the same report that Correa is committed to finalizing a deal with New York.
We know the Mets really need this to work out (while appropriately covering themselves). Correa and Boras also need this to work. While other teams have reached out, there’s no way they’re interested in offering a deal close to the terms agreed upon with the Amazins.
If he felt there was a better chance of getting the deal he wanted elsewhere, or he just no longer wanted to negotiate with the Mets, none of this would be happening.
These issues take a while to work through
We generally know why the Mets have concerns with Correa’s long-term health. While it’s unclear exactly what the problem is, there are some ideas floating around. Does it seem like these negotiations are taking a long time? Yes, absolutely. This doesn’t come without some precedent, though.
Boras has actually had to deal with this on multiple occasions. The Detroit Tigers had a termination clause put in Ivan Rodriguez’s contract if he spent more than a month on the injured list with a lower spine issue. That was in 2004, so it’s been a while. Many people have been talking about how the Boston Red Sox altered language in their contract with J.D. Martinez based on his physical and medical review in February 2018.
This gives us a much better idea of how long these things could take to reach a resolution. Martinez suffered a Lisfranc foot injury at the beginning of 2017, and Boston wanted to cover itself in the contract. It included alterations to contract language and a third opt-out for the designated hitter.
As MLB Trade Rumors pointed out, it took a week to hammer those details. And this was “only” a five-year, $110 million deal. The deal for Carlos Correa is for more than twice the length and for $200 more million. This is obviously going to take a while! Not only do both sides need to agree, but there are likely extra reviews that must be done by legal counsel and whatnot.
So, yes — it’s hard to sit here and wait for an actual update (whether it’s good or bad). But as long as there are no real updates via news leaks, I think the chance of a deal eventually happening is good.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
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