Scott Boras details the Carlos Correa contract talks with Giants and Mets
Agent Scott Boras attends a news conference at Yankee Stadium, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022. Credit: AP/Adam Hunger
Carlos Correa was in a hotel room with his family Tuesday morning, three hours before the news conference at which he’d be officially announced as a San Francisco Giant, when he learned of the development that would upend the baseball world for days to come — the Giants had concerns about his physical.
Less than 48 hours later, Correa was coming to the Mets.
Correa was in New York on Thursday undergoing a physical — the final piece in a shocking 12-year, $315 million deal negotiated by Mets owner Steve Cohen late Tuesday night, agent Scott Boras said.
Boras, who already had worked with Cohen this offseason to negotiate a contract for Brandon Nimmo, was on hand at Yankee Stadium on Thursday to introduce another of his superstars, Carlos Rodon. He said he expects to be across town by Christmas to introduce Correa. The results from physicals typically take 24 to 48 hours, he said.
“There is no current issue with Carlos’ health whatsoever,” said Boras, who had negotiated a 13-year, $350 million deal for Correa with the Giants. “There’s been a lot of discussion about backs and ankles and there’s nothing about him that currently has any form of medical issues. All the conjecture and evaluation of him has been about physicians using their crystal ball for years to come.”
Boras said he does not know the exact nature of the Giants’ concerns and said the team did not technically rescind its offer.
At about 8 a.m. Tuesday, the Giants informed him that they were postponing their 11 a.m. introductory news conference and asking for more time to address their medical questions, Boras said. He gave them until 1 p.m., and when president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi called at about that time and said the team wanted more leeway to “discuss and negotiate,” Boras decided to begin the free- agency process anew.
Hours later, he came to an agreement with Cohen, who had shown interest in the 28-year-old Correa late in the original free-agency process (a deal with the Giants already appeared imminent then, Boras said).
“Welcome to Correa-mas — this is your lucky day,” Boras said of his comments to Cohen. “And I think Steve viewed it that way.”
In a statement Wednesday, Zaidi said the fissure was due to a “difference of opinion,” a phrase originally used by Boras. Medical privacy laws meant Zaidi could not elaborate further.
Correa missed significant time in 2018 and 2019 because of back issues, though published reports said that wasn’t the nature of the Giants’ concern. In 2014, at age 19, he fractured his leg and underwent arthroscopic surgery on a damaged ligament in his ankle.
Boras said Correa received a clean bill of health from the Twins’ team orthopedist, Dr. Christopher Camp, a Mayo Clinic resident, leading that team to offer him a rejected 10-year deal last year. At the start of free agency, every team was given access to Correa’s medical records and given access to the doctor who performed his ankle surgery, Boras said. Nothing they saw or heard worried the Giants — that is, until Correa’s physical with the team’s own doctors.
“I don’t know what the Giants were concerned about because I never asked,” Boras said. “Their words were [that] they wanted to further examine the situation and that they definitely wanted to sign Carlos Correa and they wanted to continue to talk with us.”
Boras said after the 1 p.m. deadline passed on Tuesday, he contacted owners and general managers for about 11 to 12 hours, but it appears the deal with Cohen came together quickly. He called the big-spending Mets owner at 10:30 or 11 p.m. Pacific Time, when Cohen was at dinner in Hawaii, Boras said, and by midnight, they agreed.
“He mentioned he had a martini and I said, ‘Do you have three olives for a great third baseman?’ ” Boras said. “That’s kind of how we began our process.”
Cohen’s free-agent spending this offseason now is an unprecedented $806.1 million, and his total financial commitment this coming year is about half a billion dollars.
“I think every sport needs Goliaths and they also need competitive leadership,” said Boras, who profits when owners spend big. “That renewed spirit, that ideology brought into the game, is no different than what George Steinbrenner did in the ’90s.”
In the end, Correa was ecstatic, Boras said. This, despite taking a deal one year shorter for $35 million less guaranteed money. The career shortstop also will change positions to accommodate Francisco Lindor.
“This guy tackled me and he threw me down on the bed and I’m going — this guy’s a bit bigger, he’s got a little bit of linebacker in him because he flopped me pretty good,” Boras said of Correa’s reaction to the Mets deal. “But he was really happy.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
