It's been three weeks since Carlos Correa made his fortune with the San Francisco Giants, and two weeks since he made his fortune with the New York Mets. At the current rate of events, America's Most and Least Wanted Shortstop will be cobbling out a one-year deal with the SSG Landers of the KBO, and be glad to eke out a player option for 2024.
You haven't been minding this story much, we grant you. It turned ridiculous pretty quickly, and despite assurances that all will be well in the end, it has remained defiantly ridiculous. The Giants offered 13 years and $350 million, invited Correa’s family out and took them on a house tour, then got cold feet over a medical report—an indication that somewhere absurdly late in the process, team owner Charlie Johnson's feet got very cold, and at his age, cold feet can be symptomatic of a lot of horrible things.
Scott Boras gave the Giants 12 hours to back their play, the Giants chose not to, and Boras took his business to the Mets and its turboprofligate owner, SEC pet Stevie Cohen. He said "12 years, $315M and not a penny more unless you ask nicely," and then HE got squirrelly about the medicals. Boras, recognizing that Cohen is the kind of guy you don't torque off given his penchant for throwing money around, didn't give him 12 hours, but 14 days, and since that hasn’t worked, he'll give them 14 more, and 14 more after that. The Landers will wait.
Why the Giants only got half a day is a story worth examining, given their seeming inability to get their own signals coordinated. "Come look at the places you can live … no, wait … you need to live somewhere else." What it suggests is that Boras and other agents regard the Giants simply as leverage to be created and used until something better comes along, with "something" being "damned near anything."
The Mets, on the other hand, have been glacial in their responses to Boras, and there had been nothing reported by any of New York's Ball Writers Consortium members until The Athletic's roving bowtie Ken Rosenthal suggested that whatever deal the Mets do offer will be "dramatically different," meaning shorter, cheaper and with all sorts of clauses and codicils that might make Boras take his business elsewhere again. It is remarkable that Correa's right leg was good enough to make him one of the game's most desired free agents before turning him into the new Monty Stratton. All we know is, we're closing in on a month with no news except hundred-dollar bills growing cartoon wings and flying off into the distance. Correa has gone from one of the longest paid players to one who has waited the longest to get paid.
And the Landers sit in hope, waiting patiently for the phone call they have every reason to think will be coming soon.
