Carlos Correa finalizing with Twins after Mets talks fizzle

12:27 PM ET

Jeff PassanESPN

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Author of The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of Sports’ Most Valuable Commodity

Star shortstop Carlos Correa and the Minnesota Twins are finalizing a six-year, $200 million contract pending a physical after weeks of talks to save a deal with the New York Mets fell apart, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.

The stunning turnaround caps a whirlwind month for Correa, who agreed to a 13-year, $350 million contract with the San Francisco Giants on Dec. 13. After the Giants raised concerns about Correa’s surgically repaired right leg, he quickly returned to the Mets. who offered him a 12-year, $315 million contract. The Mets scored that physical, too, and efforts to reverse the deal fell apart, sending Correa to Minnesota, where he signed after a tumultuous offseason last year, as well.

The deal includes a four-year, $70 million insurance option and will become official if Correa passes a medical review, which is currently underway. The focus will be on the lower part of his right foot, which he broke in 2014 during a minor league game, and a source said the Twins expect to be comfortable with it. Correa hasn’t spent time on the disabled list with a right foot ailment in his eight-year big league career, but the Giants and Mets medical staffs were concerned about how the leg will age.

Correa, 28, is among the game’s best players and entered the winter hoping to secure the mega-contract that eluded him last offseason, when he settled on a three-year, $105.3 million deal with the Twins that included a withdrawal after the first season. Correa hit .291/.366/.467 with 22 home runs and top-notch defense, leaving the Twins hopeful that he would consider a return after he hits free agency.

Minnesota never intended to play in the $300 million neighborhood, and after Aaron Judge returned to the New York Yankees, the Giants, in search of a franchise player, passed on that number to Correa, leaving the Twins to try to save the winter. Theirs. signing outfielder Joey Gallo and catcher Christian Vazquez. All along, they hid as the second plan for Correa, excited to add him to a lineup that also includes All-Stars Byron Buxton and Luis Arraez, in addition to top prospects Royce Lewis, Jose Miranda, Jorge Polanco, Max Kepler, Nick . Gordon, Alex Kirilloff, and Trevor Larnach.

If Correa passes his physical — the Twins are more familiar with his medical situation than any other team and earlier in the winter considered a 10-year, $285 million deal, which is about what the current deal would end up being if the option is picked up. – Minnesota will enter 2023 with strong hopes of winning the American League Central Division.

Meanwhile, the Mets will enter spring training without the player owner Steve Cohen told the New York Post “puts us on top” shortly after the team and Correa agreed to terms. It was the shock of the winter, a midnight coup by the Mets that took the most expensive team in baseball history and added a two-time All-Star and lauded postseason performer who would bring the payroll close to 500 dollars. million.

What came next mirrored what had allowed the Mets to have a shot at Correa in the first place. When the Giants balked at giving Correa the fourth-largest contract in baseball history because of his foot, he wasted no time, signing with the Mets less than 12 hours later. After the Mets’ bullpen raised similar questions, Correa’s agent, Scott Boras, continued to engage in discussions with the team, knowing that another failed physical could upend Correa’s market. Talks with the Mets approached three weeks, and the lack of substantial progress pushed Correa back on the market, questionable medicals and all.

They certainly ended up having an effect on the length of the deal, though Correa’s average annual salary of $33.3 million will be the second-highest at the position behind Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, whom Correa had planned to play for next to third base. The deal is short in total dollars of the 11-year deals signed by fellow shortstops Trea Turner ($300 million with Philadelphia) and Xander Bogaerts ($280 million with San Diego) this winter, but behind only the nine-year contract of Judge, $360 million a year. value.