Carlos Correa's Mets deal still on hold due to physical issues

It’s been more than a week since Carlos Correa and the Mets reached an overnight deal on a 12-year, $315 million deal and six days since the club found something it didn’t like. not during the shortstop’s medical. The Mets became the second team to cite something about Correa’s physique, with the San Francisco Giants the first to worry about his surgically repaired right leg.

While playing in the minor leagues in June 2014, Correa fractured his fibula and suffered what the Houston Astros called minor ligament damage in his right ankle. A plate was inserted to reduce the fracture and stabilize the ankle, allowing the ligaments to heal.

The bigger question is what exactly the Mets and Giants found in the physique that was so alarming. Dr. Laith Jazrawi, an orthopedic sports surgeon at NYU Langone who did not treat Correa, said both teams likely saw post-traumatic arthritis in the ankle. This could eventually lead to ankle issues over the next decade, which is well within the range of 12 year contract The Mets offered Correa and the 13-year contract the Giants offered him before he collapsed and he agreed to terms with the Queens team.

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Carlos Correa has agreed to two different deals over it, but hasn’t signed one yet. (Julio Cortez/AP)

“Post-traumatic arthritis – which means even if you stabilize it and make it perfect, there’s still an injury impacting the ankle,” Dr. Jazrawi told The Daily News during his interview. a telephone interview on Thursday. “And there may be findings suggestive of other issues that might require surgery later, which don’t necessarily have a good outcome.”

Correa could suffer from degenerative cartilage degeneration later in his career, which could require another surgery. That could be what gave the Mets and Giants some trepidation.

“Sometimes you can clean it up, can’t you? But it’s a problem they don’t want to have to deal with because it’s unpredictable. Jazrawi said. “Once you have some kind of arthritis set in, it’s unpredictable how the athlete will respond to it, and it’s a degenerative process.”

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Dr. Jazrawi, who is a team physician for NYU and LIU athletics and was named the best physician in his field by New York Magazine in 2013, said athletes who sustain similar injuries and undergo similar procedures require sometimes additional procedures to clean damaged cartilage or to repair holes in the cartilage.

The results of these procedures differ from athlete to athlete. But if the Mets and Giants are already seeing signs of degeneration, it would make sense for clubs to be inclined to reduce the number of years on contract. It also explains why the Minnesota Twins medically cleared him to play last winter after signing as a free agent – ​​the arthritis may not have appeared yet or may not have been. as important.

Late last season with the Twins, he appeared injured after a player slipped through his right leg and hit home plate, but he didn’t run out of time. Dr. Jazrawi said this was not a warning sign or cause for concern.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “You can remove the plate if you want, if the plate irritates you or something. That’s not the problem. There are probably findings on the X-ray that they are concerned about, and the MRI, which showed, probably, other problems with the cartilage.

Correa hasn’t missed a right leg or ankle injury since it was repaired. He sprained his left ankle in 2015 and spent time on the injured list in 2018 and 2019 with lower back injuries, but the right leg hasn’t been a factor for him throughout his career. eight-year major league career.

A year after undergoing surgery, he made his heralded MLB debut and was named the AL Rookie of the Year. The 28-year-old Puerto Rican is a two-time All-Star who helped the Astros win the 2017 World Series.

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Should Correa and the Mets reach an agreement, he will move to third base. But until then, the staring contest continues.