Last week saw an incredible free agent turnaround unprecedented in baseball history. Reports emerged last week indicating that the Giants had agreed to terms with the shortstop Carlos Correa on a 13-year, $350 million contract. This deal, like all free agent deals, was pending a physical. However, it was reported A reported issue with Correa’s physical exam yesterday caused the Giants to delay a press conference that was to feature Correa. This was followed by a superb middle of the night report that Correa had a new deal with the Mets for 12 years and $315 million.
The entire baseball world is still trying to figure out how such a bizarre sequence of events happened. Correa’s agent Scott Boras gave his view today, commenting Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
We have come to an agreement. We had a letter of agreement. We gave them a deadline to execute it,” Boras said. They told us they still had questions. They always wanted to talk to other people, other doctors, go through that. I said, ‘Look, I gave you a reasonable time. We need to move forward on this. Give me a deadline. If you’re not going to perform, I have to go talk to other teams.
It’s still not publicly known what problem the Giants found during Correa’s physical, but Boras describes it as an old injury that predates Correa’s time in the majors. “You’re talking about a player who has played eight major league seasons,” Boras said. “There are things in his medical records that happened decades ago. These are all speculative dynamics. Every team has the right to go through things and evaluate things. The main thing is that we gave them (the Giants) medical reports at the time. They still wanted to sign the player and negotiate with the player.
Rosenthal explains that Correa suffered a season-ending leg injury in the minor leagues in 2014, but he hasn’t been on the injured reserve for a leg injury since his promotion to the majors. He has also had back issues in the past, but his last stint in IL for a back injury was in 2019.
Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi also made a comment, but didn’t go into detail. “Although we are prohibited from disclosing confidential medical information, as Scott Boras has stated publicly, there was a difference of opinion on the results of Carlos’ physical examination,” Zaidi told reporters, especially NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic. We wish Carlos the best.
It bears repeating that, with the Giants providing no details, we really only have one side of the story. As Correa’s agent, Boras is surely motivated to brush off the Giants concern as unreasonable or unproblematic. Correa’s new contract with the Mets is also pending physical review and will not be official until it is completed. However, if the Mets end up having the same concerns as the Giants, it could be difficult for them to back down in the same way. SNY’s Andy Martino Reports the Mets could face a grievance if they pull out of the deal since owner Steve Cohen has already discussed the deal on file.
Also noted by Rosenthal, it’s not entirely unprecedented for medical staff to come to different conclusions about a player’s health. This Boras-Mets situation was the reverse with Rocking Kumar, who the Mets selected 10th overall in the 2021 draft. The Mets had agreed to give Rocker, who is represented by Boras, a $6 million bonus before medical issues frustrated the deal. Rocker re-entered the draft a year later and was selected third overall by Rangers.
It has also happened occasionally in the past that free agents agree to terms with teams, but then issues arise with the physical before the deal is official. In a recent example, the reliever Grant Balfour agreed to terms with the Orioles on a two-year, $15 million deal ahead of the 2014 season. The O’s backed down after performing Balfour’s physical and he instead sign with the Rays for two years and $12 million. However, a similar situation for a free agent of Correa’s magnitude has never been seen before.
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