While some of you (and me) were sleeping on Saturday night, the Mets continued their spending spree. This time, it was a five-year, $75 million agreement with Japanese hurler Kodai Senga.
Since Jacob deGrom bolted for the Texas Rangers, New York has shelled out nearly $360 million in contracts. Here’s how it’s been allocated so far (with Edwin Diaz’s $102 million deal added in for good measure):
Mets signings this offseason:
Brandon Nimmo 8-yr/$162M
Edwin Díaz 5-yr/$102M
David Robertson 1-yr/$10M
José Quintana 2-yr/$26M
Justin Verlander 2-yr/$86.6M
Kodai Senga 5 yr, $75M— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) December 11, 2022
This also doesn’t include acquiring southpaw Brooks Raley via trade for New York’s bullpen.
Are they done? No, they’re not. The rotation is set with plenty of depth, but the lineup could use another bat. Manager Buck Showalter’s bullpen could use another arm or two. But when it comes to the offense, could the Mets actually try to reel in one more big-time free agent? It’d be their biggest expenditure of an already expensive offseason.
That’s right — I’m talking about free-agent shortstop Carlos Correa. While this sounds ridiculous, would you put anything past Steven Cohen and the Mets right now? I sure wouldn’t.
Would Correa be open to a move to third base? He’s said in the past he’s at least open to it. When he was about to jump into free agency last winter, Correa mentioned he’d consider a position change for “the right team”.
We don’t know if this is still true. It’s been more than a year since this report surfaced. Correa also probably didn’t want to limit his market, which never materialized the way he hoped. But this offseason is much different. There are multiple teams interested in his services at shortstop who will also be willing to offer the big contract he’s been waiting for. If there’s any team that could convince him to make a position change, though, it’s definitely the Mets.
Correa’s contract won’t be a cheap endeavor. MLB Trade Rumors initially predicted he’d get a nine-year, $288 million deal. But after Trea Turner received $300 million from the Philadelphia Phillies and Xander Bogaerts got $280 million from the San Diego Padres? He’ll almost definitely be looking for a contract that starts with the number “3”.
Could New York justify something like that? Cohen is baseball’s richest owner, so it’s possible. The Mets currently have a luxury-tax penalty bill that’ll cost more than the payroll for several teams. But then again, New York’s team owner said this about the “Steve Cohen tax” back in June (h/t to Jacob Resnick on Twitter):
It’s something to think about because there is a price to pay if you go over [the threshold] for the following year or the year after. I am not going to go over for a million or two million. that’s stupid, so if you are going to do it you are going to do it, so we’ll see what’s available.
This was in reference to what New York could do by the August 2nd trade deadline. Needless to say, this logic likely still applies.
The Mets pursuing Correa being a remote possibility after everything they’ve done is just ridiculous. Ridiculously amazing, that is. Let’s see what else Cohen, Billy Eppler, and friends have up their collective sleeve to continue supplementing the roster.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
