Giants fans and baseball fans alike are still trying to process what just happened.
Within the past 48 hours, San Francisco scheduled a press conference, ostensibly to announce its Carlos Correa signing, then postponed it, then lost him. Just before midnight on the West Coast Tuesday night, MLB Insider Jon Heyman broke the news that Correa had agreed to a 12-year, $315 million deal with the New York Mets, in an absolute shocker.
Correa’s super agent, Scott Boras, spoke to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle Wednesday morning and made it sound like the Giants got cold feet.
Boras also spoke to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and provided more details.
“We reached an agreement. We had a letter of agreement. We gave them a time frame to execute it,” Boras told Rosenthal. “They advised us they still had questions. They still wanted to talk to other people, other doctors, go through it. I said, ‘Look, I’ve given you a reasonable time. We need to move forward on this. Give me a time frame. If you’re not going to execute, I need to go talk with other teams.'”
At 9:40 a.m. PT, the Giants finally broke their silence on the matter with a short statement from Executive VP of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi.
"While we are prohibited from disclosing confidential medical information, as Scott Boras stated publicly, there was a difference of opinion over the results of Carlos’ physical examination," Zaidi said. "We wish Carlos the best."
So did the Giants wait until the 11th hour – after announcing the press conference, Correa’s Twitter header being changed to Oracle Park, and a holiday tickets package ad featuring Correa in a San Francisco uniform – to pull the plug? In the end, was the commitment too big for billionaire owner Charles B. Johnson? Did Zaidi ultimately deem Correa’s contract too large?
There are a lot of questions for the franchise to answer, but the fact Boras would tell Slusser – on the record – that the Giants didn’t reach out for 12 hours is pretty damning for the franchise. Before Zaidi's brief statement, the Giants had been tight-lipped since sending out a fateful seven-word press release at 8:15 a.m. PT on Tuesday morning:
Today's Giants press conference has been postponed.
We already knew that Correa’s hold-up was due to a medical issue, but the fact it’s reportedly a pre-MLB issue is a bit eye-opening, as if the franchise was looking for a way out of the contract.
Now Mets owner Steve Cohen is spending money like Warriors owner Joe Lacob this offseason and the Competitive Balance Tax isn’t a deterrent. The Mets have now committed more than $806 million to free agents like Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga and Brandon Nimmo. With Correa – who is going to move to third base to play alongside Francisco Lindor – Cohen beat Johnson to four players the Giants would have loved to sign.
The Giants have spent $93.5 million this offseason, with $43.5 million going to Mitch Haniger, $25 million to right-hander Ross Stripling and $25 million to southpaw Sean Manaea. Free agent shortstop Dansby Swanson signed with the Cubs while the Giants were in limbo with Correa. In the end, it’s an epically disappointing offseason for San Francisco, as its failed pursuits of Aaron Judge and Correa will require some major bridge-building with a cooling fan base.
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