Scott Boras was in a hotel in san Francisco, along with Carlos Correa’s family, when he learned that the Giants were calling off the introductory press conference for his client.
The team, concerned with Correa’s medicals the night before his press conference, was backing out of its $350 million deal.
“He had his parents there, his brother, his wife’s parents,” Boras told reporters at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, after his other client, Carlos Rodon, was introduced by the Yankees. “It was certainly a roller coaster for the Correa family. I called him into my room…he was obviously surprised, as we all were, frankly.”
The surprise came from the assertion that Correa’s medicals are clean, and Boras said nothing in regards to Correa’s health would stop him from getting a long term deal.
“There is no current issue with Carlos' health whatsoever,” Boras said.
“I don’t know what the Giants were concerned about. I never asked. They just kept saying they needed additional time…there is no medical issue with Carlos. There is none. It had to be something they felt was historical.”
Still, the Giants disagreed, and suddenly, Correa needed a new team and a new contract. So, Boras began reaching out to previously interested teams, including Steve Cohen and the Mets.
“We were fortunate that Steve was in Hawaii. He was at dinner, which was 10:30 or 11:00,” Boras recalled. “He just mentioned he'd had a martini and I said, 'Do you have 3 olives for a great 3rd baseman?’ That’s kind of how we began our process of working through this…around midnight, we were able to reach an agreement.”
How did the two sides come to an agreement in the span of an hour? Boras simply had to get Cohen in the holiday spirit, and the Mets owner was happy to spend another $300 million to bring his offseason spending into the neighborhood of $800 million.
“I called it, ‘Welcome to Correa-mas,’ and this is your lucky day sort of thing,” Boras said. “I think Steve viewed it that way.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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