Carlos Correa headed to New York after after Giants express concerns with physical

On April 20, 2023, Carlos Correa will make his Oracle Park debut. However, it won’t be with the home team.

In a stunning turn of events, the free-agent shortstop agreed to a 12-year, $315 million contract with the New York Mets late Tuesday night. A week earlier, Correa 13-year, $350 million agreement with the San Francisco Giants. So, what happened?

On Tuesday morning, the Giants planned to hold a press conference announcing the signing of Carlos Correa. However, that was canceled after, according to the Associated Press’s Ronald Blum, San Francisco expressed concerns about something that came up in the shortstop’s physical. The details of the physical were never revealed, but there’s only one season on Correa’s resume where he played over 150 games.

According to MLB Networks’s Jon Heyman, that’s all the Mets needed to squeeze in and make their pitch.

Correa’s camp and the Giants had a difference of opinion on the medical, and agent Scott Boras worked out a deal with Steve Cohen. “We needed one more thing. And this was it,” Cohen said.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 21, 2022

Farhan Zaidi, president of baseball operations for the Giants, released a statement Wednesday morning about Correa’s change of plans.

“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.”

This is the second major MLB free agent the San Francisco Giants have lost. A chaotic 24 hours in early December led many fans to believe the Giants would land then-free agent Aaron Judge. However, he would eventually spur his near-hometown team and resign with the New York Yankees on a nine-year, $360 million deal.