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Mets Re-Sign Adam Ottavino To Two-Year Deal

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December 27: The deal has now been officially announced by the Mets.

December 20: The Mets and right-hander Adam Ottavino are in agreement on a contract to bring him back to Queens. It will be a two-year, $14.5MM deal with Ottavino having the ability to opt-out after the first year. The deal is pending a physical. Ottavino is represented by WME Baseball.

Ottavino, 37, has had some ups and downs in his career but has an overall track record of effective relief pitching going back a decade now. He debuted with the Cardinals back in 2010 but came to prominence with the Rockies over a seven-year stretch from 2012 to 2018. In that timeframe, he pitched in 361 games and logged 390 2/3 innings, posting a 3.41 ERA with a 27.6% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 46.1% ground ball rate. His strikeout rate ticked upward over his time in Colorado, getting as high as 36.2% in 2018, though there were some control issues, as he walked 16% of batters faced in 2017 and 11.7% in 2018.

He reached free agency and signed with the Yankees going into 2019, signing a three-year deal worth $27MM. The first year of that deal went very well as he posted a 1.90 ERA in the Bronx, though that ballooned to 5.89 in 2020. That was a small sample of 18 1/3 innings in the shortened season, but it was enough for the Yanks to move on, flipping him to the Red Sox in a salary dump trade. Ottavino then posted a 4.21 ERA for Boston in 2021, with his strikeout rate dipping to 25.7% and his walk rate coming in at 12.7%.

The Mets signed Ottavino to a modest one-year deal for 2022 worth $4MM plus incentives and were rewarded with an excellent bounceback campaign. The righty made 66 appearances out of the Mets’ bullpen in 2022, finishing the year with a 2.06 ERA, striking out 30.6% of batters faced while walking just 6.2% of them. He also got ground balls on 51.9% of balls in play while racking up three saves and 18 holds for the year. Based on that strong comeback campaign, MLBTR predicted Ottavino could secure himself a two-year, $14MM contract, which he has narrowly exceeded here.

The Mets were facing a huge bullpen exodus this offseason, with Ottavino, Edwin Díaz, Seth Lugo, Trevor Williams, Joely Rodríguez and Trevor May all reaching free agency a few weeks ago. They have since addressed that situation by re-signing Díaz, signing David Robertson, trading for Brooks Raley and now bringing Ottavino back into the fray as well.

In addition to those moves, the club has been extremely active in free agency to address other parts of the roster. The rotation also had a number of holes appear, with Jacob deGrom, Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker all becoming free agents. Those three were replaced by signing Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga and José Quintana. The club also bolstered its position player mix by re-signing Brandon Nimmo and signing Omar Narváez.

The Mets already had one of the highest payrolls in the league in 2022 and those moves have shot them up to incredible new heights. Roster Resource has them at $344MM before even factoring in the Ottavino deal, with a competitive balance tax figure of $356MM. Since the Mets are second-time payors and are well beyond the fourth CBT threshold of $293MM, they are now paying a 90% tax on any further spending. Ottavino will add $7.25MM to that CBT figure, leading to an extra $6.525MM in taxes, meaning the club is effectively paying $13.775MM for Ottavino’s services in 2022.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the Mets signing Ottavino and the two-year with opt-out structure (Twitter links). Jeff Passan of ESPN first had the dollar figures.

Latest On Mets, Carlos Correa

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The status of the Mets’ agreement with Carlos Correa is the predominant story in MLB at the moment. Reports over the weekend emerged that New York had taken issue with something related to Correa’s right leg/ankle during his physical. There’s remained optimism the sides will be able to get a deal done, although it presented another twist in an unexpected saga for one of the offseason’s top free agents.

The Mets had jumped in to agree to terms with Correa on a 12-year, $315MM contract — pending the physical — within a day of the Giants pulling out of a 13-year, $350MM pact after their doctors reportedly took issue with something in the All-Star’s right leg. Correa underwent his physical with the Mets last Thursday; reports emerged Saturday afternoon that examination hadn’t gone completely smoothly.

With the holiday weekend, discussions between the Mets and Correa’s camp have apparently been somewhat on the back burner for the past couple days. Last night, Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote that some other teams had touched base with the player’s representatives after word of the physical concerns trickled out. However, Heyman indicated Correa remained focused on the Mets as of last night, with dialogue between his camp and the New York organization more productive than it had been with San Francisco in the hours after the Giants expressed concern about Correa’s physical during their examination.

The Post’s Mike Puma provides additional context this evening, reporting that three-plus rival teams have been in touch with the Boras Corporation about Correa after the Mets expressed trepidation. Puma writes the 28-year-old would strongly prefer to join the Mets than go back into free agency after a second agreement fell apart but suggests Correa’s camp is not open to moving off the sides’ initial 12-year, $315MM price point.

Puma suggests it’s still likelier than not that Correa and the Mets work something out, with one source pegging the odds of him landing in Queens around 55%. Nevertheless, Correa’s reported unwillingness to alter the basic framework of the deal could prove a stumbling block depending on the extent of the Mets’ trepidation. Puma writes there’s some consideration being given to the possibility of including a provision that’d protect the Mets in the event Correa’s right leg proves problematic during the contract term.

That kind of provision is rare but not completely without precedent. As an example, fellow Boras Corporation client J.D. Martinez altered his deal with the Red Sox over the 2018-19 offseason after the team flagged a foot issue during his physical. The sides moved forward with their agreed-upon five-year, $110MM framework but included stipulations that would’ve allowed the Red Sox to opt out of the final two years of the contract in the event Martinez suffered another foot injury that resulted in a lengthy injured list stint (as reported by Evan Drellich, then of NBC Sports Boston). Martinez never suffered a serious injury and wound up playing out the five-year deal before hitting free agency again this winter.

Correa has never had an MLB injured list stint related to his right leg, which he fractured as a prospect back in 2014. The injury required surgery and ended his minor league season. He returned at the start of the following year and hasn’t missed any notable time because of the issue since then, though doctors for both the Giants and Mets have now identified something that gives them pause.

There figures to be more clarity on the matter over the coming days. It’s likely to remain the sport’s top story until the sides either finalize the deal or Correa’s camp decides to pivot back to free agency. Various reports continue to suggest the former outcome is probable, though far from certain.

Mets Have “Raised Concerns” Over Carlos Correa’s Physical, Deal Still “Likely”

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Dec 26: Heyman reports that a few teams have “checked in” since the Mets showed concern in the physical. A situation akin to what happened in San Francisco just a week ago does not appear nigh though, as Heyman adds that talks between the Mets and Correa’s camp appear to have been more substantive than what occurred with the Giants in the aftermath of Correa’s physical there.

Dec 24, 2:51pm: According to Jesse Rogers of ESPN, a deal with the Mets is still “likely”, although he reports that the contract could be reworked considering the issue. While it’s not known what a reworked contract would look like, it could include altering the duration or financial guarantee of the contract, or rewording it to alter the amount of guaranteed money Correa makes should he miss a period of time due to the specific leg ailment which is causing concern. Rogers adds that there is not a timetable in place to resolve the matter.

10:56am: Carlos Correa’s physical with the Mets has “raised concerns”, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal and Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Per the report, the concern centers on Correa’s surgically repaired lower right leg. Correa has agreed to a 12-year, $315MM deal with the Mets just days after a 13-year, $350MM deal with the Giants fell through over concerns over the physical.

While it’s jarring to hear given the events of the past week, it’s unclear yet what this means for the status of the deal. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the two parties are currently trying to work through the issue.

Mets owner Steve Cohen has already addressed the deal, telling Heyman earlier this week that “we needed one more thing, and this is it”. That’s particularly significant as, per The Athletic’s report, addressing the deal on the record could make it trickier to back out of the agreement, although there’s nothing to suggest that’s what the Mets are looking to do.

It’s been a fascinating turn of events in Correa’s free agency over the past week. Generally, reported agreements pending a physical have become official without a hitch, but Correa’s has now hit a snag on two separate occasions in the space of a week. Further, he’s one of the top free agents this winter and had agreed to deals worth in excess of $300MM. Correa had agreed to a long-term contract with the Giants on December 13, but that fell over on Monday after the Giants reportedly asked for more time to look into the medicals after finding something that gave them pause. However, agent Scott Boras quickly pivoted and went to the Mets, who quickly agreed to their own long-term deal for $35MM less than the original Giants agreement.

Boras sought to re-engage with the Twins as well after the Giants deal fell through. Per The Athletic’s report, they’d offered him a ten-year, $285MM deal but would have put a greater emphasis on a physical before that deal than the deal he signed with Minnesota earlier in 2022, given the long-term nature of the proposal. The report also adds that after Correa became available again, the Twins were unwilling to alter their initial proposal, and would have wanted to investigate the issues raised in the player’s physical with the Giants.

The Giants have been quiet on the matter. HIPAA laws restrict them from disclosing clear answers about the precise nature of the injury, but president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi did offer a statement: “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. We wish Carlos the best.”

The Correa camp has denied any cause for concern. Prior to undertaking his physical with the Mets, Boras said “there is nothing with him that is currently any sort of medical issue,” via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. He also added that the Giants were trying to use a “crystal ball” to try and predict Correa’s long term health (via Laura Albanese of Newsday).

Various reports have mentioned Correa’s right leg as the source of concern for both the Giants and Mets. Back in 2014, a teenage Correa fractured his right fibula and sustained minor ligament damage while playing in High-A in the Astros organization. That injury required arthroscopic surgery to repair. Correa has missed time for thumb, back and rib issues in the big leagues, but the right leg has never sent him to the injured list in his eight big league seasons.

It is worth remembering that only a few years ago the Mets did pull out of a deal with a player. In 2021, they drafted Kumar Rocker 10th overall and agreed to a $6MM signing bonus, before abandoning the deal after growing concerned by something they saw in the physical. Of course, backing out of a $6MM deal for draft pick and a $315MM contract for an All-Star are two different things, and Cohen’s comments certainly give confidence that a deal can still go through in some form.

It’s the latest twist in what has been a tumultuous time for Correa on the open market. He was the top free agent after departing the Astros last year, but after the long-term deal he sought didn’t eventuate he took a three-year, opt-out laden, $105.1MM deal with the Twins. After earning $35.1MM last season and putting up another strong season he opted out and hit the open market for the second-straight winter. The long-term mega deal he’d been seeking looked to have finally come to fruition when it was reported the Giants had agreed to a 13-year, $350MM pact. That deal fell through, but Correa was able to quickly land a $300MM+ deal with the Mets. While there’s every chance a deal with New York still goes through, there’s at least some doubt now hanging over it.

Mets Release Yoan Lopez

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The Mets announced they’ve released reliever Yoan López. The move frees a 40-man roster spot for infielder Danny Mendick, who has officially signed a one-year free agent contract.

It seems the López release was designed to facilitate his heading overseas. Francys Romero reported this week (Twitter link) that the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball were negotiating a deal with the Mets about buying out his contract. The Wasserman client will apparently make the jump to Japan’s highest level for the first time, securing a loftier salary than the one he’d have made if he spent much of next season shuttling on and off New York’s active roster.

López, 30 next month, has appeared in the last five MLB seasons. Formerly a high-profile international signee of the Diamondbacks, he played four seasons in the desert. The righty posted a 3.41 ERA over 60 2/3 innings in 2019 but otherwise put up subpar numbers at the MLB level. López bounced around via waivers last offseason before landing in Queens, where he worked as a depth reliever.

He appeared in eight MLB games as a Met, tallying 11 innings of eight-run ball. López threw 35 innings at Triple-A Syracuse, posting a 5.14 ERA. His underlying numbers at the top minor league level were more impressive, as he racked up grounders on over 57% of batted balls. López also struck out 23.8% of opponents against a 9.4% walk rate in Triple-A while averaging nearly 96 MPH on his fastball during his limited MLB time.

Additionally, New York announced agreement with left-hander Joey Lucchesi on a 2023 contract to avoid arbitration. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports he’ll receive a $1.15MM salary (Twitter link). That’s an identical match for this year’s salary, which isn’t surprising since the southpaw missed the whole year rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. He’s expected to factor in as a swingman or depth starter for New York next season, and he’ll be eligible for arbitration once more at the end of the ’23 campaign.

Carlos Correa Taking Physical With Mets Today

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Carlos Correa is undergoing his physical with the Mets today, agent Scott Boras announced to reporters (including Lindsey Adler of the Wall Street Journal). According to Boras, the Mets are expected to take 24-48 hours to review the results (relayed by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com).

Under normal circumstances, a free agent who has agreed to terms with a team undergoing a physical would hardly be worth noting. In most cases, agreements are reported on before a deal is made official, with the physical a rubber stamp on the way to the official announcement. Of course, the Correa situation has been anything but normal. He agreed to a 13-year, $350MM deal — pending a physical — with the Giants on December 13. That was scuttled on Monday evening when the Giants found something in their examination of Correa that gave them pause. They reportedly wanted more time to look into the medicals but Boras quickly pivoted and secured a new deal with the Mets for 12 years and $315MM. It has occasionally happened before that deals have been scuttled by medicals but never with a player or contract of this magnitude.

The Giants are restricted by HIPAA laws from providing clear answers about the precise nature of the injury. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi released a very generic statement on the matter yesterday: “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. We wish Carlos the best.”

Various reports over the past 24 hours have indicated the Giants raised concerns regarded Correa’s right leg. As a prospect in the Astros organization, a then 19-year-old Correa fractured his right fibula while playing in High-A in June 2014. The injury required surgery and cost him the remainder of that season. Last night, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic wrote about the dilemma and called San Francisco’s concern “pretty obvious” while linking to a 2014 Houston Chronicle story about the fibula fracture.

Jeff Passan of ESPN also indicates the right leg was the issue as part of a wider-ranging piece on the bizarre situation. According to Passan, San Francisco asked Correa’s camp for time to evaluate the issue after identifying their concerns in the physical on Monday night. The team postponed the press conference they’d scheduled Tuesday morning, one clearly designed to formally introduce Correa as a Giant after he signed his contract. That afternoon, the sides reengaged over the phone and the Giants informed Boras they weren’t prepared to keep their 13-year, $350MM offer on the table, Passan writes. San Francisco may have been willing to renegotiate a lower deal, according to Passan, but the decision not to abide by the originally agreed upon terms freed Correa’s camp to explore other opportunities.

In the hours after the Giants deal fell apart, Boras and his staff reached out to both the Mets and Twins. Last night, Andy McCullough, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic reported that Correa’s camp had been in touch with Minnesota before agreeing to terms with the Mets. The Twins, Correa’s incumbent team, had put forth a ten-year, $285MM offer earlier in the offseason. According to both The Athletic and ESPN, Minnesota expressed reluctance to move past that proposal on Tuesday evening — at least not without more time to evaluate the concerns raised by the Giants in their exam.

Not long after, Correa and the Mets hammered out the agreement. Both The Athletic and ESPN characterize negotiations as fairly direct between Boras, New York owner Steve Cohen and Mets general manager Billy Eppler. By the middle of the night, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the sides were in agreement on their 12-year pact. According to McCullough, Rosenthal and Sammon, Mets manager Buck Showalter and numerous other team officials weren’t aware of the extent of negotiations, learning when they woke up Wednesday morning about the agreement.

That’s all subject to the Mets physical evaluation, of course. However, there doesn’t seem to be much concern within the New York organization about Correa potentially failing a second physical. Cohen discussed the agreement on the record with Heyman; as Andy Martino of SNY wrote yesterday, that’d open the Mets up for a potential grievance if they back out of the deal over concerns about the medicals.

Correa’s camp, predictably, has denied there’s reason for concern. “There is nothing with him that is currently any sort of medical issue,” Boras said this morning, per DiComo. The agent added the Giants were trying to use a “crystal ball” to predict Correa’s long-term health (via Laura Albanese of Newsday).

The right leg that apparently gave the Giants pause has never sent Correa to the injured list as a major leaguer. He missed the second half of the 2014 minor league season recovering from surgery but was back on the field at the start of the following campaign. Correa has had a few injured list stints in the majors, missing time between 2017-19 with a torn ligament in his left thumb, back soreness (twice) and a rib fracture. He also lost a bit of time this past season after bruising his right middle finger. Since making his MLB debut, Correa hasn’t had any IL stints related to his lower half. However, Passan writes that San Francisco’s medical professionals raised concerns about the long-term stability of his right leg, fearing he could quickly lose the lateral mobility that plays such a key role in his defensive projection.

It’s worth pointing out that there is some precedent for the Mets similarly striking down a deal with a player, just as the Giants have done with Correa this week. The Mets selected Kumar Rocker, also represented by Boras, 10th overall in the 2021 draft and agreed to a $6MM signing bonus until they grew concerned by something in his physical and the deal fell apart. Backing out of a $6MM bonus for a draftee and a $315MM agreement with a superstar are two different things, however, and Cohen’s on-record discussions of the Correa agreement reiterate the owner’s confidence in the exam going without issue.

It has been a rollercoaster for Correa over the past two years, having reached free agency for the first time after the 2021 season. He went into the open market seeking a deal of ten-plus years in length and over $300MM but didn’t find one before the sport went into a lockout in December. During that lockout, he fired his representatives and hired Boras. After the lockout, he still didn’t find the megadeal he was looking for, but settled on a three-year contract with Minnesota that paid him a huge $35.1MM annual salary and allowed him to opt out after each season.

After another solid performance in 2022, he returned to the open market and seemed to finally land the deal he wanted with San Francisco. That’s gone but he secured another within hours from the Mets. There’s one step to go, perhaps the most anticipated physical examination in baseball history.

Mets Sign Omar Narvaez

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December 22: The Mets have officially announced the deal.

December 15: The Mets have dipped into free agency yet again, agreeing to terms with backstop Omar Narváez. It’s reportedly a two-year, $15MM guarantee that allows him to opt out at the end of next season. Narváez, a client of ISE Baseball, will make $8MM in 2023, leaving him to decide on a $7MM option for the following season.

Narváez, who turns 31 in February, heads to Queens after three seasons in Milwaukee. The Brewers acquired the lefty-hitting backstop from the Mariners during the 2019-20 offseason. Narváez had developed a reputation as a bat-first catcher in the Pacific Northwest. He’d hit .278/.353/.460 during his lone season with Seattle. That’s excellent production for a catcher, but his pitch framing metrics were well below-average.

The Brewers landed the #1 catcher they’d been seeking in that deal, although they likely didn’t foresee the scope of his production changing the way it did. Narváez seemed to make a concerted effort to improving his pitch framing numbers. He posted strong marks in that regard in all three seasons in Wisconsin, with Statcast cumulatively crediting him as 21 runs above average over the three-year stretch. That defensive uptick coincided with a drop in production at the plate, though, as he hasn’t managed to repeat his early-career offensive numbers.

Over his time as a Brewer, Narváez hit .233/.318/.350. He was average or worse in each season, including a lackluster .206/.292/.305 mark in 296 plate appearances during his platform year. The Venezuela native had a pair of injured list stints this year, missing time with COVID-19 and then a left hamstring strain. Even when healthy, Milwaukee deployed a more even split in playing time with Víctor Caratini, who marginally outperformed Narváez at the plate.

Narváez has solid contact skills, but a 22-homer season of 2019 now looks like the product of the very lively ball used that season. He’s only topped 10 homers in another year once, hitting 11 in Milwaukee’s hitter-friendly home environment in 2021. While he rarely hits the ball hard, he’s worked walks at a strong clip in each season of his career and strikes out less often than the average batter (aside from an anomalous spike in the abbreviated 2020 campaign).

It’s a bit surprising to see Narváez secure a $15MM commitment, particularly one that affords him a chance to retest the market a year from now. With Willson Contreras and Christian Vázquez off the board, he was the top remaining free agent backstop. Narváez has showed glimpses of offensive and defensive potential, although he’s never quite put the two together over a full season.

New York has been incredibly aggressive this winter, but they’d sat out the catching market. The Mets could’ve rolled things back with veteran James McCann as the starter, particularly since they have the glove-first Tomás Nido as a depth option and top prospect Francisco Álvarez in the wings. McCann has only a .220/.282/.328 line in 603 plate appearances since signing a four-year free agent deal over the 2020-21 offseason. Nido has never hit enough to be a regular, and the 21-year-old Álvarez still faces questions about his ability to handle the rigors of the position. The presence of Narváez doesn’t figure to stand in Álvarez’s way once the organization deems the youngster ready for a full look, though it’ll afford them some extra veteran security if he needs more time to hone his receiving and game-calling skills.

The Mets would presumably be happy to find a trade partner for McCann. With $24MM still due over the final two years of his contract, the Mets would surely have to pay down some of the money to offload the veteran backstop. They could keep the righty-hitting McCann to partner with Nárvaez in a loose platoon arrangement. Doing so might require parting with Nido, however, since he’s out of minor league option years. All three backstops would have to stay on the MLB roster or be cut loose, and that’s before considering the possibility of an Álvarez promotion. At some point next year, one of McCann or Nido seems likely to have changed uniforms.

Tacking on another $8MM brings the Mets projected 2023 payroll north of $343MM, per Roster Resource. The deal counts for $7.5MM against the luxury tax, since the player option is treated as guaranteed money when calculating its average annual value.

New York has already shattered the fourth and final tier of CBT penalization, subjecting them to a 90% tax on every additional dollar spent. The Narváez deal will cost them an extra $6.75MM in taxes, meaning the Mets are committing $14.75MM to secure his services for next year alone (in addition to the 2024 option). That’s likely a far higher price than any other club would’ve paid, but it’s the latest example owner Steve Cohen is unconcerned about spending when the front office presents him an opportunity to improve the roster.

Robert Murray of FanSided was first to report Narváez and the Mets were nearing agreement on a contract. Joel Sherman of the New York Post  first reported it was a two-year guarantee with an opt-out after 2023. Jon Heyman of the New York Post was first to report the $15MM guarantee and financial breakdown.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Orioles Acquire James McCann From Mets

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The Mets and Orioles swung a trade late Wednesday night, with Baltimore acquiring James McCann and cash considerations for a player to be named later. New York is reportedly covering $19MM of the $24MM still remaining on McCann’s contract over the next two years. To create a spot on the 40-man roster, Baltimore designated infielder Tyler Nevin for assignment.

It looked like only a matter of time before McCann changed teams. New York agreed to terms with Omar Narváez on a two-year contract last Thursday. As soon as news of that agreement broke, it became clear the Mets were going to deal one of their incumbent backstops, with McCann the likeliest candidate. Neither McCann nor Tomás Nido could be sent to the minor leagues, and carrying three catchers on the 26-man roster would’ve been challenging. That’s before considering top prospect Francisco Álvarez, who figures to get an extended MLB look at some point soon after debuting late in the 2022 season.

McCann will secure his roster spot in Baltimore. The O’s entered the day with just one catcher on their 40-man roster, making it an inevitability they’d bring in some help from outside the organization. Of course, that backstop is AL Rookie of the Year runner-up Adley Rutschman. McCann will have to move into a backup role with the O’s.

The past couple seasons have been rough for McCann, who first joined the Mets over the 2020-21 offseason. New York placed a sizable bet on the veteran backstop’s previous couple seasons with the White Sox. The University of Arkansas product had hit .276/.334/.474 through 587 plate appearances for Chicago between 2019-20. That handily dwarfed the .240/.288/.366 mark he’d posted over the preceding four-plus seasons with the Tigers, and the Mets clearly felt he’d turned a corner offensively. They inked him to a four-year, $40.6MM free agent contract that beat most expectations.

New York gave McCann extended run in his first season, starting him at catcher for 97 of their 162 games in 2021. His production more closely resembled that of his Detroit days, however. He hit .232/.294/.349 over 412 plate appearances, connecting on just 10 home runs after hitting 18 longballs in his only full season with the White Sox. Nevertheless, McCann was back in the Opening Day lineup for the second season of the deal as the Mets hoped for a bounceback campaign.

That wasn’t to be, as he struggled with both underperformance and injury this year. The veteran fractured the hamate bone in his left hand/wrist in mid-May. He required surgery and lost six weeks to rehab. A few weeks after his return, he suffered a strain in his left oblique and went back on the injured list for a little less than a month. In between the health setbacks, he managed just a .195/.257/.282 line in 61 games. By the time the postseason rolled around, Nido was starting behind the dish. McCann was relegated to a depth role, while Álvarez was with the big league club in a catcher/DH hybrid capacity.

The past two seasons certainly aren’t what the Mets had envisioned when they signed McCann. As a result, they’re left to pay down a notable chunk of the remaining money on his contract. His deal was backloaded, with a $600K signing bonus followed by successive $8MM salaries in the first two seasons. He’s due $12MM in each of the next two years, the bulk of which will remain on the Mets’ ledger.

While New York only sheds $5MM in actual salary, the savings from the trade are a bit more than that for owner Steve Cohen and his front office. New York is going to shatter all four thresholds of the competitive balance tax, meaning they’re paying a 90% tax for every additional dollar they spend next season.

Tim Healey of Newsday tweets that New York’s CBT hit on McCann will recalculate to encompass the two years and $19MM they’re still paying — a $9.5MM average annual value. His contract had previously counted for $10.6MM against the team’s tax ledger (reflecting the AAV of his four-year deal), so they’ll shave roughly $1.1MM off their CBT number. That translates to $990K in tax savings this year. If they surpass all four CBT thresholds again next year, they’d be taxed at 110% on every dollar spent beyond the fourth threshold. Shaving $1.1MM off their CBT mark would pick up around $1.21MM in tax savings that season.

Paying down the deal makes it a reasonable proposition for the Orioles. A $5MM commitment spread over two years is minimal for a veteran catcher. Players like Mike Zunino and Austin Hedges have signed one-year deals in the $5-6MM range recently as free agents. Those players will take on a larger role in their new destinations than McCann will with the Orioles, but he’d have fit in that group were he available on the open market. The O’s are nowhere near the luxury tax threshold, so the money New York saves in that regard is of little consequence to the O’s.

There’s no question it’s Rutschman’s job, but McCann offers a respected and experienced voice behind him on the depth chart. After a few seasons of subpar pitch framing numbers, he has rated as a slightly above-average framer in two of the past three years. McCann doesn’t have a great arm, but he’ll bring competent receiving when called upon in Rutschman’s stead. A situational role could allow manager Brandon Hyde to work him in against left-handed pitching, against which he has a career .258/.325/.458 mark. They’ll presumably look to shield him from righties, who have limited him to a meager .237/.284/.351 line.

It’s a minimal financial hit for Baltimore, and the acquisition cost will be minor. It’s not likely the player to be named later will be a prospect of much renown, with the Mets not negotiating from a position of strength. For the most part, the swap is about the Mets clearing the roster spot and some money. Baltimore will plug the #2 catcher spot they’d been seeking to address.

Doing so means they risk losing Nevin, who was bumped from the 40-man roster. The son of Angels skipper Phil Nevin, Tyler briefly debuted in the majors in 2021, but the bulk of his MLB experience came this past season. He hit just .197/.299/.261 with a pair of home runs across his first 184 trips to the plate. Nevin appeared at all four corner positions but rated poorly in the eyes of public metrics for his work at third base.

Prospect evaluators have long considered Nevin more of a bat-first player, so his defensive struggles at the hot corner aren’t too surprising. Baltimore has stockpiled plenty of upper level talent in the infield that had surpassed or was likely to soon leapfrog Nevin on the depth chart. They’ll now have a week to trade him or place him on waivers.

While Nevin doesn’t have much MLB experience, he’s only 25 and has a more respectable Triple-A track record. The righty is a .246/.328/.417 hitter through 644 plate appearances at the top minor league level. Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun tweets the O’s were granted a fourth minor league option year, meaning  any team that acquired Nevin could bounce him between the majors and Triple-A for another season.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Orioles were acquiring McCann. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first reported the Mets were receiving a player to be named later and that the O’s were covering $5MM in salary.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Mets To Sign Danny Mendick

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The Mets are signing infielder Danny Mendick to a one-year, $1MM contract, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). Mendick had hit free agency after being non-tendered by the White Sox at the end of the season. He’s an Icon Sports Management client.

New York will be the second career organization for Mendick, who entered the professional ranks as 22nd-round selection of the White Sox back in 2015. A UMASS – Lowell product, he played four-plus seasons in the minors before breaking into the majors late in the 2019 campaign. Mendick played a part-time role as a light-hitting utility infielder for the next couple seasons, posting a .239/.298/.342 line in 340 plate appearances through the 2021 season.

In a brief look during the 2022 campaign, Mendick flashed some more interesting offensive production. He was off to a .289/.343/.443 start through 31 games. That production was built on the back of a probably unsustainable .352 average on balls in play, but he’d done enough to warrant an increasingly larger role in the middle infield. Mendick briefly looked as if he might seize the primary second base from Josh Harrison, whose tenure with the Sox started slowly. Unfortunately, his season was cut short when he tore the ACL in his left knee in June.

That proved to be the end of his White Sox tenure, as Chicago cut him loose before he could get a chance to return from the injury. Whether he’ll be healthy enough to crack the Opening Day roster isn’t clear, though the Mets like him enough to guarantee him an offseason 40-man roster spot in any event. New York certainly isn’t hurting for infield depth after agreeing to terms with Carlos Correa. Mendick still has a pair of minor league option years and can be sent to Triple-A Syracuse freely for a couple seasons.

The $1MM guarantee is barely north of the league minimum. The Mets will pay a 90% tax on that figure thanks to their luxury tax status, making the actual payment for them $1.9MM. Mendick has between two and three years of MLB service, so he’ll be eligible for arbitration for at least three seasons after next if he shows enough to hold a spot on the New York roster.

Scott Boras Comments On Carlos Correa Situation

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The past week has seen an incredible free agent plot twist that’s unprecedented in baseball history. Reports emerged last week indicating that the Giants had agreed to terms with shortstop Carlos Correa on a 13-year, $350MM deal. That deal, like all free agent agreements, was pending a physical. However, it was reported yesterday that an issue flagged during Correa’s physical caused the Giants to delay a press conference that was set to introduce Correa. That was followed by a stunning middle-of-the-night report that Correa had a new agreement with the Mets for 12 years and $315MM.

The entire baseball world is still trying to piece together how such a strange sequence of events came to pass. Correa’s agent, Scott Boras, has provided his perspective today, giving comment to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

“We reached an agreement. We had a letter of agreement. We gave them a time frame to execute it,” Boras said. “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.”

It still isn’t publicly known what issue the Giants found during Correa’s physical, but Boras frames it as an old injury that precedes 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 record that happened decades ago. These are all speculative dynamics. Every team has a right to go through things and evaluate things. The key thing is, we gave them (the Giants) medical reports at the time. They still wanted to sign the player and negotiate with the player.”

Rosenthal lays out that Correa suffered a season-ending leg injury in the minor leagues in 2014 but he has not been on the injured list for a lower leg injury since his promotion to the majors. He’s also had back issues in the past but his last IL stint for a back injury was in 2019.

Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi also provided a comment, though without getting into specifics. “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 to reporters, including Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. “We wish Carlos the best.”

It’s worth reiterating that, with the Giants not providing any details, we only really have one side of the story. As Correa’s agent, Boras is surely motivated to wipe away the concern of the Giants as unreasonable or a non-issue. Correa’s new deal with the Mets is also pending a physical and won’t be official until that is complete. However, if the Mets end up having the same concerns as the Giants, it might be difficult for them to back out in a similar fashion. Andy Martino of SNY reports that the Mets could face a grievance if they back out of the deal since owner Steve Cohen has already discussed the deal on the record.

Also noted by Rosenthal, it’s not entirely unprecedented for medical personnel to come to different conclusions about the health of a player. This Boras-Mets situation was the other way around with Kumar Rocker, whom the Mets selected 10th overall in the 2021 draft. The Mets had agreed to give Rocker, who is represented by Boras, a $6MM bonus before medical concerns scuttled the deal. Rocker re-entered the draft a year later and was selected third overall by the Rangers.

It has also occasionally happened in the past that free agents agree to terms with teams but then issues pop up with the physical before the deal is official. In one recent example, reliever Grant Balfour agreed to terms with the Orioles on a two-year, $15MM deal prior to the 2014 season. The O’s backed out after conducting Balfour’s physical and he instead signed with the Rays for two years and $12MM. However, a similar situation for a free agent of Correa’s magnitude hasn’t been seen before.

Mets To Sign Carlos Correa

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In a shocking development, Carlos Correa has agreed to join the Mets for a 12-year, $315MM contract, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports.  Correa had previously agreed to a 13-year, $350MM deal with the Giants, yet reports surfaced yesterday that an unknown issue with Correa’s medicals had led to a postponement of the Giants’ introductory press conference for the shortstop.  The 28-year-old Correa is represented by the Boras Corporation, and his deal with the Mets will become official once he passes a physical.

As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets, the “Giants flagged something in [Correa’s] physical and doctors disagreed.”  Slusser also reported yesterday that Correa’s back wasn’t the issue, though back soreness has sent the former All-Star to the injured list on multiple occasions during his career.

Whatever the Giants took issue with in Correa’s physical, obviously the problem wasn’t enough to deter the Mets from adding yet another high-priced star to their already loaded roster (and payroll).  Mets owner Steve Cohen said last week that the team made a late bid of around $300MM to land Correa, but that offer was turned down by agent Scott Boras since talks with the Giants had already reached an advanced stage.

As it turned out, that late attempt from Cohen was seemingly all Boras needed to secure another mega-deal for his client quickly after the agreement with San Francisco fell apart.  As Cohen told Heyman, “we kind of picked up where we were before and it just worked out” over the course of four or five hours’ worth of extra negotiations.

Correa’s new contract with New York is one year shorter and worth slightly less in average annual value ($26.25MM with the Mets compared to $26.92MM with the Giants).  It is also “only” now the 10th-largest contract in baseball history in terms of total value, while the $350MM deal with San Francisco was the fourth-largest in history.

Still, the deal handily surpasses MLBTR’s projection of a nine-year, $288MM pact for Correa.  Like the structure of the original Giants contract as well as other deals signed by Xander Bogaerts and Trea Turner this winter alone, the longer length allows the team to spread out the luxury-tax hit over more years, while the player still gets his money as well as extra security.  The Mets themselves used a version of this strategy in re-signing Brandon Nimmo to an eight-year, $162MM deal, as Nimmo’s tax number is $20.25MM.  Correa now joins Nimmo and Francisco Lindor as Mets players signed beyond the 2029 season, though the Mets’ expenditures this winter have varied widely in length.

The overall numbers of the Mets’ spending spree continue to stagger.  Assuming Correa’s contract pays him $26.25MM in each year of the deal, the Amazins’ payroll will now soar past the $377MM mark for 2023.  Having already far surpassed the fourth and highest tier ($293MM) of Competitive Balance Tax penalties, New York is paying a 90% tax on every dollar spent beyond the $293MM threshold.  That works out to roughly $23.62MM added to the Mets’ tax bill, thus putting their luxury tax number over $386MM.

Correa, Nimmo, Justin Verlander, Edwin Diaz, Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana, David Robertson, Adam Ottavino, and Omar Narvaez represent the star-studded list of free agents signed and re-signed by New York this offseason alone, to say nothing of their previous big splashes since Cohen bought the team just over two years ago.  Needless to say, Cohen has established new standards for spending, as the owner has made no qualms about his desire to immediately make the Mets as competitive as possible.  The result was a 101-win season in 2022, but the Amazins didn’t make it past the first round of the expanded playoffs, losing to the Padres in three games in the Wild Card Series.

The Correa signing “really makes a big difference,” Cohen said.  “I felt like our pitching was in good shape.  We needed one more hitter.  This puts us over the top.”

Indeed, most of the Mets’ focus had been on revamping a rotation and bullpen that was full of free agents.  While Diaz and Ottavino were re-signed, plenty of holes had to be filled after Jacob deGrom, Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker, Seth Lugo, Joely Rodriguez, Trevor Williams, Trevor May, and Mychal Givens all signed elsewhere.  Nimmo was the biggest pending free agent on the position player side, and Narvaez should help bolster the catching corps, but Cohen and GM Billy Eppler weren’t going to curb their aggressiveness.

To this end, one of baseball’s best shortstops in Correa now won’t even be a shortstop, as Correa will now move to third base in deference to Lindor.  Correa won a Platinum Glove, Gold Glove, and Fielding Bible Award for his work at shortstop just in 2021, and his professional experience at third base consists of one game with the Astros’ Double-A affiliate in 2015.  That said, Lindor is an excellent fielder in his own right, and the Outs Above Average and UZR/150 public metrics prefer his glovework at shortstop to Correa’s over the course of their careers.  There isn’t much doubt that Correa should be able to translate well to the hot corner, thus improving the Mets’ defense as well as the impact he’ll bring to the lineup.

With Correa now the new third baseman, Eduardo Escobar is suddenly out of a starting job.  It wasn’t even 13 months ago that Escobar was one of New York’s big signings of the 2021-22 offseason, as he inked a two-year, $20MM deal.  Escobar was decent if unspectacular, hitting .240/.295/.430 with 20 homers for a 106 wRC+ over 542 plate appearances in his first year in Queens.

“Decent if unspectacular” wasn’t enough for a team so intent on winning, however, and thus Escobar could now join Luis Guillorme as infield depth.  It stands to reason that the Mets could explore trading Escobar (and the $10MM remaining on his deal) to a team in need of a dependable veteran infielder, or New York could simply keep Escobar as a backup option in the event of an injury to Correa or starting second baseman Jeff McNeil.

Looking further down the depth chart, top prospect Brett Baty is also a third baseman, as is Mark Vientos (ranked by MLB Pipeline as the seventh-best minor league in New York’s farm system).  Baty has gotten some time as an outfielder and now might be viewed as a possible replacement for Canha in left field, while Vientos might be destined for a move off third base anyway, with first base potentially being his ultimate spot on the field.  With Correa now locked into the hot corner, however, there seems an increased possibility that the Mets could shop either of these prospects for other upgrades.

Today’s news marks the latest twist in a controversy-filled career for Correa, largely tied to his participation on the 2017 Astros team that won a World Series championship later clouded by the sign-stealing scandal.  Correa’s time in Houston ended when he signed a three-year, $105.3MM deal with the Twins last winter, though that shorter-than-expected contract was designed to allow a quick return to the free agency.  Correa had opt-out clauses after both the 2022 and 2023 campaigns, and he exercised that first opt-out to re-enter the market in an offseason that wasn’t interrupted by the lockout.

Correa hit .291/.366/.467 with 22 homers over 590 plate appearances in his lone season in Minnesota, with a 140 wRC+ that stands as the third-highest of his eight MLB seasons.  Coming off a strong platform year and still being younger than most free agents once they reach the open market, Correa had every expectation of finally landing the pricey long-term contract he initially wanted last year.

The result was two pricey, long-term contracts, with the Mets swooping in to take Correa away from the Giants.  It’s probably wise to not totally assume Correa’s pact with the Mets is a done deal until the physical is passed and an official announcement is made, given the stunning nature of the last 24 hours.  Yesterday’s reports of a delay certainly raised red flags about the status of Correa’s agreement with San Francisco, but with an absence of any concrete news, there wasn’t yet any reason to believe that Correa wouldn’t still eventually end up in the Bay Area.

Instead, the Giants’ winter plans have now been dealt an almost unfathomable setback.  The Giants slumped to an 81-81 record after their 107-win season in 2021, leaving president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi in search of a major acquisition.  San Francisco has lots of payroll space and lots of needs around the roster to accommodate at least one new superstar, and there seemed little doubt that the Giants were lining up to make the first true blockbuster signing of Zaidi’s four-year tenure.

Aaron Judge was clearly the top priority heading into the offseason, and the Giants reportedly offered Judge around $360MM before the AL MVP took that same salary over a nine-year deal to re-sign with the Yankees.  With Judge off the board, San Francisco then turned to the shortstop market, with Correa emerging as their top target (ahead of Turner, Bogaerts, or Dansby Swanson).  The $350MM deal represented the biggest contract in franchise history, and a resounding counter to any argument that the Giants’ front office was unwilling or unable to land top-tier free agents.

It isn’t exactly true that the Giants are back to square one, since they’ve also signed Mitch Haniger, Ross Stripling, and Sean Manaea in free agency, and Joc Pederson was retained via the qualifying offer.  But, Carlos Rodon left the team to also sign with the Yankees, removing another star from the 2022 roster.  The league-wide rush on free agent signings has left the market bare of most of the top names, and so Zaidi and company will now have to explore the trade market (and possibly make some tough decisions on trading top prospects) in order to acquire another big-ticket star….if one is even necessarily available.

Speculatively, the Giants could try to wield their payroll space in a different manner, perhaps by offering a deal for both a star player and an undesirable contract on a team looking to cut spending.  With over three months until Opening Day, there’s plenty of time left for the Giants to still make moves, and yet it’s hard to imagine they can make an addition anywhere near Correa’s level.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Originally posted at 2:05am.

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