Carlos Correa was the next face of the Giants in the franchise until he was no longer after disagreements over his medical results. He’s now — sort of — a member of the Mets, who are now arguably the best team in the National League on paper, having agreed a 12-year, $315 million deal with the star shortstop … pending a physical .
Those final words are at the heart of the most amazing development of this MLB offseason. As details surfaced about why the Giants’ record-breaking deal with Correa — which was the largest contract ever awarded to a shortstop — fell apart, I thought it enlightening to discuss broadly how teams rely on medical reports over the course of Signing a free agent.
First, it’s important to clarify the basic history of most signings. When a team reaches an agreement with a free agent and their representative, the parties first agree on the contract length and amount—the years and dollars. Then they agree on any opt-out clauses, option years, incentives and bonuses.
Next, they agree on the guarantee language, which is a detailed legal document containing all kinds of specific terms and conditions. Both sides have a say in what’s included, and for a big deal for a free agent like Correa, the document could be 50 to 100 pages. Every deal is different, but every team and agent has language they like to incorporate. For example, a team might say that a player is not allowed to surf or ride a motorcycle, etc.
With the above agreement framework, a team always ensures that the deal is subject to a physical and/or medical records review. The teams obviously don’t want to agree to a contract and later find out that there were serious medical concerns regarding the player that should be taken into account. Every deal comes with risks, but teams need to make informed decisions with as much information as possible or they could be stuck with millions of dollars of dead money on their books, which can hamper a company for years.
If a team discovers a medical issue during this process, they may choose to (1) continue with the original deal, (2) exit the player entirely, or (3) address the issue with the player’s camp and negotiate better terms for a new business. In the latter case, however, the team nullified the original deal and the player can resume talks with other teams, which is what Correa did with the Mets in this case.
Mets owner Steve Cohen has spent more than $800 million on free agents this offseason. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
The stakes are high in any long-term deal, which brings us back to the curious case of Correa and the Giants, who agreed to a 13-year, $350 million deal pending a physical.
What’s unusual here is that the Giants called a press conference for Tuesday, which would lead to the assumption that Correa passed his investigation and they were ready to introduce him as the most important foundational element of their franchise since Barry Bonds in 1992 have signed. It’s bizarre that they then canceled the press conference because under no circumstances should a team even schedule one until their medical people have signed a contract. This was a major misstep by the Giants’ front office. It’s embarrassing.
Regardless of that blunder, though, if the Giants had medical concerns about Correa, it was far better to back out of the deal now and not make a $350 million commitment. No team wants a player who could end up on the injured list. Awarding a 13-year contract that would have put Correa into his 40s was risky enough, but while significant medical issues also exist (and it’s not clear they have them) it only adds to the long-term risk.
During my 16 years as a GM, I had to make several difficult medical decisions about free agents. The one who stood out the most nearly 30 years later was Ron Gant, who I signed to the Reds on a two-year contract in June 1994 after the Braves fired him a few months earlier after a motorcycle accident. The team doctors said Gant wouldn’t be able to play in 1994 and might not play in the majors again, but after weighing the pros and cons I signed Gant to a contract that netted him $3.5 million in 1995.
Gant did not play in 1994. He came to spring practice in 1995 with a limp and missed his first 12 pitches in batting practice. I think I got nauseous at that point. However, my bet on Gant paid off as he hit 29 home runs, 88 RBIs and 23 stolen bases this season. He made the All-Star Team and placed 11th in the NL MVP voting.
I’m not comparing Gant’s signing to a nine-figure deal for Correa, but I mention it to highlight the medical factors baseball executives must weigh in every player and every contract. For most of my GM career, I’ve followed the advice of the medical teams (and I’ve worked with some of the best in the business, including Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Timothy Kremchek). In this case I didn’t. But make no mistake, if Gant hadn’t been healthy enough to perform in 1995, I could have lost my job because of that decision.
At Correa, only time will tell if the Giants or the Mets made the right call. Mets owner Steve Cohen quickly pounced early Wednesday on making Correa his latest big-money acquisition. Giants baseball operations president Farhan Zaidi cited “a disagreement over the results of[Correa’s]physical examination” in a brief statement Wednesday. Scott Boras, Correa’s agent, explained his side of the events.
The Giants will have made the right decision if health limits Correa’s career. But they will regret it for decades if he stars in New York for years and ends up in the Hall of Fame. In the here and now, the Giants’ offseason is a disaster. They’ve taken some steps to help their team, but this offseason has been marked by the two superstars they lost: first, they put a heavy pressure on Aaron Judge, but lost when he re-signed with the Yankees. Then this. They’re miles behind the Padres and Dodgers.
Meanwhile, assuming they nail the Correa deal, the Mets could head into the season as the top team in the NL, with the highest payroll and payroll taxes the sport has ever seen. The NL East will be a three-team slugfest of epic proportions, with the Braves, Mets and Phillies all World Series contenders. With the margins so small, the results of a physical exam in December could affect the division race or even the world championship.
(Top Photo: Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)