Logo

Go to sleep thinking about how the Mets will move Carlos Carrasco’s $14 million contract and wake up to learn they instead added Carlos Correa’s $315 million contract.

These are the Steve Cohen Mets.

Begin the offseason believing that to own New York baseball, Cohen would have to grab Aaron Judge from the Yankees. Instead, he just upstaged Judge’s Wednesday introductory press conference by signing Correa from his Hawaiian vacation.

Let’s follow that bouncing ball: The Giants wanted Judge. The Yankees raised their bid to nine years at $360 million and kept their biggest star. So San Francisco pivoted to Correa for 13 years at $350 million, but not before Cohen made an eleventh-hour effort to land Correa. But the Giants had concerns with Correa’s physical and ended up doing what no team should do now — providing an opening for Cohen to drop in. He did, dropping the $315 million in a matter of hours as if he were getting extra poi at a luau.

The Giants were supposed to have a press conference Tuesday for Correa. The Yankees did have a press conference Wednesday for Judge. In between, the Mets signed Correa.

These are the Steve Cohen Mets.

One other thought comes to mind with Judge — if the Yankees had dawdled with him and the Giants hadn’t closed the deal with Judge, we can now assume the Mets would have tried to get Judge. Nothing is off limits. Hell, I assume the Mets already have their first bid in on Shohei Ohtani — and he won’t even be a free agent until next offseason.

These are the Steve Cohen Mets.

I asked Scott Boras, Correa’s agent, how this went down, and he sent this text: “Cohen was in Hawaii. I was up late in SF negotiating with a number of teams. Others went to bed. Steve was having dinner and a martini. I asked if he had 3 olives for a great 3B.”

It took me three different looks before I realized that 3B meant “third base” — the new position that Correa will play next to Francisco Lindor — and not “$3 billion.”

These are the Steve Cohen Mets.


  Mets owner Steve Cohen Getty Images Mets owner Steve Cohen Getty Images

At midnight, as Tuesday turned to Wednesday, Eduardo Escobar was the Mets’ third baseman. Brett Baty was going to challenge him for the position. Now they are both trade fodder. Baty, in particular as one of the game’s top prospects, becomes uber-intriguing since his third-base job is now blocked for a decade — or until Baty is 33. The Mets could consider making him a versatile bat by adding outfield duties. But his most likely position within the next 12 months is ex-Met.

Do the Mets use Baty to try to land one of the Marlins’ young starters such as Jesus Luzardo? Do they use him to try to seduce Cincinnati into dealing Alexis Diaz with his brother, Edwin? Do they wait until the trade deadline to see if Ohtani actually becomes available? Or if Milwaukee is ready to trade one of its top starters, Corbin Burnes or Brandon Woodruff? For this organization now, everything is in play.

These are the Steve Cohen Mets.


  Carlos Correa has agreed to a 12-year, $315 million contract with the Mets. Getty Images Carlos Correa has agreed to a 12-year, $315 million contract with the Mets. Getty Images

For most of Tuesday, there were calculations being done to see the payroll implications for the Mets for signing Adam Ottavino to a two-year, $14.5 million pact. That seems like Math 101 now. Because the Correa deal will take the Mets over $380 million in payroll for luxury-tax purposes and over $109 million in taxes. Just the tax will be roughly what the major league average payroll is in 2023 for all teams not named the Mets. That is a Mets payroll that for now will be nearly a half billion dollars all-in — and, of course, this team is not done.

These are the Steve Cohen Mets.

The rest of the league was concerned what this might look like when they let Cohen’s $17 billion worth into their henhouse. They are now finding out. When he assured Lindor $341 million in an extension in his first offseason owning the team, that was an amuse-bouche. When he invested $259.3 million in free agency last offseason for Starling Marte and others, that was also an appetizer.

But the Mets have now signed nine free agents this offseason at $806.166 million. They have signed five of the 13 biggest free-agent deals so far. And you always have to include “so far” because …

These are the Steve Cohen Mets.

Comments
anonymous profile image
Powered by RoundtableBuilt on infrastructure designed for real-time media. Learn more at RTB.io.© Roundtable 2026. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy