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    Mets Also Have Medical Concerns about Carlos Correa

    John Bonnes

    By John Bonnes

    The calendar says it's Christmas Eve, but for the Twins, it's Groundhog Day.

    Image courtesy of © Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

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    Stop me if you've heard this before - but Carlos Correa 's new team has concerns about his physical. This morning Ken Rosenthal and Dan Hayes reported that the Mets, who agreed to a $315M 12-year deal with Correa earlier this week, have medical concerns about Correa.

    Can this open the door for the Twins? Rosenthal reports that the two parties are trying to work through the news. But that news also means the agreement is in question. 

    The Mets only have that agreement because a similar drama played out earlier this week between Correa and the San Francisco Giants, who had a 13-year, $350M deal with Correa. On the day the Giants were officially scheduled to introduce Correa to their fans, they delayed the press conference due to medical concerns. As a result of those concerns, the deal fell apart, and Correa signed with the Mets later that same night. 

    Those medical concerns surrounded Correa's right leg, which has a plate due to surgery on a broken fibula in 2014 when he was a minor leaguer with the Astros. It has never landed him on the Injured List in his major league career, but there are concerns it will reduce his lateral mobility as he ages. That becomes increasingly important when signing someone for 12 years of hundreds of millions of guaranteed money.

    The Twins pursued Correa before his deal with the Giants and reportedly were also interested after that deal fell apart, but declined to raise their final offer to him, which was $285M over ten years. They also wanted to learn more about the medical concerns raised by the Giants. The Twins, however, likely have a different perspective on Correa's health, as he played 136 games for them just last year. 

    As a result of his exceptional play and the leadership he showed to their team, the Twins pursued him for the last several months and seemed to be one of the finalists for his services. But they lost him - and then lost him again. We'll see if the third time is the charm. 

    John cofounded Twins Daily and co-hosts the Gleeman and the Geek podcast. 
    Follow John Bonnes on Twitter: @TwinsGeek

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    Posted by Heezy1323,

    Here's my $0.02: (I have no insider info)

    I think the most likely scenario is that Correa fell into the Twins lap quickly last year, and everyone recognized it was most likely a 1 year arrangement. So the level of due diligence required by the medical staff is lower. Imaging of all prior nicks/bruises isn't necessary in that case.

    This time around given the commitment of 10+ years, teams were being more diligent and likely getting new imaging of any body part that had ever been treated for an injury (surgically or not). 

    My guess is that the imaging of his ankle shows some early arthritis related to the ankle fracture that was fixed 8 years ago. This is something that is essentially impossible to "fix" in the traditional sense. And it may be mild enough at this point in time that it isn't causing him any significant symptoms (hence no issue made of it last offseason). But imaging can still show some early signs of arthritis, even before a person has symptoms. My guess is that the Giants docs saw this, and said something to the effect of, "This ankle has some early arthritis. This is something that generally is going to get worse over time, at a rate that is impossible to know. As it worsens, it is likely to affect Correa's ability to perform quick movements and may require a position change. Worst case scenario, it could be progress more rapidly and be a significant hindrance to him playing at an effective level."

    There are certainly other possible explanations. This is the one that seems to fit the circumstances best as I think about it. 

    Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays all. 

    Recommended by Squirrel

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    Heezy1323

    Heezy1323 877

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    1 minute ago, Riverbrian said:

    I don't have the expertise to disagree with your reasoning. I'm sad if it came across as if I was. 

    I'm still saying I don't understand how anyone approves lower level due diligence on that contract. 

    Especially when it is only the 2nd time the organization has crossed the 100 million line on a contract. 

    How many millions or years do you need to out distance before the high level due diligence is necessary? 

    I didn't intend my reply to come across as snarky. I certainly didn't take your response disrespectfully. Mine was simply an honest take (as I see it): This was, for all practical purposes, a one year deal. I'm guessing the team reviewed his medicals at hand, but did not require repeat imaging of *all* prior injured areas (again, due to this being effectively a 1 year deal). IMO, this is because anything that is not recently/currently bothering Carlos is unlikely to become important over the course of one year. 

     To be clear, I'm not endorsing this approach as foolproof or the most ideal approach. I'm only giving my thoughts on what may have happened. I don't think I'm able to comment intelligently on what threshold exists for *standard* due diligence and *extreme* due diligence. I think most people would agree that a different level of scrutiny is necessary for a 10-year and what is effectively a 1-year deal. 

    Cornholio

    Cornholio 174

  • Verified Member

    • Posted (edited)

    I was watching MLB TONIGHT this evening, and they played a clip of Correa attempting to steal 2nd base. This was on September 12th, I think. He was thrown out, and his right foot jammed into the defenders foot. He stayed down for a bit, and was rubbing his right ankle. The speculation of the piece was that maybe he loosened the metal plate from the surgery he had while a minor leaguer. He did play 11 of the next twelve games at ss.

    Edited by Cornholio
    Forgot something
    Heezy1323

    Heezy1323 877

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    27 minutes ago, Cornholio said:

    I was watching MLB TONIGHT this evening, and they played a clip of Correa attempting to steal 2nd base. This was on September 12th, I think. He was thrown out, and his right foot jammed into the defenders foot. He stayed down for a bit, and was rubbing his right ankle. The speculation of the piece was that maybe he loosened the metal plate from the surgery he had while a minor leaguer. He did play 11 of the next twelve games at ss.

    IMO, this is VERY unlikely to be the case. These plates/screws just don’t suddenly come loose after 8 years. If something happened at the slide, the most likely disaster is fracture of the bone directly above the plate (which obviously didn’t happen here). I still like my theory of low-grade arthritis stemming from his original injury. Other possibilities exist, for sure. 



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