$806.1 million. This is the amount of money that was offered by Steve Cohen this winter to free agents. It’s not a small amount.
It started with a record contract for Edwin Diaz (a reliever had never had $20 million a year) and Cohen never stopped along the way. By the way, he offered a monster contract to Justin Verlander, gave a lot of money to his center fielder (Brandon Nimmo) in addition to signing several pitchers.
But when you look at it, the big signings were either made to replace a big departure or to keep a guy in town.
I don’t say that to diminish what Steve Cohen does. He gives back to the players, as others should – on a smaller scale, but still.
But signing Carlos Correa changed everything.
Not only will Correa win big, but he’s not replacing a big player: he’s just adding to and REALLY improving the 2022 version of the New York Mets.
With a 12-year, $315 million contract, Correa won’t even play his natural position anymore (he’ll take third base due to the presence of Francisco Lindor at shortstop), but he’ll be part of an extraordinary left side of the infield.
In fact, he will be part of an extraordinary line-up.
Obviously, it’s easy to say that the Mets want to buy themselves a championship, which is far from false. Steve Cohen put his hand in his pockets.
But you like that better than the Pirates or the A’s not spending, don’t you? Are we aware that it’s better for baseball?
Cohen will have to pay $384 million for his payroll, which is $94 million more than the top tier of the luxury tax. At that, he will have a tax of $111 million, pushing the bill to $495 million. For one year only, there!
It’s been a wild 24 hours in New York…and that’s hardly due to Aaron Judge being named captain of the Yankees. Normally, such a photo should circulate a lot more…
What we have just experienced is simply the craziest turnaround in the history of the autonomy market. Why?
Because of the size of the contract, but especially because yesterday, nothing let believe that so quickly, Correa was going to make a 180 degree turn to sign in New York.
The Giants didn’t help each other, but hey.
And all of this was made possible because Steve Cohen is the modern George Steinbrenner. There is no better comparison.
Obviously, the Yankees have given large amounts this winter (Aaron Judge, Carlos Rodon), but it’s not like before.
And it’s not like Cohen.
The Mets are going to take a 12-year chance with a guy who has an intense injury history. In the short term, this will improve them.
In the short term, that puts them second in MLB (behind the Astros, Verlander and Correa’s old roster) in odds of winning the World Series.
And in the long term? It’s not important right now. The Mets want to win at all costs and the future is a problem for a few years from now.
It will make an exciting club to watch, in any case.
