Mets' Updated Payroll After Carlos Correa Contract Falls Through

The New York Mets appear to have lost out in the Carlos Correa sweepstakes, but it might be a good thing for the payroll.

Correa agreed to a six-year, $200 million contract with the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan. The Mets had previously agreed to a 12-year, $315 million deal with Correa, but it wasn't finalized because of concerns with his physical.

New York was staring at a $384 million payroll with $111 million in luxury taxes after the initial deal, per Passan. The new payroll is significantly reduced:

The active payroll is now $298 million, per Spotrac.

Though the Mets lead the league in the category, they aren't yet the first team to top $300 million.

It should ease some concerns from opposing teams, who were upset after the Mets spent over $800 million on free-agent contracts.

"Our sport feels broken now," a rival executive told Evan Drellich of The Athletic. "We've got somebody with three times the median payroll and has no care whatsoever for the long-term of any of these contracts, in terms of the risk associated with any of them."

The team still added Justin Verlander, José Quintana and David Robertson while re-signing Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Diaz, but the additions weren't as dramatic as the Correa deal.

The Mets also lost Jacob deGrom, Taijuan Walker and Chris Bassitt in free agency.

Perhaps the biggest change from losing Correa is the increased payroll flexibility.

The shortstop would have been signed through 2034, but now Francisco Lindor (2031) and Nimmo (2030) are the only guaranteed contracts that run beyond 2025. Verlander and Max Scherzer are the two highest-paid players in baseball, but both could be gone by the end of the 2024 season.

It gives the team plenty of options for future deals, as well as reducing the risk in case the contracts don't work out.

Both the Mets and San Francisco Giants had issues with Correa's physical, creating significant question marks for a player who would've gotten more than a decade of guaranteed money. Considering the Mets will pay the majority of the 2023 salaries for Robinson Canó and James McCann—two players no longer on the roster—it's important to avoid bad deals.