2.<\/strong> Just how good are Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe? <\/p>\nCohen did not feel a $360 million payroll differentiated the 2023 Mets from the 2022 version, since he was just retaining Edwin Diaz and Brandon Nimmo, and replacing Jacob deGrom, Chris Bassit and Taijuan Walker with Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana. So, he came to agreement on a 12-year, $315 pact with Correa \u2014 though it remains uncertain if that ever will be converted into an actual signed contract. <\/p>\n
Correa is the lone figure who was part of arguably the two best free-agent shortstop classes in history the past two offseasons. The Yankees shunned both of those groups, proclaiming they had not one, but two high-end shortstops just about to break through. <\/p>\n
So the Mets trying to finalize a deal with Correa after the Yankees ignored him in two different offseasons provides the backdrop to what most fascinates me about the New York clubs in the new year. <\/p>\n
Cohen has shown a willingness to blow beyond any previous barriers for payroll and paying the luxury tax. If the Mets complete a deal with Correa, their salary outlay for luxury-tax purposes will be roughly $385 million, and the tax on that will take the total expenditure toward a half a billion dollars \u2014 though trades that involve Carlos Carrasco and Eduardo Escobar are likely to follow and lower that to what would still be record numbers, by far. <\/p>\nThe Mets and Carlos Correa still have yet to finalize a 12-year, $315 contract.<\/figcaption>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWhat we do not know is how Cohen would handle failure now. His image from his day job \u2014 the hedge-fund life that produced the money to both buy the Mets and support this kind of salary spending \u2014 does not reveal a leader patient with underperformance. <\/p>\n
Cohen has demonstrated in his short time as Mets owner a capacity to take in new information and learn \u2014 perhaps notably that his responsibilities to the Mets demand a different patience and diplomacy than those to his fund. In his nascent days as a baseball owner, for example, Cohen was a regular presence on Twitter, and on Aug. 18, 2021, with the Mets in an offensive funk and in the midst of losing eight of nine to fall from contention, Cohen tweeted: \u201cIt’s hard to understand how professional hitters can be this unproductive. The best teams have a more disciplined approach. The slugging and OPS numbers don’t lie.\u201d<\/p>\nMets owner Steve Cohen has spent big this offseason.<\/figcaption>Sipa USA via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n