Upon further review, the immaculate interception [1] of December 21, 2022, has been overturned.
The Mets swooping in and plucking Carlos Correa [2] out of the air proved too good to be true. Or maybe, if you’re an adherent of The Best Deals Are The Ones You Never Finalized school of thought, it will turn out to be good Carlos Correa never truly became a Met. Whatever it was once he was examined thoroughly that gave first the Giants then the Mets hundreds of millions of dollars worth of pause will be the Twins’ concern [3] for the next six years, maybe more, pending whatever has to happen to prove a high-priced superstar is physically fit to have lucrative vesting options kick in. Good luck, Carlos. We hardly knew ye — or yer right ankle.
While the details of why what almost happened didn’t happen will likely be juicy, the Mets will now look to squeeze out of their current third basemen (or whoever else emerges in the weeks and months ahead) 162 games’ of sound defensive play and solid offensive production. For the moment, that corps projects primarily as incumbent Eduardo Escobar [4] and prospect Brett Baty [5]. You could do worse for pre-Spring depth-charting. A desire to do better was the impetus for going after Correa, but that ship, replete with its allegedly routine physical, has sailed. We’re back to Square One. If this team as it is is what this team will actually be, Square One won’t be so bad.
In the meantime, take a seat, Norihiro Nakamura [6], the infielder from Japan who was all but signed, sealed and delivered to Flushing [7] twenty winters ago until he backed out [8] of succeeding San Francisco-bound Edgardo Alfonzo at the hot corner. Nakamura represented one of the closest-ever calls within the realm of players who seemed an absolute lock to become a Met yet didn’t. Still, I think we have a new starting third baseman for the all-time Never Mets [9] squad.
National League Town remembers the Carlos Correa Era in all its glory and brevity. You can listen here [10] or on your podcast platform of choice.