MINNEAPOLIS — Anyone who questions whether this Mets season could have been worse only had to look toward the opposing shortstop Friday night.
There stood Carlos Correa, who agreed to a 12-year contract worth $315 million with the Mets last winter only to have the deal fizzle because of medical concerns over his right ankle.
Correa previously had a deal with the Giants crumble because of similar concerns. He finally returned to the Twins on a less sizable contract.
“I feel like everyone I talk to wants to know the background of what happened in the winter because, for the first time in MLB history, a player signed three deals in a few weeks,” Correa said before he launched a fourth-inning solo home run to left against the team he nearly joined in a 5-2 Twins victory over the Mets at Target Field.
The Mets may have avoided disaster on that front. Correa has a .232/.313/.406 slash line, 18 homers and 63 RBIs.
Correa, who has battled plantar fasciitis in his left foot for much of the season, has grounded into an American League-leading 29 double plays.
It has hardly been what the Twins thought they were receiving, even for the reduced guarantee of $200 million over six years. The Mets have used Brett Baty at third base (the position Correa would have played for them) and while Baty’s rookie season has largely been underwhelming, the Mets aren’t locked into a potentially bad contract for the next decade-plus.
“This season hasn’t gone for me personally as I wanted it to,” said Correa, who will turn 29 in two weeks. “There’s no excuse. It’s just how it has gone. But at the same time, I look at it as keep working on my swing and get to where I want to be and help down the stretch and, hopefully once we get to the playoffs, be hot at the right time. At the end of the day, the Twins signed me to win championships, not to win personal accolades.”
The Twins entered Friday with a 6½-game lead in the AL Central, allowing Correa to dream big about October.
The disappointing Mets punted on the season at the trade deadline, when they dealt players such as Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and David Robertson for minor league prospects.
Correa was asked about playing for a postseason-bound team against one not headed in that direction.
“The Mets don’t have a chance to make the playoffs?” Correa said. “Really? I didn’t know that. I know they have a great team over there. I know they got rid of some good pieces … but when you look at that team when the season started, on paper they looked really nice. I don’t know how their season is going, but our season over here is going great, and that is what I am focused on right now.”
Correa didn’t want to revisit the failed contract with the Mets, but said he formed a favorable impression of team owner Steve Cohen.
“The talk that I had with him, unbelievable person,” Correa said. “His wife [Alex], I also talked to her, and she was so great on the phone. I have only heard people say great things about them, so I know they are great people.”
Correa was asked if this series against the Mets holds any special meaning, given what occurred last winter.
“I just saw we were playing the Mets the other day,” Correa said. “I checked the calendar when we were in Cleveland to see who we were playing when we came home, and it was the Mets. Obviously, you think of the offseason right away, but it’s not like you look at the calendar and mark this day like it was a special day or anything.”