Carlos Correa and 3 other bad MLB contracts the NY Mets dodged in the Steve Cohen era

A few years ago, the New York Mets looked ready to hand Carlos Correa a contract so massive it felt like Steve Cohen was trying to buy an entire Marvel franchise instead of a third baseman. After the Giants backed away due to concerns about Correa’s medicals, the Mets quickly jumped in and agreed to a deal of their own, only for concerns about the same issue to cause it to fall apart there, too.

Nobody roots for injuries or celebrates a player going through another difficult rehab process, especially one that threatens an entire season. Still, it is impossible to ignore how differently things could have looked if the Mets had pushed forward anyway.

Correa missing the rest of the season with another serious ankle issue only adds another chapter to a story that already felt complicated long before he landed in Houston. More importantly for the Mets, it serves as another reminder that not every superstar rumor or reported pursuit needs to end with Cohen firing a money cannon into the night sky. Cohen has certainly taken his swings during this era, but there are also a few stars the Mets were connected to that now look like bullets dodged instead of missed opportunities.

The Mets avoided 3 expensive stars who later battled major injuries

1. Kris Bryant

Before the 2022 season, the Mets were heavily linked to Kris Bryant, who eventually signed a seven-year, $182 million contract with the Rockies. At the time, adding a former MVP bat sounded appealing. Then reality arrived wearing a Colorado jersey and carrying a medical chart the size of a CVS receipt.

Bryant has not played more than 80 games in any season with Colorado. Outside of hitting .306 with a 128 OPS+ during an injury-shortened 42-game debut season in 2022, the production has mostly disappeared whenever he has managed to stay on the field. Now on the 60-day IL with chronic lumbar degenerative disk disease, Bryant is hitting just .244/.324/.370 with 17 homers and 61 RBI across 170 games over 4+ seasons with the club. Safe to say most Mets fans are perfectly fine not having that contract sitting on the payroll right now.

2. Corbin Burnes

During the Mets’ search for another frontline starter after the 2024 season, Corbin Burnes constantly felt connected to them. The link to David Stearns only fueled the rumors after their years together in Milwaukee, especially coming off a dominant 2024 season in Baltimore, where Burnes posted a 2.92 ERA over 194.1 innings with 181 strikeouts.

Instead, Arizona handed Burnes a six-year, $210 million deal. Early on in 2025, it looked exactly like the kind of move Mets fans feared missing out on as he opened with a 2.66 ERA and 63 strikeouts through his first 11 starts before suffering an injury that eventually led to Tommy John surgery in June. Burnes is targeting a return around this season’s All-Star break, but pitchers coming back from Tommy John do not exactly arrive with a guarantee sticker attached to them. Safe to say Mets fans are probably happier watching that recovery from a distance instead of attaching $210 million worth of anxiety to every rehab update.

3. Anthony Santander

While the Mets were going through their first round of negotiations with Pete Alonso before the 2025 season, Anthony Santander’s name started floating around as a possible alternative at first base. After all, he was coming off a huge year with Baltimore, where he launched 44 homers with 102 RBI. Instead, Santander landed a five-year, $92.5 million contract with Toronto.

Shoulder problems limited Santander to just 54 games in 2025, where he hit .175/.271/.294 with 6 homers and 18 RBI. Things only got worse from there as he underwent surgery for a left shoulder labral tear before the 2026 season, putting him on the shelf for another 5-6 months. Mets fans can still complain about the chaos they have watched at first base, but doing it without that contract attached probably feels a little easier.

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