Mets pull off stunning early Christmas miracle to sign Carlos Correa, plus happy National Signing Day!
Mets #Mets
Good morning to everyone but especially to…
CARLOS CORREA AND THE NEW YORK METS
Merry early Christmas, Mets fans. In a wild turn of events overnight, superstar shortstop Carlos Correa and the Mets reached a 12-year, $315 million deal after Correa’s previous — but not yet fully completed — deal with the San Francisco Giants fell through.
Correa, an All-Star shortstop who played with the Minnesota Twins last season, is expected to move to third base as the Mets already have Francisco Lindor at shortstop.
Now, the other side of the story: how did the Giants mess this up?!
The canceling of the press conference clearly struck a nerve with Correa, because just hours later, in the middle of the night, Mets team owner Steve Cohen and the shortstop’s agent Scott Boras ironed out the blockbuster contract while the billionaire was reportedly in Hawaii.
For the Mets, this is enormous as they now have two of the best shortstops in baseball on their own roster. The monster deal pushes the Mets’ payroll to an estimated $384 million, along with $111 million in luxury tax payments.
And for the Giants, well, this is quite an unprecedented offseason they’re having. First, there was the erroneous report that Judge was picking them over the Yankees (spoiler alert: he didn’t) and now they’ve lost Correa.
… AND ALSO A GOOD MORNING TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL FANS
Happy National Signing Day to all who celebrate! Today marks the beginning of the early signing period for 2023 prospects, and we have plenty of top players making their decision throughout the day, including four five-star prospects.
Our experts at 247Sports have more:
No coach has flipped his program more in the last year than Lincoln Riley, who used the transfer portal and strong high-school recruiting to get the Trojans back on the national scene. He could continue to add today, writes Brandon Huffman.
Of course not all great National Signing Days guarantee results, as Texas A&M is finding out the hard way, writes Dennis Dodd. Be sure to join us at 9 a.m. for Signing Day Live on the 247Sports YouTube Channel. CBS Sports HQ will pick up the broadcast at 11 a.m.
Not so honorable mentions Mat Ishbia buys Phoenix Suns, Mercury for $4 billion 🏀 Getty Images
The Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury have a new owner. Mat Ishbia, the CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, is purchasing both franchises for a record $4 billion.
Ishbia, a former walk-on basketball player at Michigan State who was on the Spartans’ 2000 national championship team, has been CEO at UWM since 2013, succeeding his father, Jeff.
Jerry Palm’s first bracket projection of the season 🏀 CBS Sports graphic
We’re a month-and-a-half into college basketball season, and Jerry Palm has celebrated accordingly with his first Bracketology update of the season.
Obviously it’s still very early, with conference play having just begun in most leagues, but the race for the top overall seed should be a fascinating one. It already is: Purdue and UConn are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the latest AP Poll, but Jerry has the Huskies as the top team in his projections.
Here are Palm’s projected No. 1 and No. 2 seeds:
You can see his full field of 68 here.
NFL Power Rankings: Cowboys fall, Jaguars climb, trying to judge the Vikings 🏈
Trying to figure out NFL Power Rankings is no easy task. This time two weeks ago, the Cowboys had won three straight, including a 40-3 blowout of the Vikings and a 54-19 blowout of the Colts. Since then, Dallas barely avoided an embarrassing loss to the Texans and followed that up by blowing a 17-point lead against the Jaguars.
That has Dallas down from third to seventh in Pete Prisco’s latest Power Rankings. Here’s the top 10:
Speaking of the Jaguars, they made the biggest jump of any team this week, going from 24th to 17th.
No team is tougher to figure out than the Vikings, who showed their best and their worst all in one game by pulling off the largest comeback in NFL history Saturday. They’re now 11-3 this season but have only outscored their opponents 351-349. The offense can be terrific. The defense is often awful. Pete’s not quite sure what to think of them.
For more, here’s Pete’s entire rankings.
What we’re watching Wednesday 📺
🏒 Devils at Panthers, 7 p.m. on TNT🏀 Warriors at Nets, 7:30 p.m. on NBA TV🏒 Oilers at Stars, 9:30 p.m. on TNT🏀 Hornets at Clippers, 10:30 p.m. on NBA TV