Mets stealing New York Post’s entire Yankees offseason plan is hilarious

Entering the 2022-23 offseason, the New York Post had a vision. A premonition. A shimmering city on the hill that would turn the Yankees back into the all-caps YANKEES of a bygone era.

Steve Cohen picked up his paper on the morning of Oct. 25, said, “Bet,” unleashed $800 million of spending, then put the cherry on top by somehow finagling Carlos Correa out of his San Francisco Giants deal in the middle of the night.

San Francisco canceled their introductory Correa press conference on Tuesday due to a disagreement over a medical issue. The Mets were undeterred by said issue (huh!), signing Correa to a 12-year deal that became official while most people on the east coast — including, presumably, the person responsible for New York Post back covers — were asleep.

That means the Mets have replaced Jacob deGrom with Justin Verlander, swapped Chris Bassitt for Kodai Senga and Taijuan Walker for Jose Quintana, brought Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Diaz back, and grabbed an all-time villain in Correa, complete with a heel turn at the eleventh hour.

The Yankees? They introduced Aaron Judge on Wednesday morning and agreed with Carlos Rodón. They brought Anthony Rizzo back. They spent $500 million this offseason.

And yet, the Mets pulled off the impossible dream of the wild New York Post cover genius, minus Judge — and Steve Cohen’s silence in that market seems almost miraculous in retrospect.

Mets stole New York Post’s ideal Yankees offseason with Carlos Correa

Will it work in Queens? Who knows? Correa’s medical issues that Cohen is ignoring (if they’re real, and weren’t just a way to weasel out of a Giants deal) could raise their hands at an inopportune moment. Before the Correa signing, it wasn’t even clear if the Mets had gotten better; they’d basically done one-for-one talent swaps to halt an exodus.

And, of course, when the Yankees did this in the early 2000s — and were roundly mocked for “buying championships” — it turned out they hadn’t bought anything at all. Those big-spending and bloated Yankee teams flamed out of the playoffs year after year, ruined a good thing, and were responsible for the worst postseason choke in MLB history. High standards for the Mets to live up to in the disaster department.

It’s impossible to argue Hal Steinbrenner didn’t spend this winter, especially considering the masterful work he did to pull Judge away from the Giants and get Carlos Rodón to follow him. It’s been a fantastic offseason for the Bombers … but an absurd one for the Mets, and one that’ll result in a slight adjustment to the Post’s backpage flights of fancy moving forward.