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Teams postpone big, introductory press conferences — events that have been on the schedule for a week — the morning of all the time, right?
Right?
No, of course, they don’t.
That’s what makes the Giants postponing Carlos Correa’s introductory press conference Tuesday so bizarre. That’s why it’s impossible not to think the worst about the situation.
Yes, the Giants’ offseason from hell is back on, folks.
Maybe it will be for a few hours. Maybe this is the permanent state. Either way, what happened Tuesday was a really bad look amid an offseason full of them — an offseason that was supposed to be saved by the signing of the Puerto Rican star shortstop.
Here are the facts: Correa has not signed with the Giants. He has an agreement to sign with the Giants, but the pen has not hit paper on that 13-year, $350 million contract.
That was supposed to happen Tuesday. It didn’t.
As such, Correa might never be signed by the Giants.
And if he is signed, the Giants better have an outstanding excuse as to why they couldn’t manage to stage a press conference with him on Tuesday, because the postponement is both suspicious and unbecoming.
Hours after the press conference was postponed, we’re still in the dark as to why it happened.
The Associated Press, citing an unnamed source, reported Tuesday that the hold-up with the press conference stemmed from a medical concern with Correa’s physical.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the issue is not his back, which has been an injury that has plagued him throughout his career.
Obviously, with the Giants signing Correa to an exceptionally long contract — one that runs through 2035 — so it’s important for the team to be extremely thorough in that physical.
But Correa signed a one-year deal with the Twins last season that also required a physical. Whatever is in play here is new.
To be clear: Everything might end up ok. The absence of a clean explanation at this juncture doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist. We might all laugh about this in due time. The Giants and Correa’s agent, Scott Boras, might end up blaming this strange snafu on supply-chain issues or the tripledemic or Christmas.
But the way this was handled by the Giants was not normal. The fact that the team isn’t actively explaining why Correa’s presser was postponed — on or off the record — doesn’t lend credence to the press conference being delayed for innocuous reasons.
The Giants would be telling everyone “there’s nothing to worry about” if there was, in fact, nothing to worry about. This was their special day, after all.
Let me take you behind the curtain a bit:
On Monday at 8:35 a.m., the Giants sent out an official news release — a big banner with the Giants logo and “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” at the top — saying that the team’s executives would hold a press conference in the same area of the ballpark Buster Posey announced his retirement after the 2021 season. It was for the signing of Correa. The news release didn’t mention his name, but it was understood — the press conference had been unofficially arranged last week.
At 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, the Giants sent out another email to the media.
No banner. No logo. No signature. Just seven words: “Today’s Giants press conference has been postponed.”
They went from official letterhead and teasing a special guest to a plain-text email and radio silence in less than 24 hours.
If the Giants do sign Correa, the first time he misses time — and he will miss games over the next 13 years — everyone is going to think back to Tuesday.
But if in the days to come, we find out the Giants will not be signing Correa, it will be for obvious reasons.
In the process, the Giants’ offseason will reach a new level of embarrassment, though. They would have missed out on not one, but two star players, with the second coming to an agreement before things fell apart.
No one would be able to blame San Francisco for not finalizing the deal with Correa on the basis of his physical, but at the same time, the organization cannot leave this offseason without a star player and, besides Correa, they’re all signed.
These are things that will be hashed out in the hours and days to come.
In the meantime, we sit in a strange state.
What was supposed to be a celebration of a huge free agency win has turned into a no-win for all the parties involved, even if Correa does eventually signs on the dotted line.
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