Mets swoop, snatch Correa for $315M, 12-year deal

In a wild twist overnight, Carlos Correa agreed to a $315 million, 12-year contract with the free-spending New York Mets after his pending deal with the San Francisco Giants came apart over an issue with his physical.

The agreement with the Mets was confirmed to The Associated Press by a person familiar with the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal was subject to a successful physical. Details were first reported by the New York Post.

“We need one more thing, and this is it,” Mets owner Steve Cohen told The Post from Hawaii. “This puts us over the top.”

Correa, an All-Star shortstop, would play third base for the Mets, with buddy Francisco Lindor remaining at shortstop.

“This really makes a big difference,” Cohen told The Post. “I felt like our pitching was in good shape. We needed one more hitter.” JUDGE APPOINTED YANKEES CAPTAIN >> Aaron Judge stood for photo after photo as if at a wedding. And in a way it was: He had gotten hitched to the New York Yankees for the rest of his baseball life.

Judge posed with his wife, parents, Yankees management, agents and even Derek Jeter and Willie Randolph, and discussed his $360 million, nine-year contract and owner Hal Steinbrenner’s decision to appoint him the team’s 16th captain — the first since Jeter retired.

“It’s family. The fans are family,” Judge said, thinking about joining Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Jeter and Mariano Rivera as Yankees lifers. “Just getting this chance to build this relationship with everybody, that’s what I’m all about.”

Judge was at his parents’ home in California when the deal fell into place early Dec. 7. With San Francisco and San Diego also pursuing Judge, Steinbrenner interrupted a vacation, pulling over on a highway between Milan and the French border to speak with Judge at about 3 a.m. PST.

“He shot me a message earlier about, ‘What’s the holdup? What’s it going to take to get this to the finish line?’ So we hopped on a quick call,” Judge said.

Steinbrenner increased New York’s offer from an eight-year deal to a nineyear agreement.

ASTROS SIGN VETERAN OF

BRANTLEY TO 1-YEAR, $12M DEAL >> Veteran outfielder

Michael Brantley signed a one-year, $12 million deal to remain with the Houston Astros after missing more than half of last season with a shoulder injury.

The 2023 season will be Brantley’s fifth with the Astros. Last season he hit .288 with 14 doubles, five homers and 26 RBIs in 64 games before going on the injured list with a right shoulder injury that eventually required surgery.

Brantley said Wednesday that he is progressing well since the August surgery but that he won’t start hitting until mid-January.

NFL

COLTS BENCH RYAN, WILL

GIVE FOLES STARTING JOB >> Nick Foles will replace 37-year-old Matt Ryan as the Indianapolis Colts starting quarterback, interim coach Jeff Saturday announced Wednesday.

The Colts will host the Chargers on Monday night.

Saturday made the move, four days after the Colts blew a 33-point lead in a 39-36 overtime loss at Minnesota — the largest comeback in NFL history. In Indy’s previous game, at Dallas, the Colts gave up 33 fourth-quarter points largely because of four turnovers.

The Colts (4-9-1) are hoping Foles can make more vertical plays and play with more efficiency than Ryan has this season. Ryan leads the NFL with 18 giveaways.

Foles has not taken a regular-season snap since Indy signed him as a backup during the offseason. He was the Super Bowl MVP when the Philadelphia Eagles won the world championship following the 2017 season.

NBA

POPOVICH, PARKER, NOWITZKI,

WADE AMONG HALL OF FAME NOMINEES >> Gregg Popovich has been at the Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony many times over the years, always there to show support for someone on the stage.

Next year, he may be there in a different capacity.

The NBA’s all-time winningest coach — who has quietly declined overtures from the Hall in the past — is among the list of prominent first-time nominees for the 2023 class released Wednesday by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Also on the ballot for the first time: Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Pau Gasol and Dwyane Wade. They were all expected; Popovich was the biggest surprise on the list, since it’s never been clear until now when he would allow the Hall to list him as a candidate. HAWKS’ SCHLENK STEPS DOWN AS PRESIDENT >> Atlanta Hawks president Travis Schlenk is stepping down and moving into an advisory position, the team said Wednesday, while general manager Landry Fields will assume control of daily operations.

The move comes after Fields’ promotion to general manager earlier this year. Schlenk previously was general manager and still retained the final say on player personnel decisions before Wednesday’s announcement by the team.

Schlenk, who will report to principal owner Tony Ressler in his new role, was hired in May 2017 and took the lead in rebuilding a team which won only 24 games in the 2017-18 season.

The Hawks advanced to the Eastern Conference finals in 2021 but have struggled to repeat that success; they finished 43-39 last season and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs and are currently 16-15 and seventh in the Eastern Conference this season. MAVS COACH KIDD FINED

$25K FOR REACTION TO DONCIC EJECTION >> Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd was fined $25,000 for coming onto the court to confront a referee and directing inappropriate language toward him during a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the NBA announced Wednesday.

Kidd was assessed two technical fouls and was ejected late in the third quarter of the Mavericks’ 116-106 loss Monday when his short-handed team came unglued.

Dallas star Luca Doncic, the league’s second-leading scorer, was whistled for consecutive technicals after teammate Randy Bullock was called for a foul on Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards. Doncic was ejected, looked legitimately confused by the punishment and had to be pointed toward the tunnel to exit the court.

Soccer

SUNDAY’S WORLD CUP FINAL

MOST-WATCHED SOCCER MATCH IN U.S. >> Argentina’s dramatic victory over France in penalty kicks in the World Cup final has become the most-watched soccer match of any kind in the United States.

With Nielsen and Fox releasing the “match only” rating on Wednesday, Sunday’s match had an Englishand Spanish-language total combined audience of 26,726,000. The numbers include 4.24 million that watched via streaming.