TODAY: Correa officially opted out of his contract today and became a free agent, according to the MLB Players Association (via Twitter).
OCTOBER 13: From the moment Carlos Correa signed a short-term, opt-out-laden deal with the Twins back in March, it’s felt like a foregone conclusion that he’d take the first opt-out provision in that contract and return to free agency this winter. Unsurprisingly, Correa revealed in an interview with El Nuevo Dia’s Jorge Figueroa Loza that he plans to do just that. Correa, citing his age and performance with the Twins this past season, tells Figueroa Loza that exercising the first of two opt-out clauses in his contract “is the right decision.”
As he’s done on multiple occasions recently, Correa effused praise for the Twins organization and stated multiple times that his hope is to remain with in Minnesota on a long-term deal. To that end, it’s worth noting that Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said just this week that there have already been conversations with Correa and agent Scott Boras (link via Megan Ryan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune). Falvey indicated a willingness to again “get creative” in order to keep Correa in Minnesota while also recognizing that they’ll likely face stiff competition in his return to the market. Correa, even in repeatedly expressing his hopes of signing a long-term deal with Minnesota, acknowledged that “what you want doesn’t always happen.”
By virtually any measure, Correa’s 2022 season was a strong one. The former Rookie of the Year and two-time All-Star slashed .291/.366/.467 with 22 home runs, 24 doubles and a triple in 590 plate appearances across 136 games. Correa’s power output was down a bit, but that was true on a league-wide scale in 2022. Both wRC+ and OPS+, which adjust for the league’s run-scoring environment and for a player’s home park, pegged Correa’s bat 40% better than league average in 2022.
Defensively, Correa didn’t replicate his 2021 Platinum Glove campaign, although it may not have been reasonable to expect him to duplicate what will likely be a career year in terms of defensive stats. His top-of-the-scale ratings dipped to merely above-average in both Defensive Runs Saved (3) and Ultimate Zone Rating (1.0). Notably, Statcast’s Outs Above Average pegged Correa as a negative defender (-3) for the first time since 2016. When taking in his defensive body of work as a whole, however, Correa is tied for sixth among all MLB players, regardless of position, with 50 DRS since 2018. His 45 OAA in that time rank seventh.
Both the Minnesota front office and manager Rocco Baldelli have praised Correa’s glovework on the whole, and also touted him as a valuable clubhouse presence and vocal team leader. Correa has also been more durable in the last three seasons than he was earlier in his career. He had brief absences in 2022 after being plunked on the hand and while spending time on the Covid-related injured list, but Correa has played in 89% of his team’s possible games since 2020.
While last year’s market didn’t produce the $330MM+ contract Correa reportedly sought, the 2022-23 market will be a different animal. He’ll be going up against three fellow star shortstops — Xander Bogaerts, Dansby Swanson, Trea Turner — rather than four this time around, and as Correa himself noted within this latest interview, he’ll be the only of the four who’s ineligible to receive a qualifying offer. (Players can only receive a QO once in their career, and Correa rejected one last November.) The upcoming offseason also won’t be impeded by a lockout as the 2021-22 offseason was — a 99-day transaction stoppage during which time Correa also switched representation, hiring the Boras Corporation.
All of that context notwithstanding, it’s still tough — albeit not impossible — to imagine Correa landing the megadeal he sought a year ago. He is, after all, a year older this time around and is coming off a strong but lesser campaign than the one he enjoyed with Houston in 2021.
That’s not to say that he can’t expect to find a lengthy and lucrative deal in free agency, just that securing a decade-long deal in the vicinity of his current annual value might not be in the cards. In all likelihood, Boras and Correa will still initially seek out that decade-long term and perhaps again take aim at Bryce Harper’s $330MM overall guarantee — the largest free-agent deal in history — but a compromise in years and/or annual value could ultimately be required. Given that Correa is still just 28 and will play all of next season at that age, even a long-term deal might once again contain an opt-out opportunity a few years into the contract.
As for his stated desire to stay put in Minnesota, it’s feels like a long shot — albeit only in the sense that it would require the Twins, for a second time, to venture into a fiscal stratosphere that has previously been beyond ownership’s limits. Signing Correa would undoubtedly require Minnesota to handily surpass the franchise-record $184MM commitment they made to Joe Mauer, but that contract was signed 13 years ago and the team’s payroll has grown considerably since that time. The Twins trotted out a payroll around $140MM in 2022, and without Correa on the books, they’ll only have about $40MM in guarantees ($52.5MM after Sonny Gray’s option is exercised).
There’s plenty of room for Correa on the payroll, both in the short-term and in the long-term. Beyond the 2023 season, the only commitment of any real note that’s on the books is Byron Buxton’s contract, and his base salary pays him a reasonable $15MM annually — only escalating toward its maximum $23MM based on MVP voting. (At that point, of course, the Twins would be thrilled to pay him that loftier salary.) The question, then, is not so much whether the Twins can “afford” to sign Correa but whether doing so is the best use of their budget and whether the front office (and owner Jim Pohlad) are convinced that he’ll merit an annual salary approaching or in excess of $30MM per year for the majority of a long-term commitment.
If not the Twins, Correa will have no shortage of options on the market. Each of the Twins, Dodgers (Turner), Red Sox (Bogaerts) and Braves (Swanson) could lose a franchise shortstop and look to the market for a replacement. (It’s worth noting that in Royce Lewis, Gavin Lux, Trevor Story and Vaughnn Grissom, those four teams also all have shortstop alternatives already in-house, as well, however.) Beyond that quartet of teams, it’s widely expected that the Cubs, Phillies and perhaps the Giants will be involved in the shortstop market. The Angels, Cardinals and Orioles are candidates to seek upgrades, too, and given the caliber of names in question, it’s possible that other teams with entrenched shortstops could move their incumbent to accommodate one of these four free agents.
It’s a good time to be a free-agent shortstop, and Correa’s recent comments all but definitively indicate that, barring an extension between now and the opening of free agency (five days after the World Series ends), that’s what he’ll once again be this winter.
Samuel
Well, obviously the Twins didn’t up the deal they had with him.
What’s the over/under on him getting a better deal as a free agent?
SamtheMan!
Over easy.
6/180 heavier on the front end with an opt out.
Tcsbaseball
I really think in his mind he’ll get a $300 million dollar deal. And I don’t even think he’s worth half
TrillionaireTeamOperator
Yes. I believe most baseball players understand their true market, their true value and hope to exceed it because more money is more money, but most know if they’re being over paid or if they got an extra year or two tacked on to what they were worth.
I also believe Correa believes he is the most valuable baseball player in history and actually deserves and will live up to an insane contract that will break every record- total guaranteed years and dollars and AAV, etc. I think Correa could tell someone he’s worth 15 years/$900M today and was worth 16 years/$1 billion last off season, with a straight face and conviction in his heart.
And he’s delusional.
I think that Astros deal he turned down was an extremely fair deal that he could have lived up to and would’ve looked good in the long run and anybody exceeding that deal for Correa is a fool and will be stuck with an albatross.
amanateeamongmen
Thanks for eloquently stating exactly why I don’t want this guy on my team. your words succeeded where mine failed. Well said
xXTheFETTXx
I completely agree that he is delusional if he thinks he’s worth that kind of money, but, at least he plays SS, so there is some logic for him asking that kind of crazy money.
The one I think is absolutely insane is Soto, he legit believes he is worth over $40million a year. I’m sorry, but no OF is worth the kind of money he’s asking for.
Pete'sView
The problem with all these guys—however great their talent—is that paying one member of a 26-member team $30M or $40M a year has to weaken the team’s ability to to put together a strong and deep team.
I guess the Dodgers and maybe the Yankees don’t care what it costs, but the majority of teams do. And if teams like LA continue to pick up all the best players (because they can afford to), then fans of other teams are going to tire of the disparity, and leave baseball.
Logjammer D"Baggagecling
I think he’ll get the same years and $$$ as Kris Bryant. Maybe less money but with incentives and Bonuses etc it could get into the 200mil range. 2 years younger. I don’t see him getting anywhere near 300mil.
Happy2Engage
He may teams place a lot of value in WAR and look at his present day comps. 8/250 wouldn’t be shocking.
Sadface
I think Soto and Judge get 40 plus million a year but those teams that sign them will regret it
Tomas80
Agreed. Praying he’s never a Tiger. Everything about this guy screams “ME ME ME.’
MonkeySpanker
And if he’d taken it, he’d have a WS ring today, instead of ……nothing.
superunclea
Plus you guys are about yo end an atrocious backend too much contract with Cabrera. getting 30 mill for his contributions is theft.
Bobby Mongan
Not the Dodgers. He would be a downgrade over Trea Turner IMO.
Bobby Mongan
Don’t want him and don’t need him in Baltimore.
Bobby Mongan
Don’t want him and don’t need him in Baltimore
Pete'sView
Tomas80 — Who “screams Me, ME, ME?” Neither Judge nor Soto appear to have anything like that attitude.
1984wasntamanual
He’s barely an OFer. This is why I think people on here dramatically over rate him. He’s a very good hitter, but DHs don’t get 40m/yr.
Mi Casas es tu Casas
I’m shocked because he said he loved playing with twins yes that’s sarcasm for all the people who believed his bs.
Jean Matrac
Every player says the same thing. Show me one instance of a player, approaching free-agency, saying he doesn’t want to stay with that team.
Pete'sView
Pablo Sandoval
Jean Matrac
What about Pablo? He spoke at the WS parade saying that he wanted to stay in SF. Then signed with Boston. His negative comments came after, not before his departure.
Pete'sView
I stand corrected. All I remember is that one of my favorite players bad mouthed the Giants, when all he had to do was take the Boston money and keep his mouth shut.
D-Lew
Absolute legend… Three HRS game one 2012 world series… Only the babe, Mr October and fat Albert could do this… And the panda has a fist full of rings… Hate all you want . Lol
Pete'sView
D-Lew — My, my you are very sensitive. I do not hate Pablo. Read the posts again and take a sedative.
Jean Matrac
Who are you responding to, and where was the hate? The history is well documented. He was awesome for the Giants, disappointed a lot of fans leaving the Giants, then bad-mouthing them after.
It happened, and saying so isn’t hate in any regard.
And are you forgetting the Giant’s, and their fans, welcomed him back after the Sox released him, playing a couple more years, as an effective bench/PH guy?
Pete'sView
Thanks, tad2b13. Some folks just can’t read.
Fever Pitch Guy
tad – That’s true, but the fans who actually believe it are hilarious. Especially when it comes to a guy like Correa who is as fake as they come. If he wasn’t so greedy and money hungry, he wouldn’t have been stuck playing for the Twins on what was essentially a one-year contract.
chound
In a we useful comment competition, we both suck. However, I claim that yours sucks more!
Cosmo2
Who says he didn’t love playing for the Twins? In your world, he either is willing to take less money to stay or he doesn’t like it there? He can love it there and still seek a bigger contract you know.
saluelthpops
It’s ironic that in a group including Ruth, Sandoval, and Pujols that you would refer to Pujols as “fat.”
Baseball Babe
It was obviously a reference to the Cosby character.
Pete'sView
Touche.
paddyo furnichuh
Hey hey hey
paddyo furnichuh
He, hey hey hey hey!
stymeedone
What’s the odds of him getting offered more than he turned down from Detroit?
User 401527550
Why would that be a better deal? He’s losing 5mm annually. Do you not think he will get another contract after this one?
FullMontilla
He’s going to get near equivalent money, but a longer term deal. He’s in his prime and can command that kind of contract. I doubt the Twins will be anywhere near where they need to be to sign him.
What I’m trying to remember is why he was ultimately in a position last year to have to accept the short-term deal with the Twins. His demands were too high and not enough interested teams I guess is the obvious conclusion. His competition last year was Seager and who?
SamtheMan!
This was a painfully obvious opt out. The only way he wasn’t going to was if he suffered a catastrophic injury.
The second he had a productive season—he was going to be a FA.
Correa balked at the Tigers 285MM or so offer and they pivoted to Baez. Which worked out really horribly for Detroit. (Don’t like the 285 for Correa either but at least he’s a very good player)
EasternLeagueVeteran
FullMontilla: it was Trevor Story And Marcus Semien besides Seager. And Semien performed at 5.7 WAR this year at less than cost than Correa’s 5.4 WAR. You can forget that Trevor Story was there last year as well. His market was discounted by the fact that he performed for years in Colorado.
Mercenary.Freddie.Freeman
What a gem. Correa said how much he loved it there during the season. Apparently his very generous contract isn’t enough. These guys are overpaid. I still refuse to go to any games or buy any merchandise.
User 899214610
So you’re saying that if you had enough talent to play a game professionally, you wouldn’t want to be compensated for the revenue you bring in to your employer?
Noel1982
Less money for the owners more money for the players is the only opinion anyone has a right to
.
He didn’t say or allude to anything close to that Bambi. He said that guys were overpaid.
1984wasntamanual
What a profound comment, comrade.
Noel1982
Guys are all paid just right ! The owners don’t deserve a cent more or the income
stymeedone
Business 100 says payroll is a percentage of revenue. Its a budget number that goes to all the players. If Correa doesn’t get $30MM, it doesn’t mean the extra money goes in the owners pocket. It means their GM has additional funds to improve the team elsewhere. A good contract means the player is providing additional value on his contract. That’s how teams win.
Noel1982
Fair enough I took it as the guy said all player’s are overpaid , I’m pro athletes in all sports ! If they are overpaid owners then are making way more money then they deserve off the back of the players ! Owners are replaceable the best players aren’t
chound
Still nonsense.
SeeGilley
Well at least someone gets it on this page. Great response Styme!
1984wasntamanual
It’s ok Noel, one day you’ll grow up.
.
Sam The Man,
If I didn’t know any better I would think you were already employed in an MLB FO. I read your posts, and I know baseball, and some stuff is so far over my head…You somehow have knowledge of all 30 teams and then some. I know you told me before that you watch A LOT of games haha. But even that wouldn’t explain it. Teams could use you.
Samuel
TrumboJumbo;
Thanks, but I assure you that teams have at least a hundred people working for them that know a thousand times more about baseball than me.
I know a lot about maybe 10 or 12 of the teams which comes from watching them play and following their moves (and who makes them) over the years. Many of the other teams I don’t know specifics about. I’m a retired computer systems person, and looking for patterns was a pre-requisite in what I did. That’s all I do following MLB FO’s, managers and players on the field…..plus what I got from playing a lot of baseball growing up – sunup to sundown in the Summers.
Your posts are great as are maybe 2 dozen others. Read ‘Bud Selig Fan’ under the Brewers articles – he’s been away a good portion of the year. He just laid out their strategies better than I did (didn’t know they had a 19 year-old blue chip catching prospect….the most important position on a MLB team). JC#1 is honest about the Red Sox (he too has a long list of trolls he Mutes). Rsox is bright and makes good points. Didn’t know C Yards Jeff played college baseball – he’s extremely bright. VonPurpleHayes knows the Phillies and sometimes comments on other teams – the classiest poster here. Again, dozens of other sharp posters.
What I really try to do here is spark some thinking and get people that follow teams and watch their games to comment. It’s how I pick up things that I then look into. Best chatroom site about MLB on the Internet – else I wouldn’t be reading here.
.
Sam,
Retired Computers…I knew it haha. That is super cool. Though, don’t sell yourself short on your baseball prowess and know-how. A lot of charlatans out there that merely THINK they know the game…To the uninitiated it’s easy to be fooled and coerced. I hear ya with “patterns.” I wish I could get into more teams. I agree it’s the keenest site to talk ball online. At least that I have come across..I also like everyone you mentioned. Von is solid as is Rsox. Don’t see much C Yards or Selig Fan posts. NashvilleJeff and rct are good. Don Osbourne. Freddie the Merc. Blue Skies. There are a dozen or 2 people that are legitimate individuals haha. I have a decent memory and always make note of the good and bad eggs here though. My mute list is at a respectable 35 people thus far haha. In any case, keep fighting the good fight friend and sharing your insight and keeping the ship here on course!
.
P.S. I almost forgot my pal Yankee Clipper.
NashvilleJeff
I’d rec your post even if you didn’t include me in your kind words. Lol, thanks Trumbo. Btw, you know you’re one of the top posters on this site. Good sense, knowledge, affability, and you suffer fools and pikers (heh heh) w/style.
.
Nashville, HAHA Those dang PIKERS!!!! I will not abide them!!!!
NashvilleJeff
Only the “pikers” fishing for Northern Pike. We’ll make an exception for them, lol.
.
Agreed. They are the genuine article…Any other piking variety, no way!!!!
toycannon
Dear Mr. Dipoto, please don’t sully our team by signing any of these Garbage Pail Lid Kids.
Halo11Fan
The M’s are high on Crawford.
wayneroo
Why I don’t know. I’d love to see Turner on the Mariners.
dshires4
Mariners can be high on Crawford verbally all they want, but he’s been terrible since April ended. Dipoto has to know he can’t tie himself to one person just because they like him. Slide him to second, to get a good SS.
Halo11Fan
I can tell you that after a column appeared here about the M’s needing a shortstop, I checked in with my source, and the column wasn’t well received. Then Dave Sims coincidently went on MLB now to signal out Crawford as the reason the Ms were in the position they were.
My friend and I had a different opinion on the matter, and that was the end of my source.
They are not just saying it publicly.
dshires4
I’m not saying I don’t believe you and your friend, and I’m aware that the Mariners are high on him, but bad players are frequently replaced in this game. Crawford won’t be the first fan favorite to be moved over. The ultimate goal is to win a World Series, not win a Series if and only if Crawford is the shortstop.
Halo11Fan
I flew to KC with this guy last year, We got great seats to the game, Rex Hudler waived, and we got a private tour of the Negro League Baseball Museum by Bob Kendrick.
When I brought up that Crawford wasn’t that good, I could have told him I was having an affair with his wife and gotten a less emotional response.
I’m with you on this, and when I told him extending Crawford was a mistake, that was literally the end of our relationship. I’m still in shock.
Today, I have no idea what’s going on. Maybe they will replace Crawford, but I tend to doubt it.
stroh
Don’t worry he won’t sign with Seattle. He’s interested in contending for championships.
BuyBuyMets
Right. That’s why he signed with the Twins lmfao
kellin
He signed what basically amounts to a glorified pillow contract with the twins. Had nothing to do with whether or not the Twins were contenders.
Also, Mariners are in the post season, that counts as contending for the moment.
stroh
He signed with the Twins on basically what amounted to a 1 year trial deal. I’m pretty sure his next deal will be longer term with a team who is a real contender or will position itself to be one soon.
stroh
Just being in the postseason is different than being a true contender for a championship. That can be debated but even the Marlins made it to the playoffs two years ago.
TMQ
MARINERS are set up to be serious contenders for the next 5 years based on their rotation alone. Add in a future top 5 player and the future is very bright.
drasco036
Absolutely zero surprise here.
This contract could not have ended any worse for the Twins. They had to surrender a draft pick to sign Correa, he played well enough to opt out and they hung around close enough at the deadline to not trade Correa and ended up missing the playoffs.
Halo11Fan
It could have worked out much much worse for the twins.
They got a player who was worth his contract. He could have gotten a career injury that affected his future production and he could have not opted out.
The Twins got off pretty lucky. Few deals work out this well for a team.
BuyBuyMets
drasco- right. The perfect sh#t storm.
DynamiteAdams
I mean he could have torn an acl or something and opted in but not played at all next year. But I suppose that’s the only why it could get any worse. It just kinda highlights how bad it was to get Corea in the first place. So much could have gone wrong and it was no wonder it did.
crise
But none of that is on Correa or this contract. What would have been better in your eyes, he plays terribly and stays? He gets hurt and stays? We make the playoffs and get swatted away again? He didn’t complain about being on a crap team, or talk about his next stop, he just played hard and worked at keeping the locker room moving forward. This was a very expected outcome, but it wasn’t bad because of this deal.
1984wasntamanual
Well, it is on the contract, because it was basically all downside for MIN. What would have been better would be if they had been far enough out to trade him at the deadline or they made the playoffs and received some of that sweet, sweet postseason $ to offset some of the cost.
User 2079935927
Head West young man
Halo11Fan
To play for whom? The Angels can’t afford him, and with Soto, it appears they have enough until Neto is ready in 2024,
The Dodgers? How well will a cheating Astro go over in that clubhouse?
The Padres can’t afford him. Either can the A’s. The M’s love Crawford. Maybe the Giants?
pinstripes17
Seattle or SF
Halo11Fan
One would think Seattle, but I can tell you that the original link about Seattle needing a shortstop was not received well by the decision makers in Seattle.
I then talked about how Crawford was not a good shortstop and instantly lost my inside source.
superunclea
didn’t Crawford just sign a multi year deal? Why would Seattle go all Ranger and sign 2 shortstops?
wayneroo
I’m a huge Seattle fan, and I agree with you about Crawford. He’s mediocre at best, and I’d love to see them go after Turner. I fyou could get him or any other elite SS, you tell Crawford he’s going to 2B, you don’t ask him if he’ll pretty please move.
Halo11Fan
Yes he did, and when I mentioned I thought that was a mistake, that literally ended the conversation.
I was in shock.
Pads Fans
The Giants or the Cubs would be my guesses.
Angels86ed
I agree. I think between Soto, Fletch, and Rengifo it should be enough to cover SS/2b for now. I’d like to see the Angels add a bat or two on a shorter term contract like Abreu and/or conforto and a TOR arm like DeGrom rather than splurge on a SS – especially with Neto having a solid debut in AA.
8791Slegna
Agreed. They could use depth behind those players in case of injury or Rengifo and Soto struggle next year. Correa’s a good player (with or without the trash can), but the Angels can’t keep signing guys to 10-year contracts.
User 401527550
The angels aren’t lying 50 million for Degrom.
Rocker49
Not sure why you even worry about this being so weak minded. Good luck avoiding any team that was ever related to Beltran and Cora in the past, present, or future. That’s a lot of teams that have been a part of their cheating ways. Why do you think Judge had his best season??? Beltran was in their booth with the cameras, not hard for anyone with a brain to figure out.
Halo11Fan
The Dodgers, I think to a man, felt they were cheated out of a World Series ring.
Pads Fans
Then the Dodgers to a man are really stupid. No one could electronically steal signs in the WS or on the road. The Dodgers lost 2 of 4 at home including the deciding game 7 in that WS.
Pads Fans
Padres don’t need him. Between Tatis and Kim, what they have on the roster is as good or better.
The Angels can afford him. Even with the Ohtani deal, they only have $158 million on the books including projected arbitration deals. They are more than $50 million off where they ended 2022 in payroll.
Dodgers had Bauer in that clubhouse. All they care about is performance.
saluelthpops
@Halo . . . Since when has the Angels or Padres not being able to afford someone stopped either team from paying up?
User 401527550
An Astro would be welcomed with open arms. Fo you really think players harp on this like a small percentage of fans do?
mike127
Chicago is actually east of Minneapolis.
Nico, if you don’t mind sliding over 65-70 feet, your new double play teammate is on his way.
junior25
If Im Cubs brass id rather have Turner than Correa
mike127
I don’t disagree on Turner but just a gut feeling—-and don’t be surprised if Turner’s AAV is higher.
Jean Matrac
A gut feeling is as good as anything trying to predict which players is the better to sign, but not sure I agree that Turner’s AAV will be higher.
Based on past performance, Correa, at a year younger, would appear to be worth a higher AAV than Turner.
Correa: 130 wRC+, 31.3 fWAR. 70 DRS, 23 OAA.
Turner: 124 wRC+, 31.7 fWAR, 9 DRS, 13 OAA.
Plus, speed is a big part of Turner’s game which may not age well.
NashvilleJeff
Can’t dispute your numbers, but you know what else doesn’t age well? Young men w/bad backs.
Jean Matrac
Over the last 3 seasons Correa has a 128 OPS+ playing in over 89% of the possible games. Covid as well as a 13 day stint on the IL for a hand injury were contributors to the missed games.
NashvilleJeff
Counting that 60 games in 2020 as a “season?” He’s said in the past that he’s “learned” how to use “pain management effectively ” to help w/his back issues. Tick…….tick………..tick……….
Ma4170
Well, he played only 136 games last year… that may be his upper end given his injury history
he’s injury prone, it’s that simple.. and when He does play he’s very good, but not elite
And most teams look at last three years as they’re more indicative of future performance… Turner 139 WRC+ Correa 130… higher WAR as well (and only correa’s defense even keeps that remotely close)
One guy is clearly trending upward and the other leveling off
Jean Matrac
He played 136 games, missed 13 after fouling a ball off his finger, and spent 8 days on the COVID IL. That’s a total of 157 games. Plus, he played a 148 games in 2021.
Anybody can lose time to an injury like the finger, and along with testing positive for COVID, that hardly qualifies anyone as injury prone.
Jean Matrac
Please. Try to be a little more objective.
I did not say, or imply, that 2020 was a full season. But the most anyone could play that year was 60 games. The fact that he played in 58 games out a possible 60, counts for something. 2020 should be recognized for what it was, but that doesn’t make everything that happened that season irrelevant.
toomanyblacksinbaseball
More welfare cases come to Minneapolis from Chicago and Gary, Ind., that live in all of Minnesota.
User 401527550
Hope that happens for the Cubs.
Lefty_Orioles_Fan
He can go anywhere he wants, but I am not interested in him becoming an Oriole
Halo11Fan
I think there are fewer landing spots than you think. There are landing spots, but they are far from anywhere.
C Yards Jeff
Lefty and Halo: sweet posts, thanks
Lefty; agreed, but more importantly, my gut says so does Os GM Elias. Mateo looks legit defensley. Offensively, ugh, brutal OBP, which pretty sure was the focus of his year end exit interview. Shocked if he doesn’t start next year.
Halo: absolutely agree. Don’t ask me, look no further than the Astros moving on from him and very late in the spring he was only able to secure the Twins deal. Looks to be an old 27. IE. he’s put a lot of miles on that body. He started his pro career at 17.
Jean Matrac
I wouldn’t read too much into that late spring signing. The lock-out had a big impact on that.
SamtheMan!
He just has to set his expectations a little lower. He got a deal from the Tigers that should’ve been accepted.
Seager got an absolutely ridiculous overpay from the Rangers and Correa believed he deserved that. Which, you know, he’s every bit as good as Seager but other teams didn’t want to seriously overpay like TX did.
He should get 150+MM in his sleep with an opportunity to opt out and get more. He may F himself again if he’s looking for 330 but that’s it.
Jean Matrac
I don’t agree that he should have taken the Tiger’s offer. If it was 10/$275M, then I think it was reasonable to believe he could do better than that. As it is his 2022 AAV with the Twins blew that out of the water. I think he can easily match, and possibly exceed that $27.5M AAV going forward.
I agree, he shouldn’t be looking at $330M guaranteed, but I see $280-$300M given that he’s only 28.
BStrowman7
Jeff, I think you’re reading into Correa way too much.
Stros moved on because they had a very strong internal option that didn’t cost 30MM.
Few teams have Jeremy Peña sitting in AAA. There’s teams who haven’t had a good SS in a decade.
bpskelly
There’s no shot of those numbers. None.
He’ll be at 200-210 for 7 at best. And my guess most of the years will be 5-6, not 7 around 30.
C Yards Jeff
@tad2b13; the lockout, good point.
C Yards Jeff
@Orioles_Magic; Pena! To your point, he is looking like one of those generational finds, which and to your second point, are hard to find. Cheers!
Pads Fans
You do realize that Elias drafted Correa? There are few people in baseball that are higher on Correa than Elias.
Dollars may get in the way of Elias signing him, but interest definitely wont.
Pads Fans
His original agent was asking for the same money Betts got. Correa is a great player, but not Betts great.
He changed agencies in January during the lockout and signed a deal that made him the highest paid infielder in baseball in terms of AAV just a week or so after the lockout ended.
He is going to get paid this offseason. Boras will make sure of that.
Pads Fans
Why should he have accepted a deal for $27.5 million AAV when he got $35.1 million AAV?
Correa was arguably better in his last 6 full seasons than Lindor was before he signed his mega deal. No reason to sell himself short.
User 401527550
The strips didn’t move on. They tried to sign him until the end.
miggywrld
#CorreaToComerica
steven st croix
They would have a $400 million middle infield
LeylandsLung
Pizza Boy can afford that
Samuel
The Rangers have a $500m middle infield.
They finished 68-94 – 38 games out of first place in their division.
Maybe this year they’ll sign one of the SS’s to pitch for them.
1984wasntamanual
Didn’t they already have Matt Bush?
dugmet
3B for the Mets? No shame in moving over for the right price. Escolar’s contract is an easy trade.
User 401527550
Baty is their opening day 3b. Not even a thought of signing anyone else.
TrillionaireTeamOperator
Carlos Correa: I would like a contract that agrees to pay me the adjusted record breaking annual value per year by $5 million after taxes and agent fees and all my desired personal expenses and savings or the inflation adjusted equivalent therein from the first year of the deal, in perpetuity. So just print money for me. Basically I want a contract that is the equivalent of the plot for Beverly Hills Cop 3.
Everybody in baseball: 7 years/$249.9M, front loaded, with a vesting option for $40M to make it 9 years/$325M take it or leave it.
Correa: I’d rather retire than be underpaid.
outinleftfield
He is already owns the record for the highest paid infielder by AAV by $1 million. I think he would be perfectly fine with continuing at that AAV.
LouWhitakerHOF
Where does Correa end up and what do you think that contract looks like?
mike127
Chicago—-somewhere in the area 7 or 8 years in the $240-$270 range (33-35 per).
User 163535993
He’s not getting that long of a deal from the Cubs. That ain’t happening. The Cubs aren’t going to block the guys in their system that long. That would be the definition of irresponsible spending.
Jean Matrac
No way is Correa signing a deal that would make him a FA at age 35 or 36. The whole point of players wanting the security of long term contracts is to avoid just that scenario.
Plus, multiple teams would outbid that offer by a good amount. There’s probably 10-12 teams that would jump at signing Correa for 7/$240M, and 6-8 teams for 8/$270M.
Pete'sView
I think you’re too high, probably not on years but on dollars.
User 401527550
He might be low on the dollars. Their will be a spending frenzy this off-season.
TrillionaireTeamOperator
I think he stays in Minnesota and signs for around 7 years/$247.1M
Pads Fans
That is a slight raise in AAV and puts him $7.1 million above what the Tigers offered in just 8 years. Which means with inflation its quite a bit better for Correa. That is a possibility.
outinleftfield
Giants 8/284 with a vesting option year at $20 million. But don’t count out the Cubs. As much as he says he would like to come back to Minnesota, I don’t see them making that big of a commitment.
Sunday Lasagna
Where will he make more money? The Yankees had no interest LY and Volpe is a year closer now, the Dodgers are going to do anything and everything to bring back Turner, same for the Red Sox and Bogaerts, the Angels are up for sale, unlikely to spend his level of money. The Braves are in a league of their own on team friendly deals and wouldn’t be in play, the Jays and Pads have franchise SS’s…….The Cubs said they spend but wisely (doubt if that includes $300M plus deals)…….where are the teams that are going to give a Lindor contract to Correa?
TheBoatmen
Bichette really isn’t a franchise SS. There is a reason they Jays offered Seaver 300M last year. Bichette will get moved to 2nd if a signing happened. However the Jays already have cap issues with arbitration coming up even though nobody deserves raises.
TheBoatmen
Stupid phone keeps autocorrecting Seager.
Poster formerly known as . . .
National League phone.
Jean Matrac
Teams will never assume prospects will fully develop. They like known quantities much better than unknown ones. If Judge leaves, the Yankees are a definitive option for Correa. The Giants have tons of money to spend, and have said SS is a possibility if they can’t sign Judge.
No way should the Padres pencil in Tatis as the long term SS. Between injuries and his suspension, he’s played in exactly half of the teams possible games in his career. And, he is not good defensively. Moving him to the OF, and signing Correa, would be a huge upgrade for them.
Pete'sView
I hope the Giants don’t think signing Judge is the end of their spending. And I’m not sure Judge is who they really need. If I’m the Giants (and I guess you can tell I’m not), I go all-in on Trea Turner, then turn my attention to another everyday bat, possibly Bell or Judge. Ultimately, I’d like the Giants to keep some of their “powder dry” for signing Juan Soto in 2024.
Jean Matrac
I agree. I was a little dismayed when FZ implied it was a SS in lieu of Judge, when I want both. I’d be more than happy if Turner signed with SF, but I’d prefer Correa. He’s just better, except for Turner’s speed advantage.
I don’t understand the general negativity regarding Correa. Maybe because he was on the tainted 2017 Astros, and that prejudices fan’s opinions. Last season I saw some fans inexplicably preferring Story to Correa. But Correa is clearly the best SS available.
TMQ
He is not the best available. He is 3rd best out of the 4 available this off-season. Turner and Xander are better
outinleftfield
Bell would be a great signing for the Giants to replace Belt, Imagine the money they save by only changing one letter on the unis.
outinleftfield
Wrong, but thanks for commenting anyway. See my other comments for the facts about performance of the FA shortstops at the top of the market this offseason.
Jean Matrac
How about some stats to back up your assertion. Proclaiming Bogaerts and Turner as better does not make it so.
Correa has a higher wRC+, OPS+, and a higher bWAR, plus better defensive numbers than Turner, and Bogaerts. And defensively he is miles better than Bogaerts.
stymeedone
XB is not really a SS. He does play one on TV though. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get a stunt double for defense.
Pads Fans
Ok, that’s funny, No one else liked it, but I guffawed.
NashvilleJeff
tad2: Imo, some of the negativity toward Correa is based on the belief that a player his age w/a history of back problems has a high probability of not aging well. His public defense of the Astro’s 2017 season didn’t win him any fans either. Others are turned off by the tone of his comments regarding his worth. I’m in the “he may not age well back problems uh oh” camp. The rest is just noise, imo.
Pads Fans
Pretty sure the Padres are penciling in Kim at shortstop and when he returns in May Tatis will be playing in CF.
Kim put up a solid 4.9 WAR with a 107 OPS+ and stellar defense. I think he can improve off that too.
Jean Matrac
I agree about Kim. I’ve been impressed by his play in the field And he’s been solid with the bat. Correa would be upgrade, but why do that when resources would be better improving other areas. I forgot about Kim when I suggested signing Correa and moving Tatis to the OF. My mistake.
Pads Fans
They can trade Kim to the Angels and sign Correa. /S
User 401527550
3 guys making 300 million and fourth asking for 500million is probably not feasible.
outinleftfield
Before he signed his FA deal, Lindor put up 28.1 bWAR in his 6 seasons in the majors. In his last 6 full seasons (2020 was 37% of a season) Correa has put up 33.1 bWAR. Lindor was going into his age 27 season when he signed his FA deal. Correa is going into his age 28 season. Why wouldn’t Correa get Lindor money?
SamtheMan!
Because no team will offer it?
He’s a better player than Seager but nobody would match that ridiculousness last year.
Pads Fans
Correa already got the highest AAV for an infielder ever. Teams have and will pay him.
Last season he had WME representing him and they were asking for $365 million as the starting point for negotiations Then there were the lockouts. Once the lockout ended and he got Boras on board as his agent, he got exceptional money and terms.
BStrowman7
A 3 year high AAV deal is not equivalent or relevant.
He’ll get paid but not going to be Seager money.
Pads Fans
To use your words, its both equivalent and relevant. It sets the stage for him to receive similar AAV on a long term deal this offseason.
You can be absolutely sure that Boras has done his homework, talked with clubs, and knows that many will give Correa a long term deal with an AAV in that range, or he would not have advised Correa to opt out.
He is so much better than Seager, 34.1 WAR to 21.3 WAR from 2015-2021 is not a small difference, and Boras knows how to sell that fact. Correa will get paid.
NashvilleJeff
Any team who pays Correa based on using the numbers from his past that Pads Fan cited deserves what they may get from Correa. There’s a non zero possibility that Correa’s back troubles will render him unplayable at an early age. Hate to see my team (Braves) sign Correa and get a Prince Fielder career outcome from him.
Cosmo2
That’s the problem… teams are expected to pay based on the expectation that the past will repeat at the same level… and when owners say, hey I wanna pay for what I’m going to get, not what’s already been done, they’re called cheap.
outinleftfield
I am curious, do you have a crystal ball that allows you to know what stats a player will put up in the future? Of course teams base signings on past performance. What else can they use? Unless you lend them your crystal ball that is. .
NashvilleJeff
I was referring to Pads Fans use of career WAR in his comparison of Seager and Correa. I didn’t say ALL OR ANY numbers from Correa’s past.. Teams will grade Correa based on their own projection models they use to assign a grade on his future performance. The decision to sign/not sign Correa won’t be solely based on his career WAR. Other considerations (character, health, etc.) will be factored into his probable outcomes. I don’t have a crystal ball. Hope you and your strawman find a nice home so you can continue trolling.
Orioles2024
Last performance is one input.
Pretty stupid team if they don’t have a player regression model for future performance.
You’re not paying him for what he did. Seager is an inferior player to Correa but that makes no difference for the money he’ll receive.
TX overpaid Seager. Whether or not anyone will pony up that much of an overpay to Correa is completely unknown. There’s only so many teams that will have a 200MM+ contract in the budget and quite a few guys looking to receive one this off-season.
nailz#4life
Lets try the Cubbies now
Mikenmn
Inevitable, and also inevitable is that he’s going to get paid. But length is going to be an issue.. Baseball is awash in money; it’s there for him. His highest value is obviously at short. But while he has a number of potential suitors, I really wonder whether the Harper total price is attainable.
stroh
Personally I think Correa will end up with the Cubs. If Bogaerts leaves the Red Sox, that may also be a destination given his relationship with Cora.
outinleftfield
Dombrowski was a huge Bogaerts cheerleader. Bogaerts to the Phillies.
stymeedone
Cora’s relationship means little. Bloom has the reins, and he signed Story so he wouldn’t have to overspend on XB’s ego.
dirkg
Dear Twins and Other Correa Suitors:
Scott Boras will show you charts that say Carlos Correa is a mix between Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth. Carlos Correa has been seen walking on water and healing sick children. He’s a WS Winner and will bring you multiple championships.
The truth is he’s going to suck your payroll dry and in 2-3 years, his contract will look like a boat anchor.
If you’re not sure, feel free to contact other recently signed Boras infielders: Anthony Rendon, Kris Bryant, Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer and be sure to ask Corey Seager and Marcus Semien about their Rangers journey to the playoffs.
Alkie
Yep. There’s a good reason the Astros made him a perfectly fair offer and then let him walk when he scoffed.
User 4245925809
Boras is more likely to try and convince others it is HE who walks on water than anyone he represents.. but that is another fable for one of his silk covered books to be bandied about like kindergarten books by him to anyone gullible enough.
My thoughts are now, with Bogey and Correa as the top 2 probable FA SS this winter available.. What is he going to do? Play one off, salary wise vs the other with teams? Use 35m annually as a starting point?
Pete'sView
johnsilver — What, you don’t count Trea Turner?
User 163535993
Turner isn’t leaving the Dodgers the same way Judge isn’t leaving the Yankees. It just isn’t feasible.
User 401527550
There will be lots of money thrown around. At least one of them will play for someone else.
Jean Matrac
You used the wrong word. It’s feasible that Judge leaves NY and Turner leaves LA. Now it is probable that they both re-sign, and I’d even say that’s the most likely, odds on bet. But them signing elsewhere is entirely feasible.
Steve Adams
Correa is two to three years younger than that entire group was when they signed, and your list of cautionary Boras contracts seems to have omitted Altuve, Bogaerts, Harper, J.D. Martinez, Scherzer, etc.
I don’t have any particular love for Boras, but I also really don’t get the hate for him. His job, like every other agent, is to get his clients paid. He’s good at it.
Comments like this inherently imply that Boras is out there nefariously selling snake oil, while all other agencies are earnestly telling teams, “No no, I think your offer is too generous and am concerned my client will not live up the expectations associated with this very generous offer.”
Samuel
Scott Boras is the greatest professional players agent in the history of the world. If we can figure out who #2 is, he/she’s not even in the same universe.
BStrowman7
But is boras as good as BVW!??
Boras wasn’t even good enough to put the Mets in cap hell!
Pete'sView
Steve — I think it’s the bombast that Boras throws around as if he’s the final judgement on all baseball matters. We can see that he loves being the lightning rod, but he becomes tiresome on his soapbox, especially when it’s always self-serving.
outinleftfield
There is a reason that more elite players choose Boras as their agent than any other agency. He gets the contracts they want done. People need to understand that the players are the ones that make the decisions, not Boras.
.
You are 100% correct. The PLAYERS make the decisons ALWAYS! NOT the agent.
User 4245925809
Steve, it’s not hatred of the man, just extreme lengths and outright lies he will go to in any attempt to land the biggest contract.. like precedent setting in some cases, or the audacity to compare some fringe players to future HOF (Oliver Perez to Randy Johnson) before the NYM signed him and another favorite.. Thinking the then finished Jason varitek was worth more than the 8m he declined in arbitration before finding -0- offers, then humbly returning on a 2/5 deal after hyping ‘Tek up as the guy he was 4y before and had long since never been.
Boras relies on Gullible GM’s and outrageous.. A lot. Imagine being on a jury for a week or so trial and having a showboat attorney spewing crap.. He reminds of 1 such attorney had the displeasure of being subjected to several years back, bandering on and on about nothing and rarely being told to shut up by the judge.
Thank goodness readers, most can just ignore him. Why GM’s don’t for the most part or flat out tell him to knock off the nonsense when they 1st meet to discuss a client is beyond me.
outinleftfield
Can you provide a link that shows that Boras lied about anything?
Deleted Userr
He lied about the Braves not offering Carter Stewart 40% of slot and I remember like 10 years ago he used to provide teams with false documentation claiming foreign players he represented were old enough to sign and then after they signed he would show MLB the real documentation that showed the player was not yet old enough and so his team would have to release the player so that they got to keep their signing bonus and could sign with whoever they wanted for as much as they would offer. But then he got caught because some team (Dodgers I believe) were able to prove that he showed them different documentation.
dirkg
So Steve you counter my infielder argument with a resigned (not open market) Altuve, some outfielders and a Max Scherzer kicker.
I’m sure you’re aware the middle infielders on average are the youngest position players in the league. Correa will turn 29 during next season. Why would a club sign a SS for anything close to the 8 years he wanted last year? The avg MLB player is approx 28.1 years old (Forbes).
So Boras gets the most money for his clients. Good for him. He benefits and so do his clients. Great. Downstream affects? Let’s take the aforementioned Seager and Semien. Both up the middle guys, both Boras clients, and now teammates. Did the Rangers win? Are they better off as a club today than they were prior to the signing? Is Jon Daniel’s better off? Do the fans feel they’re closer to a championship with these huge signings?
Notice my note was directed at the ball clubs. Whether you want to call it snake oil or not, very few of these long term open market contracts (esp focused on infielders) pan out. Don’t fall for the smoke and mirrors. And yes I know most agents are magicians; Boras just wears the biggest hat. He’s louder than everyone and once compared Shin Soo Choos game to Ty Cobb. Sigh.
Teams: spend your money elsewhere!
Sunday Lasagna
No doubt Boras is in a class all his own at getting the most for his clients. But how is he as an agent when he makes a mistake? Has he or would he provide money to the Conforto family knowing that his advice may have cost his client $100M? It’s easy to applaud the winners, all the huge contracts Boras has negotiated, but how is he in the face of adversity?
BuyBuyMets
I agree that Correa would be a bad 8-10 year investment at $30-plus million/year. Last year was one of his few mostly healthy seasons and he was playing for a big contract.
On balance he was pretty good but offensively he had two outstanding months, two fairly good ones and two that were pretty terrible.
In reality, he produced about the same number of runs for the Twins as Gio Urshela did and while he’s very sure-handed, his range afield seemed fairly ordinary.
TrillionaireTeamOperator
That’s the weird part of the game, to me- how some guys get consistently under valued and under paid during their prime years, not even on cheap early extensions, but via free agency after putting up consistent numbers worth a certain value and producing a certain WAR, while other guys parlay one good season or one good post season or bombast and over confidence into enormous overpays.
Contracts should reflect the market value of a player and most people seem to understand how someone will hold up and produce over a given number of years and it’s understood generally that in a competitive bidding market a player might get an extra year or an extra $1-2M per year or both, in order to secure their services over equivalent-ish bids, but Correa’s expectations seem kind of irrational to me.
I believe he has come back down to earth and back to reality after this past season and I understand the logic of wanting that Final Big Contract now. I do kind of wonder if this was all worth it for him.
I feel like he could have gotten 8 years/$292M straight up going into free agency last year if he’d been honest with himself and he could’ve potentially gotten 8 years/$300M guaranteed if there was a signing bonus and a buy out on some kind of a 9th year option, but nobody was going to go to 10 years and by feeling like they had to go to 10 years, I think it compelled the few who seriously considered it to offer a heavily discounted AAV in return for the extra 2-3 years on the deal- and Correa couldn’t accept it.
Now? I get opting out of a 2 year deal at his age, but I think he will be expecting and be accepting of a 6 or 7 year deal, which would ultimately equal the deals he could have gotten last year but thought he could exceed in his hubris.
outinleftfield
The last 3 seasons Correa is top 10 in games played among SS and his injures were getting hit by a pitch and being exposed to COVID. Its not like he had hamstring, shoulder, and back injuries.
NashvilleJeff
leftfield: Imo, you’re sugar coating the back problems he dealt w/earlier in his career. Typical reasoning about paying for a player’s past and ignoring reasonable career projections based on aging curve probabilities. Btw, it’s possible to disagree w/the opinion of another w/out resorting to childish insults and name calling.
outinleftfield
Dear dirktheclueless. Correa is the best SS available by far Its not close. He has actually been better the past 6 years than Lindor was before he signed his FA deal. The truth is you are a Bhurt fan that thinks that because his team did something that was tasteless but legal that he doesn’t deserve the big dollars. You are wrong. He already holds the record for AAV by an infielder because he deserves it.
dirkg
Dirk the clueless, that’s deep. Nice job there. I do indeed believe you’re out in left field (your name, not mine) if you believe Correa is worth anything over 5 years. High AAV, that’s expected. But theres a reason the Twins signed him for 3 years last year (a year younger) on the open market. There probably will be a sucker out there this year to sign him long term, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good baseball decision. And I don’t give a horse crap about the Astros. Never mentioned it, don’t care.
hllywdjff
Turner to the Mariners
wayneroo
Yes please..
geoffb1982
Here comes Farhan and the Giants.
Samuel
geoffb;
Don’t know if it’ll be Correa or one of the other 3 big name FA SS’s, but I do believe one will go to the Giants.
Scott Boras started it, and since then every player agent has followed the rule:
Find the most desperate Owner and PoBO with large unused budget space.
Last year it was the Rangers. This year I think the Giants go to the top of the list. The Cubs have been getting flack from their fans and the local media – they’re #2.
Pete'sView
I hope Correa is further down on the Giants wishlist after T. Turner.
outinleftfield
14.3 WAR vs 11.3 WAR. Which one do you prefer?
Pads Fans
Is that a rhetorical question?
davemlaw
And in other news, the sun came up today
CravenMoorehead
It actually didn’t bc I live in Alaska.
BuyBuyMets
Honestly, around August 25th when he was hitting .264 with 14 homers and a measly 40 RBI there was some thought that at only 28 Carlos might opt in for a year and collect another $35M hoping for a better 2023.
But once the Twins fell out of it Carlos got insanely hot; when he was playing strictly for Carlos.
Jean Matrac
Nice cherry pick. I can see why you chose 8/25, since he had just gone through a 9 game stretch of going 6 for 34. You’re implying he was mediocre all year and only hit when it didn’t matter.
What about his month of May when he hit .318/.384/.500, with an .884 OPS? Or his even better June, when he hit .342/.405/.608, with a 1.012, which was better than his Sept?
Every player has his ups and downs throughout the season. Correa is no different.
foppert
You want him at the Giants, tad ?
Jean Matrac
Absolutely. I just don’t understand the negativity about him as a player. Among FA SSs in the 2 years, he’s clearly the best all around. Bogaerts has marginally better counting stats, but Correa is better per wRC+. And he’s miles better than him with the glove.
I like Turner better than Bogaerts, but statistically, Correa is better with both bat and glove. Turner’s speed is much better, but that’s about his only advantage, and I question how that will age.
At 28 he should be just entering his prime. I like that he’s a RHH for Oracle. His durability has been questioned in the past, but I think, him being healthy over the last couple seasons, has reduced that concern.
He’s just a really good defensive SS, with a very strong arm (stronger than Crawford’s), who’s also a very good hitter with power. I don’t get it. What’s not to like?
SamtheMan!
I don’t understand the general hate for Correa. He was an Astro leader so that probably has something to do with it.
He’s a really good player. The Astros let him go because they had a really good SS in their farm that cost nothing. Not because Correa isn’t really good.
foppert
Thanks for the reply. Knowledge gained.
The character assassination is just fan hysteria ?
Jean Matrac
I don’t know about fan hysteria, but I do think fans sometimes let emotions cloud what should be a more objective assessment. There’s resentment of the 2017 Astros, and it seems like some fans take it personally when a player has big salary demands. So I think people tend to not like Correa, for what’s really non-baseball things.
foppert
Ok. I had a line through him based on character. It’s an erasable line though.
outinleftfield
The character assassination is asinine. The only season Correa got the benefit of the trashcan was 2017 when it was not illegal until September of that year when the league told the FO to cut it out. The Astros were FAR from the only team using a similar electronic sign stealing system in 2017. After all, the system the Astros used came FROM the Yankees where it had been in use since 2015 to the Astros when Carlos Beltran signed with Houston. There is a reason no player was penalized. It wasn’t against the rules agreed to in the CBA. There has been no possibility for his teams to use a system like that to steal signs since then.
stymeedone
The Astros dropped out because he was asking for more than they thought he was worth.
Poster formerly known as . . .
Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth:
sports.yahoo.com/sources-red-sox-warned-indians-as…
Your post is a fund of misinformation. It was illegal before they were warned (why would they be warned if it were legal?); the Yankees were investigated and only fined for using a dugout phone inappropriately; and the Astros players weren’t penalized because Manfred offered them immunity to admit that they cheated and to testify to the investigators.
Pads Fans
He is right. Electronic sign stealing utilizing a game feed from the replay room and relaying that sign in real time to the dugout and batter, which is what the Astros did and the Yankees and Red Sox also were fined for doing in 2017, was made illegal in September 2017 by the Commissioner in a memo to the teams.
The Commissioner warned the teams and it was the responsibility of the teams to convey that to the players. In the Astros case, neither the owner, GM nor the manager conveyed the warning in the memo to the players.
The reason no players on the Astros were fined or otherwise penalized is that in order to penalize a player, both the infraction and penalty has to be spelled out in the CBA. At that point it was not. The players neither received nor needed “immunity”.
Read the Commissioners Report. Its all in there.
As far as that article goes, you can’t steal signs the catcher is giving to a pitcher and then relay that to the batter in real time by taking photos of the dugout before the game. That is kind of stupid to think they could. Just shows more paranoia by fans and pandering by Passan.
The Astros said he was taking photos to show that the Indians had a cell phone in the dugout in contravention of league rules that had been instituted in September 2017.
The Yankees were fined for talking to the replay room on the phone and conveying signs in real time to the batter from the dugout.
The Red Sox were fined for having their replay room relay signs to the smartwatch of a coach who was in the dugout.
Those are the facts. Because its all spelled out in communications from the league, we don’t have to read hearsay from writers that are trying to get more clicks by sensationalizing the info. We can just read exactly what happened.
NashvilleJeff
tad: You should do some research on your claims about players “entering their prime” as they approach age 29. You’ll find evidence (and a lot of informed opinion) to the contrary. More likely he’s approaching the beginning of his decline years. Think more age 20-age 27/28 as a baseball player’s prime.
NashvilleJeff
Logic and facts as usual from Pink.
Jean Matrac
Maybe you should check your facts. as well. At age 20 most players are still in the minors. According to Baseball Prospectus, the SS position has the youngest average age entering MLB, and that’s just over 23.6 years. Catchers have the highest average age at promotion at over 24.8 years.
I will admit I was wrong about 28 as entering prime. According to Fangraphs prime is at age 26. But they went on to say that the decline from then is gradual. They found that only those players lucky enough to be playing into their late 30’s showed a sharp decline.
Taking into account Fangraphs’ research, it’s reasonable to expect a 28 year-old on a 10 year contract, to be productive for 8 of those years. Most FOs would take that to get Correa’s production for 8 years.
NashvilleJeff
“Only those lucky enough to be playing into their late 30’s showed a sharp decline” isn’t evidence that the majority of players aren’t past their prime as they enter their 30’s. There’s no evidence that most players improve from age 31 onward. All players over 30 are in natural physical decline. The quote “into their late 30″s” portion of the discussion is based on a small sample size of over 30’s players. Time is undefeated.
Jean Matrac
Maybe I butchered the research done by Fangraphs, but I can’t say much for your comprehension. I never said players improve from age 31 onward. That belief is absurd. What I wrote was “prime is at age 26…(and)… the decline from then is gradual” How can you interpret that as me saying it goes up at age 31?
But I did write that from age 26 the curve downward is gradual, and only shows a sharp decline for players in their late 30’s. Point was, a sharp decline was only evident in players still playing into the late 30’s.
Here. Read for yourself:
blogs.fangraphs.com/checking-in-on-the-aging-curve….
NashvilleJeff
Can’t say much for your comprehension either. I didn’t quote you as saying that “players improve from age 31 onward.” I made that statement, but if your interpretation is that I think you were implying (or saying) that, you’re mistaken. I admit that line was awkwardly written, and see how it caused confusion. I’ve already read that Fangraphs article. Btw, you didn’t really “butcher the research.” I think we’re at (slight) odds over semantics.
Jean Matrac
Your saying that I did not assert that suggests that was a strawman. Otherwise, why would you introduce something I never said only to dispute it?
I can admit when I was wrong, which I was about the average player’s prime. I learned something new. But it does not change my opinion about Correa being the best available SS, or his desirability as a FA.
Poster formerly known as . . .
Yes, we all can read what the Commissioner said — and he said that the Astros’ GM and manager were suspended for a year, just like he suspended the GM and manager of the Yankees and Red Sox.
Oh, wait . . . no. He didn’t suspend the GM and manager of the Yankees and Red Sox, did he?
Nice attempt at false equivalency though.
NashvilleJeff
I just told you that I said something that didn’t fit the line of thought that I was attempting to convey. I didn’t “dispute it.” I made a poorly worded statement that didn’t align w/my intent. I had no intent to disagree w/you by presenting a fallacy.
Jean Matrac
I apologize if I misunderstood, which I apparently did. Your last post clarified it for me. I appreciate that.
NashvilleJeff
We’re good. Thanks for the reply tad.
outinleftfield
Position player decline begins with their age 31 season.
outinleftfield
Fangraphs didn’t take into account that most players do not make it past age 27. Going to be a real steep decline at 28 when most players are not in the league at all. The average time in the league is under 4 years. If you look at players that were in the league for their age 36 season, you see a consistent pattern that shows that position players peak between 26-30 and start a measured decline in their age 31 season of about 7% on offense and a steeper decline on defense.
outinleftfield
“There’s no evidence that most players improve from age 31 onward”.. You DID say that.
Pads Fans
The Yankees GM and Manager were not suspended because it was not against the rules yet. Read the Commissioner’s report.
The Astros GM and Manager were suspended because they allowed the practice to continue without informing the players after the Commissioners Memo in mid Sept 2017. Read the Commissioner’s report.
Nice fail on logic there.
Pads Fans
Was about to say that only applies to position players, and then noticed you already said that.
utah cornelius
Yankees were accused and investigated. Not fined.
LordD99
Was it a smoke signal? What color was the smoke?
He signaled his intent when he signed this type of deal with the Twins.
Datashark
Death, Taxes, and Correa pulling out after one year from Twins
toomanyblacksinbaseball
Twins will be better off with a scrub SS and spending the $35 million on pitching.
Samuel
Why?
They’ll only ruin the pitchers.
toomanyblacksinbaseball
Always a stiff willing to be ruined for $15-20-30 million.
Latino Heat
He will forever regret turning down that Tigers deal
TrillionaireTeamOperator
Meh. I think if he had been very open to that deal and convinced the Tigers he was going to sign with them, he could have pushed the offer with a signing bonus and other incentives to get it to where he wanted, but the reality is he will probably slightly exceed that deal’s total value over less years.
Tigers: 10 years/$275M
Twins: 1 year/$35.1M
Probable Next Contract With Whomever Signs Him: 7 years/$247.1M, give or take.
Twins + Next Contract Equivalent deal: 8 years/$282.2M
It’s only $7.2M more than the Tigers’ offer, but it’s over two less years, so the AAV is considerably higher ($35.275M vs $27M) and it is still objectively more money and more valuable money since inflation impacts it less as it would conclude 2 years earlier than the Tigers deal.
So in the end, though he might never get the deal he wanted or anywhere close to it, Correa was right to turn down the Tigers deal… probably. We shall see.
LordD99
Also, add in that wherever he signs it will likely be for a better team than the Tigers.
I don’t think Correa has any financial regrets coming in his future.
outinleftfield
No he wont. He got $35 million in 2022 and he is likely to get that much, or at least close to that much, for a 7-8 year deal this offseason now that Boras is his agent. The $300 million over 8 seasons (8 years at $33 million = the $35 he made this season) is more than the $275 million over 10 years he was offered by the Tigers.
Edp007
Orioles , Mateo to second base and stays in the nine hole
Bobby Mongan
I disagree. While Mateo hasn’t produced those same offensive numbers. I think Mateo has a better range and could become the best SS in the MLB at some point. Plus the O’s have a lot of young IF talent. There is no need for Correa on the team.
C Yards Jeff
#BobbyM; right on.
Mateo is legit defensively. Give him one more year to improve his offense (OBP and strikeout issues) and if there is progress, he sticks.
And yep, O’s are rich in position player prospects.
TrillionaireTeamOperator
Maybe Correa and Boras could get all of baseball to collectively agree to every team paying Correa $1.25M a year each for 37 years until he’s the classic retirement age of 65 just to go away. I’d kind of be okay with that and I could see Correa actually believing that sort of deal was justifiable and reasonable.
.
TTO, I’ll pitch in $20 annually myself if it helps…
NashvilleJeff
I’m cheap Trumbo. Would 2 cents annually from me help? Yeah, I know…..what a weak “my two cents worth” joke……………
Bobby Mongan
IMO even though it’s obvious that Correa is an all-star caliber player with good numbers and deserves a good contract, there are some glaring facts that to me doesn’t get him that Mega-Contract. The biggest factor is that he doesn’t show the ability to carry a team on his shoulders at any given time. As good as he is, he absolutely needs talent around him to contribute to a playoff or WS team. IE the Astro’s. They do not seem to miss Correa at SS at all. They’re in the ADS right now with Pena at SS. I do not blame Correa for wanting that Mega Deal but truly I don’t see why he should get it.
TrillionaireTeamOperator
That’s always been my issue with him from the start of this free agency melodrama a year ago. I don’t think anybody is disputing that Correa isn’t a valuable player. I think most people would agree he’s worth around $30M a year or more and would be over a solid 5-10 years from his original date of free agency. I can even kind of understand him turning down that 5 year offer from the Astros, because at his age, he was hoping for more years of contract security and not wanting to go through free agency beyond a certain age. That all made sense.
If basically anybody had signed him to 8 or 9 years at $32-36M a season, I don’t think anybody would have really second guessed that decision. It was his insistence on a 10 year deal that turned so many people off, as well as the way he handled that goal.
Corey Seager was going into free agency with around the same value, the same history of missing time due to injuries, having great seasons, etc. at the same age in the same market as Correa and he secured a 10 year/$325M deal and it seemed like a fairly reasonable deal, and ditto-ish for Lindor.
Correa could have gotten a similar deal, but he made it abundantly clear that whatever anybody else got, including Seager and Lindor, he wanted to exceed the value by a very significant amount, like $2M a year or more. That’s what turned people off.
It’s bizarre to me that he couldn’t just see the market for what it was, what it still basically is today.
I truly wonder if he’d be steaming from both ears, pitching a hissy fit, deeply upset and dismayed at being paid $32.5M or $33.5M or $34.2M a season for 10 seasons instead of $35.1M or $36.5M or whatever. Would it really feel any different at that level once the contracts were a few years in and other younger players were matching or exceeding those deals amongst a new generation of free agents? I highly doubt it.
Samuel
TrillionaireTeamOperator;
I had a professional players agent (MLB,NBA,NFL,NHL) tell me 25-30 years ago that teh good professional players were competitive with tremendous egos, and if they thought they were better than another player they wanted to be paid that way.
He said most couldn’t balance their checkbooks – if they would try – and threw away endless streams of money every year on nonsense. But they wanted that contract amount.
TrillionaireTeamOperator
I get that, but I feel like deep down these guys know the truth- that these 10 year deals don’t pan out. They might not become disasters every time, but they’re rarely worth the full amount and the last half of most deals the player becomes a bit of an issue with the line up, because in a lot of these deal after just a few seasons there’s talk of where to place the player from their original position or how to organize the line up to account for their regressions while still trying to maximize the value of the guaranteed money they’re being paid- meaning these decade long deals are never worth it and most peter out underwhelmingly. I can understand why every single player ever believes *they* will be the exception to that rule and *they* will exceed their original contract value but almost none even live up to the deal in the first place…and I also get that no player is going to give up money and years of income by acknowledging this. And I know teams factor in paying guys for their declining years to get them for their prime years, so I accept that someone like Correa doesn’t believe he’s actually better than other players or can actually sustain this level for 10 or more years, but I do believe they’d like to be making that same money a decade from now, or that they can use one guy’s contract to earn themselves an extra $10M, $20M or $30M over the lifetime of a deal by beating a free agent comparable by $1-3M a season, largely utilizing the bidding war to push the price over the edge when the offers are all comparable. I really do get it.
But Correa wasn’t getting that kind of bidding war and nobody was willing to pay him more than his comparable like Lindor or Seager over the same 10 year span. And that’s the truth of it- and it’s weird that he’s still convinced he can top their deal even now.
TrillionaireTeamOperator
Also as an aside- I find it fascinating that some of these guys make all this money and spend it like water and can’t keep track of their expenses and now matter how much they earn, they somehow manage to find a way to spend it as they get it. Meanwhile other guys have extremely modest desires and wind up buying or budgeting for everything they could ever desire over multiple lifetimes and the rest they just stack away in bank accounts, modest investment portfolios and it becomes like another game they play, trying to rack up stats.
So you’ll have one guy making $35M a year or better and he’s complaining about not making enough money, or privately he really needs that next contract to stay solvent and stay ahead of his overhead and commitments, while another guy makes like $35M lifetime over his career and talks about how he had more money than he knew what to do with by the time the check from his draft signing bonus cleared and he can’t believe he’s sitting on all this extra cash with no real use for it.
.
Like my Dad used to say to me: “That money is burning a hole in your pocket!”
Pads Fans
It wasn’t Correa that said anything. It was WME, his agent prior to the lockout. Correa was pretty quiet about it all.
The Astros initially offered Correa 6/120 and then when it became obvious that was not going to happen upped their ante to 5/160 or $32 million AAV.
After he fired WME and signed with Boras, the Astros refused to even communicate with him. climbingtalshill.com/2022/03/19/astros-reportedly-…
Since spring training started the day after the lockout ended Correa bet on himself and took a short term deal at a high AAV that sets the bar for his future deals. He won that bet. He is going to get paid long term this offseason.
Jean Matrac
A single player, no matter how good, does not make any team a winning one. Your take is entirely subjective. Maybe the Astros win 116 games with Correa.
By your logic, apparently the Guardians don’t seem to miss Lindor then, so I guess he’s not very good. The Dodgers don’t miss Corey Seager, or Max Scherzer. The Braves don’t miss Freddie Freeman either. They all must be overrated.
And I guess Trout and Ohtani aren’t very good either since they couldn’t carry the Angels
outinleftfield
A case in point is Aaron Judge and the Yankees. In July he had an epic month. He hit .333 with 13 HR and a 1.253 OPS and 244 OPS+ and the Yankees went 13-13. .
mikedickinson
Story has told everyone that he’s a second baseman going forward due to his elbow. Sox will need a short stop.
Pads Fans
That is probably one of the reasons that Bloom is now saying that resigning Bogaerts is his priority.
machurucuto
The Twins breathe a sigh of relief that Correa has decided to opt out the deal.
Bdd1967
Bye Correa…
Bdd1967
Bye Correa…you aren’t worth top dollar anymore bud.
bpskelly
Correa’s best offer will be 7 years at 30-35 million per year. It’s not going to be 8+ years. And his insistence that it be that way is how he end up with a functionally a 1 year pillow deal with the Twins.
Now, if he took shorter years (5-6), my guess is his per year could go up — simply because more teams will be in on him — but I don’t think it’s going to exceed that 30-35 range regardless.
He’s a good player and he’ll put up numbers. But I think Trea Turner would be a better get.
stroh
Turner is a speed merchant who can slug when necessary, Correa is a slugger who’s better defensively than Turner. Depends on what your team needs.
outinleftfield
Legs are the 1st thing to go and Turner is more than a year older than Correa.
NashvilleJeff
Bad backs go too……………………
outinleftfield
Any indication that his back has effected his availability to play in games in the past 3 seasons? None you say? Exactly.
outinleftfield
The way he ended up in a 3 year deal is that prior to the lockout, his former agency WME went around telling teams he would not consider anything less than the 12/365 that Mookie Betts received. He fired them in Mid-January and within days after the newe CBA was signed between the league and the union he had a deal at $35.1 million AAV. That deal made Correa the highest paid infielder by AAV. As far as who would be the better get, one had 14.3 WAR the last 3 seasons and the other 11.4 WAR. Which do you prefer?
outinleftfield
Correa is going into his age 28 season while Swanson is going into his age 29 season, and Bogaerts and Turner are going into their age 30 seasons. Age matters when it comes to free agent contracts. Of the 3 other top shortstops that will be on the market this offseason, only Bogaerts at 34.8 bWAR approaches Correa’s career 39.5 bWAR. Turner at 29.7 WAR and Swanson at 14.5 WAR trail far behind. On offense, only Turner at a 122 OPS+ is close to Correa’s 129 career OPS+. Bogaerts, who is known for his offense, comes in at 117 OPS+ while Swanson trails the pack at a below league average 95 OPS+. OF the 4, There is no doubt who is the best shortstop available. With both Turner and Bogaerts reportedly asking for in excess of $35 million and 7+ years, it would be a huge surprise if Correa doesn’t match that.
outinleftfield
I have got to figure out how to make paragraphs in the app. That is one long, run on sentence without that.
Pads Fans
That was hard to read dude. Try breaking it into chunks like this.
Correa is going into his age 28 season while Swanson is going into his age 29 season, and Bogaerts and Turner are going into their age 30 seasons. Age matters when it comes to free agent contracts.
Of the 3 other top shortstops that will be on the market this offseason, only Bogaerts at 34.8 bWAR approaches Correa’s career 39.5 bWAR. Turner at 29.7 WAR and Swanson at 14.5 WAR trail far behind.
On offense, only Turner at a 122 OPS+ is close to Correa’s 129 career OPS+. Bogaerts, who is known for his offense, comes in at 117 OPS+ while Swanson trails the pack at a below league average 95 OPS+.
Maybe you will get more people reading your posts that way.
Deleted Userr
Stop talking to yourself Pads Fans
sergefunction
In other news, the sun is hot.
Yes, please learn how to make paragraphs, outinleftfield.
It’s easy.
If not peasy.
Just like Correa’s decision to opt out.
Which, was not as shocking as The Big Unit’s decision to become an NFL photographer.
Whose elevation may very well shock Davante Adams if he again decides to upend a photog post-game.
outinleftfield
How do you do it on the app. When I try it just posts the comment up to where I tried to insert the paragraph break.
MarlinsFanBase
So, we’ll be doing the song and dance with Correa again.
With Correa, Bogaerts, Swanson and Trea Turner on the market, why would anyone overpay for Correa?
The Marlins need a bat, and I’d love for them to go in on one of these guys, but Turner or Swanson would be my preferences…especially with the potential lower price tag in general and the potential for a sort of closer to home discount.
Jean Matrac
Not sure I understand your logic concerning the 4 SSs on the market. Since you specifically mentioned Correa, why would that affect him more than the other 3? And if those 4 are on the market, you have the Braves, Dodgers, Sox, and Twins needing to replace a SS, not to mention teams like the Giants looking to upgrade.
jmlang
Ol’ Johnny MO the PBO needs to strongly consider Correa, or the like to fill that short stop hole in the LOU.
jmlang
Ole’ Johnny Mo the PBO needs to strongly consider Correa or the likes to fill that Short Stop hole in the LOU.
mostlytoasty
182 comments and no mention of Royce Lewis? Surprised the article didn’t mention more there, but I guess this is more about Correa than the Twins. I see Minnesota bringing in a vet on a short term deal and hoping Royce is good to go by the middle of the season at the latest. He looked good in limited action this year.
NashvilleJeff
Lewis’ twice torn ACL on the same knee might be a reason he isn’t mentioned when SS’s are being discussed. Have to wonder if the Twins might view him as an outfield option only option in the future. If they believe that will ease pressure/reduce injury risk on his knee, it seems reasonable that they might.
mostlytoasty
Certainly worth considering, although important to note that his mostly freak 2nd tearing of his ACL was out playing in CF. Hopefully he can have a Thomas Davis resurgence, ha
NashvilleJeff
Yeah, hope he can regain strength in that knee and go on to the kind of career prospect hawks thought he’d have when he was drafted. Seems like a good guy. Wish good health to everybody.
Baldkid
You keep referencing a “bad back” for Correa. But when was the last time it was an issue? When was the last time he went on the IL/DL for a bad back?
If it’s more than 3+ years, I would say it may be an injury in the past. if it was something minor like spasms, etc, stretching / nutrition can clear that up. If it’s scoliosis, well, then that’s something different. “Bad back” is a pretty broad statement and can mean very minor to very significant issues.
cardsfanboy
Welcome to St. Louis
MPrck
What a hoot, I know inflation is bad, but to say no to 35 million a year, ,oh boy.. 22 home runs, then what will Judge want per year ? I seen some lunatic writer of the Tiger’s fan base wants him for Detroit. Thank god Chris I turned that down last year, he’s not worth it.
TrillionaireTeamOperator
That’s a great point! Judge averages 1 WAR more than Correa per season on average. If Correa thinks he’s worth $36M to $40M per season, that means he thinks he’s worth $38M per year for his average of 7.2 WAR… which means Judge is worth $43.3M a season… which we know he won’t get…. So in theory if Correa based his self valuation on other free agent deals then he’d have to admit he’s not as valuable as Judge and he’d value himself at 87.8% of Judge’s AAV in free agency.
If the Yankees sign Judge to 8 years/$300M, that means Correa should get $32.92M per season… and taking this further Judge was worth 10.6 WAR, Correa 5.4 WAR…. Just under 51% of Judge’s…. So if Judge gets $37.5M per season, Correa should expect and know he’s worth around $19.1M a season. Hmm… makes sense to me!
NashvilleJeff
Lol. Nice tongue in cheek Trillionaire. Too bad that making sense doesn’t seem to have much effect on player salaries (or at least their demands) now.
Pads Fans
Going into his age 31 season Judge is still asking for the 10 year deal for in excess of $350 million he wanted last offseason.
Gwynning's Anal Lover
Carlos should negotiate in his contract with the Twins warmer weather throughout Minnesota. Get creative.
Mill City Mavs
“I have to make sure my boy is taken care of” GIVE ME A BREAK! Just leave that lame a** line out of it, my respect went away right there. Youre a multi millionaire, if your boys grandkids arent taken care of already then thats on you. I cant stand it when pro athletes say this when theyve already made millions and millions of dollars in their careers. just shut up and say it “I want the most money possible” “i need a 9th car” “material things matter a lot to me”
Camden453
Do you have any idea how much work it is to be a professional baseball player?
ohyeadam
Players that get mega deals aren’t signed for on the field performance only. They’re expected to be the face of the franchise. Who wants him as their face and how much will they pay? If you’re an owner do you want “your guy” getting booed at every stadium?
User 1580013680
Y
DiehardFriarsFan
Ha-Seong Kim > Correa. Talk about stats and blah blah all you want, but which team is in the playoffs? I’ll give y’all a hint……..It isn’t the Twins……….
Camden453
lmao, hahaha, I can’t laugh enough. So many people have no idea what’s happening
Pads Fans
No he is not. I am a huge Kim fan and believe that he will be the starter at SS for the Padres again next year with Tatis moving to the OF, but no one in their right mind would think that he is better than Correa.
Correa put up 12.7 WAR the past 2 seasons compared to Kim’s 7.0. 135 OPS+ to 95. 9 OAA to 8. 23 DRS to 19.
That is as much of a slam dunk as you can have. In the NBA they call it posterized.
Camden453
I love fools who say Correa is overrated because of his stats. Give me a break. The guy wins. He’s the most valuable player on the market. The fact nobody signed him is just utterly ridiculous
Do you want to win or not?
JackStrawb
A guy with two dismal seasons out of the last five is a ‘winner”?
Edp007
The off-season will be so interesting to see which shortstop signs first and sets the bar. Could be a lot of cat and mouse.
Deleted Userr
Next up, Nolan Arenado!
Paul Kersey
64 RBI and he wants that kind of loot! Pass!
Jean Matrac
Hey, the 20th century called, and they want their stats back.
Luckily for Correa, MLB FOs don’t depend on less than illuminating stats like RBI, when determining value. He will get “that kind of loot”.
NashvilleJeff
Yeah, they look at character and health though tad. A bad back at a a young age and publicly defending on field cheating doesn’t scream “Please sign him to a franchise crippling contract”: to a large percentage of fan bases. Neither does his choice of an agent.
Jean Matrac
He’s kind of put the health issues to bed over the last few seasons. And a bad back isn’t keeping Kershaw out of the HoF.
Please provide a link showing where he defended cheating. I couldn’t find anything like that. What I did find was that owned up to it, and admitted cheating.
Fanbases will be quick to forget any resentment if he signs with their team. And only some fans care about Scott Boras. but those same fans with probably choose him if they were one of the top players in MLB.
davemlaw
Now that the giants have a new GM that came from Houston they will make a play.
BenBenBen
Someone really needs to tell these writers that it’s not “are candidates to seek upgrades, too,” because it’s “are candidates to seek upgrades too,”
JackStrawb
Correa’s a 4 win SS (4.4 fWAR in 2022) who had a career year in 2021 and two very down years of the three just before that, 2018-2021.
Call him a 4 win SS still in his peak age phase, worth roughly 19 WAR over his next 6 seasons, after which he hardly rates to be a useful regular.
At $8m per win, he’s right in the $150m neighborhood. A good player to have, but hardly elite when you consider his health. His tendency to poor health also makes him a riskier pickup than most.
Really highlights the difference between fWAR, at 31.2 for his career, and rWAR, at 39.5.
WAR_OVERRATED
Please check the 2022 WAR. CC is 46 in MLB.
fangraphs.com/leaders/war
He an average player and his agent will do his best to use the media to advertise his client as the best in the world. Check his strike outs, rbi, hr, runs. This is a team player game. He can’t carry a team by himself. He will never have the same protection he had in Houston nor a first baseman like Gurriel.
Super overpaid. He’s going down.
outinleftfield
Correa had better production in 2022. He averaged 127 OPS+ in Houston. In 2022 he produced 140 OPS+. No player can carry a team by themselves. Just look at Judge. He had a historic month in July while his team played .500 ball. Put down the haterade.
RileyR
While Royce Lewis is deemed as the Twins Shortstop of the future, they have no legitimate SS for at least the first 3 months. Thus, the writer was partially incorrect with his reference of Lewis.
CaptainHooks
Nick Gordon will do just fine for the Twins for the next 4 years as they await the
“finally” arrival of Royce Lewis.
Jean Matrac
A lot of people seem to forget that there’s more to baseball than hitting. Correa plays a premier position, second most important after catcher, and he does that at a high level. Comparisons to guys like Judge aren’t really valid. But a good hitting, great fielding SS, is not a common commodity. Guys that can hit, and play a decent CF, are not abundant either, and those guys will be paid well.
Correa will get paid. Probably not anything record breaking. but people describing him as average, or mediocre, will see him get a deal that’s anything but.
WAR_OVERRATED
Carlos who?
I know Jeremy Peña.
Correa who?
WAR_OVERRATED
Why Carlos Correa with limited speed and range was considered for a defense award? His Outs Above Average (OAA)(negative number) is not bad but very bad. I watched him play in over 80 games this year and he’s an average player. WAR only shows how bad is the replacement and the limited money assigned to pay a replacement. $35m yearly?
Outs Above Average (OAA) SS.
baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/outs_above_aver…
fre5hwind
That’s what I thought would happen.
King Floch
Here’s hoping the Orioles don’t make the mistake of giving him the 8-10 year megadeal he’ll be looking for.
Edp007
He’ll get his money. They all will. There’s so much money out there for “stars” and the players all know to ask for the max.
Middle of the road players are routinely turning down guaranteed 20 mill salaries.
Edp007
The owners are only trustees holding the money.
All the money comes from us the fans.
Money from tickets tv etc etc
We spend the money , buy the advertisers products , pay the cable or internet fees , and on and on.
So don’t get upset if Carlos or anyone gets 35 mill plus. It’s your fault lol
cwsOverhaul
Astros missed him this year. Had to settle for using that money to sign JV for essentially 1yr, extend Alvarez midseason, etc. It is almost as if it is better to sign several good position players to really good money for a sane # of years than get temporary “hand claps” for signing 1 guy to a contract where much of it will be dead money.
machurucuto
The Twins celebrate Correa’s opting out.
Yanks2
Orioles, 325M 10 years, book it
CaptainHooks
World Series MVP, Jeremy Pena, at $700,000 a year, matched Twins’ Carlos Correa’ $35 million 22 HR and defensive play throughout the season in 2022.
I expect Twins’ $700,000 Nick Gordon will match Carlos Correa’s offense and defensive output as Correa loses for the Yankees or Mets in 2023.
Good luck, Carlos, in 2023. GREAT LUCK, Nick Gordon in 2023.
Astrosfn1979
Correa is a very smart and knowledgeable player.
He is holding out because he knows that he has been paid less than 20% of what his performance dictates he was worth so far in his career. That’s how the system works if you are a star. He wants his which is understandable.
He is also a winner and well above average player at the most important position in the game and in his prime.
He knows that some team always ends up ponying up.
He will get at least 7+ years and $210M+ with a couple of opt outs. Maybe even the 9yr/ $300M he wants (after deducting 2022)
And he, the team, and fans will be happy.