The departure of Trea Turner to the Phillies has left the Dodgers with a bit of a hole at shortstop, but it seems they won’t be filling that spot with top free agent option Carlos Correa. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the team is not pursuing the former Astro and Twin, in part due to his involvement in the Astros’ sign-stealing team of 2017 that beat the Dodgers in the World Series, and how that might upset a large portion of their fanbase.
The financial aspect of signing a player like Correa is playing a part too as the 28-year-old could command a deal in excess of $300MM. The Dodgers’ payroll is on track to be significantly lower than in 2022, and they certainly have the financial muscle to take on a contract like that, but they’re also waiting on whether or not Major League Baseball opts to uphold Trevor Bauer’s two-year suspension for violating the league’s policy on sexual assault and domestic violence.
Should the suspension be upheld, the Dodgers won’t owe anything to Bauer, but if it’s overturned or reduced the Dodgers will be on the hook for all or part of his salary. As Bill Shaikin of the LA Times notes, there’s $60MM of salary at stake, although that number could rise to as much as $100MM, as the Dodgers are a third-time luxury tax offender. As Rosenthal notes, it’s enough cost uncertainty for the Dodgers to be wary of adding significant payroll this winter.
The news that they’re not pursuing Correa doesn’t necessarily rule them out of spending on a shortstop, and although reports have indicated there’s momentum towards Xander Bogaerts returning to the Red Sox, the Dodgers have been connected with him earlier in the off-season. Dansby Swanson is the other top shortstop available, while lower profile options in free agency include Jose Iglesias and Elvis Andrus. Alternatively, they could just plug Gavin Lux in at shortstop and seek to replace the lost offense from Turner in other areas.
Such areas could include center field, as well as adding another middle-of-the-order bat and a starting pitcher. Rosenthal notes that the team is looking to rely more heavily on young, minimum salary players this year, and free agent additions would be more modestly priced, and cites Kevin Kiermaier and J.D. Martinez as options, while the team has been connected to Andrew McCutchen recently. The Dodgers do have the likes of Miguel Vargas, Michael Busch and Jacob Amaya on the roster all with less than a year of service time, and they could be candidates to see increased playing time next season.
For Correa, while having a big market team like the Dodgers involved in the bidding certainly doesn’t hurt negotiations, he’ll still find plenty of suitors. The Twins have been aggressive in trying to re-sign him, while the Cubs have already met with him at the Winter Meetings and have the payroll to take on a big, long-term contract. The Giants are also a team to watch now that they’ve missed out on Aaron Judge, as they too have the deep pockets and payroll space required to sign Correa to a lengthy contract.
Dodgers are looking thin in the infield right now. I’m kinda shocked.
They look thin in the outfield too. I mean they have Betts and who else? Don;t forget they were starting Trayce Thompson in September/ October. That basically says it all.
99socalfrc;
Dodgers are pulling back payroll this year.
Heard it 2-3 weeks ago. Waited to post until it became more than a rumor.
I mean, Thompson was raking, so that kinda made sense.
The Dodgers may not be pursuing Carlos Correa, but the Giants definitely need to pursue him!
Yeah that’s where I have him going but only hoping for this to add to the rivalry
Bogaerts their top guy now? And I hate hearing so much about Bauer. He has one good season to his name. Dodgers better off without him.
That stuff when he signed too like didn’t he make a video to meta fans to tell them sorry for not choosing the mets? Something like that.
He’ll never recover from this. No team would want to give that impression
He did sourhaze. And epic name
Wait until their fanbase figures out why Bellinger mysteriously stopped hitting…. Just happens to coincide with the MLB cracking down on the league wide sign stealing. Weird.
Funny how that works, huh?
Proof? I’ll wait here.
Bellinger was a juice ball merchant. I highly doubt his success early in his career was due to cheating.
Or, you know, his shoulder injury.
This is the answer nobody wants to admit. It’s hilarious (& obvious).
Astros fans: “sign stealing doesn’t help all that much. Our success is totally legit.”
Also Astros fans: “sign stealing was the difference between Bellinger being a AAAA player and an MVP.”
Unlike Bellinger, the Astros stars have continued to hit after electronic sign stealing went away. Success is 100% legit.
That means the Dodgers stopped cheating but the Astros clearly still are.
Makes sense because he never hit in the minors, either dot dot dot
Yup. Had nothing to do with a busted shoulder and then a broken foot. It has everything to do with the lies you tell yourself to make yourself feel better than a Dodgers fan. The Internet should be used for more than character assassination, but then, we’re only human.
Ah yes, the classic injury excuse. It’s been 3 years & he still sucks. I guess it’s pure coincidence that his numbers fell off a cliff after the sign stealing crackdown. Not too bright, are you?
@Neon Cop – Go out, bust your shoulder, and see how easy it is to swing exactly the same as you used to at the Major League level. Not everyone recovers the same. Not everyone recovers properly at all.
The worst you have to worry about is pulling a hamstring on the way to the beer fridge.
Boo boo. I think we found Cody’s burner account. He sucks.
Am I the only one who thinks he’s crazy overrated?
Yes he is crazy overrated. His 162 game average WAR is 7.2 but he averages around 120 games per season. He’s still easily worth $28M or so a year but this idea that he’s the most valuable player ever is just irrational hubris.
I have literally never once seen him referred to as the most valuable player ever.
7.2/162 WAR is crazy good, and even at 120 games, that’s 5.4 WAR. Which makes him among the best SS in the game, which is what I *do* see him often called.
Overrated and arrogant
I agree, WAR is an overated stat. Case in point, one of the worst hitters in baseball, Myles Straw, had a positive WAR cuz he played center field. Shortstops gets boosted too
It is much harder to play adequate centerfield and shortstop than other positions, hence the adjustment.
I think people oversimplify players by simply citing WAR, but there is logic to how it is created.
@LFGMets (Metsin7) Yes, because Myles Straw was also one of the best defenders at a premium defensive position.
I don’t know if you realized, but baseball has this thing called fielding – not just hitting.
LFG-That’s exactly why I can’t stand WAR. Correa’s a nice player and all..but 300m +? I’d stay faaaaaaaaar away..
I think the biggest fallacy of these contracts is that they so believe they’ll be worth the money in 5-10 years but they want that 10 year deal anyway because they are worried about being able to justify it again 4-5 years later.
Hence why guys want as many years as possible guaranteed and they insist they’ll be worth it.
Anyway- this is why Correa wouldn’t sign the Astros’ 5 year/$160M contract offer. He didn’t want to re-enter the market 5 years later and worry he wasn’t as valuable.
Meaning he knows he isn’t worth the contract he is demanding he receive.
It all balances out – mega deals are about underpaying at the front end, and overpaying at the back end. No one really thinks they’ll still be providing neutral or even surplus value in the final years.
So if you know the car will start breaking down at 50,000 miles, you lease and skip buying.
I mean yes that’s obvious and I’m fine with that. I think it’s more about Correa’s particular approach to this process. If he’s so amazing why are all these other guys putting these 10 year deals together and signing and Correa is out there still looking for the right deal?
It’s going to be very interesting to see where he lands. I think there’s more to choosing a destination rather just a flat out who’s offering the most, in his case.
After years of competing in Houston, it had to be difficult going to a rudder-less Twins team. If the Twins were offering 10 years off the back of that experience (which I don’t think the Twins will go near anyway), I’d probably be looking at maximizing at 8 year contract elsewhere too.
Who knows, really. We’re all speculating.
I hope Correa’s market never fully materializes yet again and he settles for whatever deal the Twins offered him- something we know he doesn’t want.
I keep joking he seems like he’ll retire and say he was too valuable to accept any deal and he demands to be the highest paid player ever and since there will always be a higher paid player every few free agent classes, he’s retiring and declaring himself too valuable to assign a dollar amount to.
That said I think if the Twins offered him 10 years at over $32M AAV I don’t understand why he wouldn’t take that deal at this point.
I’m sure he would take it. But why would the Twins offer it? Tigers set his market at the deal he turned down. Offering more is a fools errand. He had more value last year. Another prime year gone, but someone should now offer more? I don’t think so.
Dodgers bout to sign him for real
Exactly the news I wished to hear. There are plenty of other options out there such as Swanson or Bogaerts and even having Lux be the everyday guy is a better option than bringing in Correa.
Lux better choice than Correa? I guess that’s the type of thought process that keeps Dodgers losing in the playoffs.
denny? shut up. get a real job.
Cecil, why so sensitive? You really think Lux is better than Correa? Hope Dodgers actually go with Lux (I think it will be an obvious bad choice), but I didn’t realize stating obvious things on a baseball chat site means my job becomes imaginary.
Good. Joe Kelly is a hero.
Kelly’s Heros!
And a phony tough guy who walks away from fights he starts.
Yes. Correa is so big and scary so Kelly had to hide.
So you agree Joe Kelly is a wuss.
What do you mean walk away? Correa never charged the mound, there was nothing to walk away from. The inning was over. If Correa wanted a fight he could’ve done something besides talk like a tough guy.
Exactly what I said: he walked away. As the benches clear, Joe Kelly walks to the dug out and talked trash in the proccess from afar.. “If Correa wanted a fight he could’ve done something besides talk like a tough guy.” – except his teammates were in his way so even if he tried something, they had more than enough guys to block his path. Also, Correa stood at home plate. He didn’t walk away like Kelly did. Correa talked from afar too, but the difference between him and Kelly is Correa didn’t start it nor escalate it, Kelly did. The inning ending is just an excuse.
It’s baseball, not wrestling. No one was fighting anyone.
You’re right, Kelly should’ve put his money where is mouth was and stayed on the mound even after the inning was over. You know, to show how tough he was.
You’re right: it’s perfectly normal for any human being to start something and then completely back down, with people praising that human being for essentially talking the talk but not walking the walk.
What do you think Kelly should’ve done?
Easy: don’t throw at people on the opposing and then proceed to mock the opposing team by making faces. Baseball is not a fighting sport, but baseball players are still human. If you don’t want trouble, don’t go looking for it.
“don’t throw at people on the opposing and then proceed to make mock the opposing team by making faces”
Is throwing at people without making faces ok?
Why don’t you tell me if it is or not.
I guess it depends on whether the batter made faces at the pitcher. Since that’s basically escalating a physical altercation.
Whatever you say. Lol. Joe Kelly is a wuss, but he’s America’s hero for backing down. We should all be more like him!
I gladly accept the W. Thank you.
goatstro? move on. let the people talk. not name callers. you
seem to be a typical defensive insecure yahoo.
now there’s some name calling.
Whatever makes you feel better.
If you say so.
The same Joe Kelly who talked smack then hid behind his teammates and walked into the dugout when things escalated?
Who escalated?
“Who escalated?” – easy: Joe Kelly. He started it by throwing at people and escalated by talking while going to hide in the dugout.
So Kelly instigated. Correa escalated.
“escalated by talking while going to hide in the dugout.”
Oh I see, so he escalated by walking away. Got it.
He escalated by making faces. It’s not rocket science, bud.
“Making faces”
I’m not Correa’s biggest fan, but even I’m willing to give him enough credit to not get triggered by someone “making faces.” Sounds like you don’t, though.
I’ll make it easy for you to understand: throwing at the Astros = pouring a gasoline onto the ground. Mocking Correa by making faces = tossing a lighter. Correa was a good leader.
It was Correa’s comments thay caused benches to clear. Surely a better leader would’ve been smart enough to keep his mouth shut and not let goofy faces hurt his feelings.
goatstraw – stop with the gasoline tossing.
He walked toward the dugout and then stopped when he got a reaction. Pretty ridiculous to suggest that the namesake of Joe Kelly Fight Club wasn’t at all interested in mixing it up.
Dodgers only want the nice guy vibe players. They have no intensity, no fire, no grit. The idea of let’s not sign or consider an all star shortstop because our “fans” might not like him is embarrassing.
baseball is a biz. you do what attracts fans.
$20 says you’re the type who complains elsewhere about teams not caring about the fans
$20 say you get to dodger stadium late and leave early.
I got a grand on you being a troll.
Pay up.
There is a big difference between “grit” and being a cheater. Correa doesn’t belong on the Dodgers.
Dodgers were cheating also. Are you really this naive? Simply google it & drop the sanctimony.
shut up. no direct evidence of cheating by dodgers. so quit the invalid facts.
Google it lmao . So you believe everything you read on the internet.
Plenty of reputable publications point in that direction. Don’t be oblivious.
Cool, name them.
Unnamed sources “pointing in that direction.” Man, sounds like the Dodgers were caught red- handed.
Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated, a handful of former players, etc.
Houston was scapegoated by Manfred. You can’t honestly be this naive…
No, I’m sure they’re paragons of virtue. Clueless.
Have a particular story on that? You’re still being remarkably vague for someone calling others naive.
Google “Dodgers sign stealing” & browse to your heart’s content. If I attach any links here, it gets flagged.
I’ve searched. That’s why Im asking. I haven’t seen anything other than very vague comments, about no team in particular. Maybe if you post the title of the article you’re referencing I’ll be able to find it.
Check the article in the Athletic that mentions the Mets & Brewers’ claims. It’s paywalled. Kratz et al have also said as much. The notion that Houston, Boston, & New York were the only video/Apple Watch users is ridiculous.
beautiful reply Mr. Park
you embarrassed?
Dodgers fans – thoughts if your team signs him? Could you forgive it?
They loved Joe Kelly who was on the 2018 Red Sox team that also cheated and beat them in the Series.
Probably didn’t cheat in the actual Series, but did win the top overall seed in the AL playoffs to help them reach the Series.
Joe Kelly hit Hanley Ramirez in the NLCS years ago, in his already-injured ribs. I was not happy they went and got Kelly for that, but he redeemed himself in that 2020 Houston series.
The 2018 Red Sox did not do anything remotely as egregious as the 2017 Trashtros. They used tech to crack the signs, but not to relay it in real time to hitters. The legal way to steal signs is via a runner on second knowing the signs, and those signs are learned from previous games. Boston used iPads and watches to get the signs from the mid game, but they still had to have a man on second.
The analogy I use is that of a WSOP poker tournament:
The majority of teams in MLB used footage from previously recorded play to figure out opponents they knew they faced at their next table. The Red Sox had friends watching the broadcast on its 20 minute delay and were getting info to their guy at the table to use immediately going forward, as soon as the next hand.
The Astros were tapping into the live feed and seeing what their opponents’ actual hands were in the middle of the hand and relaying that to their guy at the table.
Boston was doing exactly the same thing. They just didn’t admit it (after the way Astros players were treated nobody would admit it until after their career is over) and found a fall guy.
Pssst… it’s Dodger fans.
As a Dodger fan, I’d be extremely unhappy with Correa. Don’t care that he’s a good player, he’s forever stained by both the cheating and his behavior while cheating. I love exuberance and being excited in the game, I’m a big fan of bat flips. But Correa and the Astros acted like clowns in celebrating their “impressive” feats in the 2017 World Series, given that they were cheating. And they also got really mad at how excited Charlie Culberson got when he hit an extra inning homer in Game 2, bringing the Dodgers to within a run. Cheaters, hypocrites, and Correa is about the worst of the bunch in that regard.
Would I stop rooting for the Dodgers? No. Would I watch every game? No. I’d probably only watch Kershaw’s starts and the postseason, and I’d do so under protest.
Just curious, how did you feel watching Manny as a Dodger? Most of my family/friends had a rough go with it. They liked the winning but knew why Manny was Manny.
The entire time Manny was on the Dodgers I thought “I’m glad he’s a free agent after this season.”
watching manny is liking a circus. what a blast. never gonna last.
Dodgers obviously don’t care about my projections list.
444? they keep calling but you mail box is full of suptin.
Dansby Swanson, you are a Los Angeles Dodger!
No thanks – that stat line has potential to crater.
Cam, you are a Los Angeles Dodger!
It’s never too late! If I could throw lefty, maybe..
I have a feeling the Giants will be all over this guy. Like how young he is for the money, but definitely not a fan of his past.
I feel like Correa is a 17-20 homer player in SF.
Joe Kelly is an idiot and he proved it in 2021 White Sox series vs Stros.
Joe was on the Dodgers in 2021…
Huh? Joe Kelly wasn’t on the White Sox in 2021…
Kelly is still an idiot, yeah, but you’re thinking about the other idiot Ryan Tepera.
I always admit when I’m wrong, I did not see his market being impacted by the Astros scandal, I think it’s dumb, but nonetheless
A big argument for these huge contracts is the revenue generated by a player outside of ticket sales i.e. jersey’s, memorabilia, etc. I just can’t see too many correa jerseys being worn at Dodger stadium.
Official MLB merchandise like jerseys are pooled in one master fund and distributed evenly to teams.
I am sure Correa is losing sleep that they aren’t in the market for him.
Tomorrows headlines: Dodgers sign Correa fir 10yrs/350Million. Plus he gets a private urinal in the locker room.
Comes with a metal trashcan for whatever reason.
Correction:
Tomorrow’s headlines: Dodgers sign Correa for 10yrs/350Million and MAKE him the private urinal in the locker room.
Oof. Correa and Boras lost serious leverage. Props to Friedman for listening to his constituents and passing on the tainted trashman.
I wouldn’t celebrate until he signs somewhere else.
Sneak level 100
Omg Craven!!! Hahahhaahaha Can’t believe you got THE BEET as your new pic! Awesome!
CUPPA FREE AGENT PFP MOVES
Has a date been set for the appeal results?
Surely if dodgers are influenced by the appeal results, they would be needing to know asap.
That’s exactly what I thought. I think the original investigation took 8 or 9 months. What’s holding up the appeal? I mean they already all the information they need.
No. We’ve heard only that the appeal ruling won’t come down any sooner than this month, which probably means next month. I’m sure the Dodgers want that answer sooner rather than later, but they have no control over the process. It drags on because MLB wants to minimize the exposure to the inevitable lawsuit.
Wow, the Dodgers, Giants, and Padres go after Correa, he is going to get a bundle!
Dansby would look damn good in a dodgers uniform
Eh, I don’t know. Sports fan are generally the most forgiving towards athletes wearing their favorite team’s jersey. I doubt Dodgers fans would just hold it against Correa as long as he is producing while wearing Dodger Blue.
Frankly, Vargas and Busch are probably as good or better than Kiermayer or McCutcheon right now and a heck of a lot cheaper. It’s time to see if those two in particular can develop into stars or at least good players who can complement the awesome pair of Betts and Freeman..
None of those guys you said are OF. Vargas plays 3rd and Busch plays 2nd. They might of played some OF but their main spot in the IF. Your thinking page and outtman
Dodgers are going to reset and play who they have. Ohtani will be 400 million next year. They’ll get him and he’ll go there. They will still be a playoff team. Do you want superstars or championships?
What would add some edge to what should be a better geographical rivalry:
Angels come out of nowhere and sign Correa as Arte has assurances from his preferred buying group(s) the increase in payroll is acceptable.
Probably no shot it happens, but it would make for a good story.
What rivalry? I know quite a few fellow Dodger fans, have been a Dodger fan myself since the mid 80s, and I can’t recall a single time we ever talked about the Angels any differently than, say, the Minnesota Twins.
I will grant that you did say it should be bigger, given the geography. But the Dodgers have rivals, the Giants and, to a smaller extent, the Cardinals. But whenever I see anyone bring up this Dodgers-Angels “rivalry” it’s Angels fans and it smacks of people trying to make the Diamondbacks a rival.
Just about every Dodger fan that I know “hates” the Angels. They certainly don’t think of them like any other random club. Although, Dodger fans like to say that they don’t view the Angels as rivals, they certainly do. Especially, during the McCourt era when the Angels were regularly winning their division and were the better baseball team in town.
Dodgers already grabbed Shelby Miller and are hot the trail of Seth Lugo…
They are having a strong off season.
Dodgers playing the long game. Gonna get under the cap for Ohtani.
Meanwhile giants gonna overspend on another player because they cannot close
Farhan can’t close. The new “cheap ass” FMD.
Ok. I’ll humour you. They can’t close but they are going to overspend. Doesn’t overspending require closing ? Help me out here ?
I’m good with all of that. Though I like “hating” Giants players out of love of the rivalry. I have good friends who are Giants fans, and I respect the Giants. I hope they stay away from Correa as well.
Undoubtedly Bauer is a despicable man; however, Dodger front office signed him(w/o doing due diligence) and prosecutors never pressed charges. Manfred is going to continue the suspension w/o solid proof? Dodgers should be liable for that contract and let that be a lesson….and this from Dodger fan since days of Snider, Campy, Reese, Furillo……
The signing was obviously a mistake, but the lack of charges being filed is completely irrelevant to whether the policy was violated. And it wasn’t the Dodgers that violated the policy, it was the player.
Dodgers will sign Swanson.
Based on???
and JD Martinez.
Let’s just give our young players a chance They are doing well in AAA.
I’m sure he’ll lose sleep over it.
I’m thinking the SS market will not be as lucrative behind Turner as was originally thought. The Giants could pivot to Correa but after that i don’t think the market plays out for Bogaerts and Swanson to get huge paydays
That’s relative. I don’t think Swanson is expecting more than 7-8 years and I don’t think he’s expecting more than $25M per season.
I’d have to disagree Rsox, especially in this players market. The Padres are also looking to be big time buyers to, along with at least 6 other teams in the SS market, with only 3 top tier one’s left. I think all 3 will do great.
Padres say they are not in the SS market after missing out on Turner and they have seen players leave around $80 million on the table not to sign with them. It has definitely been a players market so far but not sure certain markets will bare as much fruit as other
Anyone know how to cancel Giants tickets on StubHub?
Prob going hard to Swanson then. Freddie and Swanson had the same agent. I’m guessing there is still bad blood with that agent and the Braves and he’s gonna do some shady deal and not let Swanson know about the Braves offer, just like the Freddie situation.
I don’t think we’re getting a big shiny toy for Xmas this year.I hope we got some big time trade going cos we got a helluva lot of holes.If we don’t do anything huge I think we’re at 4th just in NL now.Friedman’s usually calm as a bomb but I don’t see much left out there besides the 2 big SPs.Very weird offseason so far for us seems like
Doyers are in rebuild mode
So they went out and got Mookie, who played for the Red Sox in 2018,( and still have him), when the Sox were found by MLB to be cheating, but won’t touch Correa?
Totally off the subject but, I haven’t seen “@CeyHey” on this site for months. Does anyone know, is he alright?
Dodgers resetting their tax.
It was clear Dodgers ss was Turner or Lux, NO Correa. Thank you Dodgers
“Dodgers unsure how their fans will react” is the biggest deflection that Friedman and co could possibly pull off. The real reason is the luxury tax. It always has been and always will be. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Dodgers don’t usually like to sign anyone long-term and profess to love short-term, high AAV deals, yet aside from Bauer and Harper, never really offer them anyway. Can’t have it both ways.
Again, pure baloney that they “care” about their precious fans. You want to know how their fans would react if the Dodgers signed Correa? By opening up their wallets nearly 4 million times next season to waste on rising ticket prices, overpriced beer and parking, and those artery-clogging things they call “hot dogs.” Plus catching them on a lazy Saturday night on Sportsnet L.A. and driving up that TV revenue. THAT’s how fans would respond!
Baseball has become very predictable.