March 22: The Twins announced that Correa has officially signed his contract. He’ll be introduced at a press conference tomorrow morning.
March 19: Correa’s deal includes a limited no-trade clause this season, which becomes a full no-trade clause in 2023 and 2024 if he chooses to opt in to those contract years, per Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY (via Twitter). Without knowing the full details of the limited no-trade clause, it’s still a relatively impactful development. If the Twins fall out of contention this season, they’ll have a sizable trade chip on their hands in Correa.
March 18: In a stunning move, the Twins have agreed to sign the market’s top free agent, shortstop Carlos Correa, reports Mark Berman of Houston’s FOX 26 (Twitter link). Rather than the massive long-term deal that Correa has been seeking, he’ll instead sign a three-year, $105.3MM contract with opt-out clauses after the contract’s first and second seasons. ESPN’s Jeff Passan adds that the contract pays an evenly distributed $35.1MM annually. Correa is represented by the Boras Corporation.
The Twins are giving Correa the second-highest average annual value of any position player in MLB history, trailing only the $36MM AAV on Mike Trout’s decade-long, $360MM contract extension with the Angels and narrowly topping the $35MM AAV on Anthony Rendon’s seven-year deal with the Angels. The move also means the No. 1 and No. 2 picks from the 2012 draft, Correa and Byron Buxton, will now be teammates for at least the 2022 season.
Upon shedding the remainder of Josh Donaldson’s contract in a trade with the Yankees, Minnesota was immediately linked to free-agent shortstop Trevor Story. Instead, the more than $40MM saved in that Donaldson deal will be reallocated to Correa, whose $105.3MM guarantee trails only Joe Mauer for the largest in Twins franchise history. Correa rejected a qualifying offer from the Astros at season’s end, meaning the Twins, a revenue-sharing recipient, will forfeit their third-highest selection in this year’s draft in order to sign him. That’ll be their pick in Competitive Balance Round B, which should fall in the mid-60s. The Astros, meanwhile, will gain a compensatory selection at the end of Competitive Balance Round B, which typically falls in the early 70s.
The opt-outs in the deal provide Correa with the ultimate insurance net; if he remains healthy in 2022 and produces anywhere near his 2021 or 2019 levels, he’ll surely reenter the market in search of something along the lines of the 10-year deal he originally sought. If he suffers an injury of note or experiences an unexpected downturn at the plate, he’ll have another $35.1MM salary waiting for him in 2023 with the same opt-out opportunity in the 2023-24 offseason.
The 27-year-old Correa, a career .277/.356/.481 hitter who slashed .279/.366/.485 with a career-high 26 homers in 640 plate appearances this past season, will serve as a focal point in a Twins lineup that is also anchored by Buxton and second baseman Jorge Polanco. He’s been an average or better hitter every season of his big league career, with the exception of the shortened 2020 campaign, and has connected on 20 or more home runs in five of his six full-length seasons at the MLB level. Correa has walked at a 10.8% clip and struck out in 20.5% of his plate appearances since debuting as a 20-year-old rookie, including career-best marks of 11.7% and 18.1%, respectively, this past season.
As with any longtime Astro, Correa comes with a relatively tainted reputation stemming from Houston’s 2017 sign-stealing scandal, but George Springer proved last winter that the market will still pay premium rates for those players, provided they remained productive in subsequent years. Correa only serves as further evidence of that reality. And, just as Springer was embraced by Toronto fans, Correa surely will be well-received in Minnesota so long as he produces in a Twins uniform.
Like Buxton, Correa has had some durability issues, only twice reaching 500 plate appearances in his career. However, he played in 148 games this past season and in 58 of 60 games during the shortened 2020 season. Correa had a brief stay on the Covid-19 list over the summer in 2021, but he hasn’t been on the injured list since sustaining a broken rib in June 2019. The other notable injury he’s had in his career, a torn thumb ligament, came in 2017 and hasn’t had noticeably lingering effects.
Correa only further deepens a Minnesota lineup that is deep in talent but also lacking in consistency. Each of Miguel Sano, Max Kepler and Gary Sanchez have 30-homer seasons in their past but have ebbed and flowed through roller-coaster performances at the plate in recent years. Third baseman Gio Urshela, acquired alongside Sanchez in the Donaldson deal, will also look for a rebound to his 2019-20 levels (.310/.358/.523) after playing through health troubles in 2021.
Meanwhile, former top prospects Alex Kirilloff and Trevor Larnach have considerable offensive ceilings but played through injuries in their first full looks in 2021. Kirilloff, in particular, played through a torn wrist tendon before undergoing season-ending surgery. Top prospect Jose Miranda, who posted video-game numbers between Double-A and Triple-A this past season (.344/.401/.572), is expected to debut in 2022 and could see time at third base and/or designated hitter.
All of that is to say, the makings of a formidable lineup are present in Minnesota, though they’ll need a few things to break right. From the defensive side of things, Correa gives the Twins a pair of Platinum Glove winners, joining Buxton in that regard. With quality defenders like Kepler, Urshela and young catcher Ryan Jeffers also occupying key spots on the diamond, the Twins should have a strong defensive team overall. The Twins already ranked 12th in the Majors both in Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average in 2021, and Correa should boost both marks.
The larger questions center around the team’s patchwork starting rotation, however. After shipping Jose Berrios to the Blue Jays prior to the 2021 trade deadline and watching fellow righty Kenta Maeda fall to Tommy John surgery not long after, the Twins entered the winter in need of at least three veteran starters to pair with youngsters Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober. They’ve yet to reach that goal. Acquiring Sonny Gray from the Reds gave them one notable upgrade, and rolling the dice on a Dylan Bundy rebound prior to the lockout was a sensible enough move in a vacuum. However, the Twins idled for the early portion of the offseason and are now faced with a rotation that is still lacking and a free-agent market that has been largely picked over.
The Twins have been tied to Athletics starters Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas, but failing that, president of baseball operations Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine will need to seek some creative and under-the-radar options — particularly now that they’ve gone all-in on the 2022 season with this Correa deal. Minnesota has a number of pitching prospects on the precipice of the big leagues, but Correa is a clear win-now move that necessitates additional fortification in both the rotation and the bullpen.
It’s not clear just how much latitude Falvey and Levine will have to further boost a payroll that now, with Correa’s addition, is at a projected $128.5MM — within a few million dollars of franchise-record territory. The front office has repeatedly spoken of ownership support to boost payroll as needed in the past, however, and the shocking addition of Correa seems to support the notion that there’s more room to take the team’s spending levels to new heights, at least for the next few seasons.
Correa’s deal is fascinating on a number of levels, not the least of which being that it’s the first time in recent memory where the market’s consensus No. 1 free agent pivoted to a short-term deal with a potentially early reentry to the market. Entering the offseason, the common consensus was that the Yankees and Correa’s new division rivals, the Tigers, would be the primary bidders for his services. The Yankees not only opted to sit out the market for top-end shortstops entirely (despite a clear need), but in essence paved the way for the Twins to make this deal when they took on the remainder of Donaldson’s contract. The Tigers, meanwhile, offered Correa a reported 10-year, $275MM deal with three opt-out clauses — although presumably not so early in the contract as the offer on which Correa ultimately landed.
Risk-averse detractors will opine that Correa should’ve pounced on the larger guarantee, but with a big season Correa will again enter the market in search of a $300MM+ deal and having already banked $35.1MM in 2022. If he reaches even $240MM on a multi-year deal next winter, in advance of his age-28 season, or a $205MM+ deal after a 2023 opt-out, he’d come out ahead on the entire gambit.
Even in the event that Correa unexpectedly plays all three seasons in Minnesota on this deal, he’d return to the open market in advance of his age-30 season and needing to clear what could very well be an attainable $170MM to top that reported Detroit offer. It’s obviously possible that Correa struggles, gets injured or never reaches that same earning ceiling, but he’s known as a supremely confident player — a mentality that is underscored by taking a deal of this nature.
The incumbent Astros offered Correa five years at a total of $160MM prior to the lockout and, earlier in the week, were said to be prepping a new offer for their longtime star. It’s not yet clear what Houston ultimately put forth, but their initial offer didn’t include any opt-out provisions. If the new offer followed suit in that regard, it’s possible that Correa simply felt that in order to accept a shorter-term deal than the 10-year pact he initially sought, he’d need the opportunity to take another bite at the free-agent apple sooner than later.
Correa’s future trips to the market hinge on how the 2022 and perhaps the 2023 seasons play out, but regardless of when he returns to free agency, he’ll do so with a few advantages. Firstly, he won’t be one of five high-end shortstops on the market, as was the case this year. The combination of Correa, Story, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Javier Baez is regarded as perhaps the greatest collection of free-agent shortstops in history. The talented nature of that group always created the possibility for a game of musical chairs that left one without the contract he sought, but few would have expected Correa to take a short-term deal.
Were Correa to return to the market next winter, he’d do so alongside Trea Turner, Dansby Swanson and perhaps Xander Bogaerts, who can opt out of his contract’s final three years and $60MM. However, Bogaerts’ defensive shortcomings have been increasingly placed under the microscope in recent years, and Swanson has never performed at Correa’s level either offensively or defensively. Turner and Correa certainly have the potential to be seen as 1-A and 1-B on next year’s market, but age is on Correa’s side; he’s more than a year younger than Turner. Furthermore, because Correa received a qualifying offer this winter, he’s now permanently ineligible to receive a second one. The qualifying offer system may yet be done away with entirely — that’s dependent on negotiations surrounding an international draft — but Correa is forever free from draft-pick compensation, regardless.
The other element of the contract to consider is the agency component of it. Correa turned heads by hiring Hollywood talent agency William Morris Endeavor to represent him in Sept. 2019. WME represented him up until midway through this offseason’s MLB lockout, but Correa hired the Boras Corporation to represent him on Jan. 18. There’s little sense speculating on the motivation behind the switch, but the change in representation meant that Correa’s former agents could have staked a claim to the commission from his eventual contract. Whenever Correa returns to the market, be it post-2022, post-2023 or post-2024, his new representation will command the entirety of the commission.
From a pure baseball perspective, the contract is a win both for Correa and for the Twins. Correa can lay claim to a nominal salary record — largest annual value for an infielder — and receive a massive yearly salary while retaining the ability to return to free agency in advance of either his age-28, age-29 or age-30 season.
The Twins, meanwhile, score the largest upgrade available to them on the market, catapulting them back into the conversation in the American League Central. They won’t be considered favorites without securing some additional pitching help, but Correa nevertheless provides radical improvement on both sides of the ball. The magnitude of the pitching upgrades the Twins have up their sleeve will determine their fate in 2022, but if their shocking deal with Correa is any indicator, they’re far from done improving this roster.
marinermike
LoL
iverbure
Another team with no sense of direction.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
I don’t agree, great deal for Twins, one year $35 million makes them competitive to make playoffs but does not mortgage future.
Have to believe Astros, Yankees, maybe Phillies would have liked to make this deal. If Dodgrs had not signed Freeman, they would have done it. Even Giants could have done this.
I am not a big Correa fan, but I like this for the Twins, remember this is essentially a one year deal.
deweybelongsinthehall
I agree Manny. barring a horrific injury (which the Twins likely got insurance for), it’s a one year deal and now the team seems competitive at least for a wild card. With all the moves the Tigers made, the Twins can end up ahead of them.
Kayrall
YESSSSSSS. That’s another one I got right on the MLBTR prediction contest. My first was Bryant to the Rockies!
The Saber-toothed Superfife
My reading comprehension isn’t too good. Does it say anything about waiving trade or no-trade clauses? Santa wants to know.
MZ311
Competitive? Their pitching staff is doodoo
windmill_noise_causes_cancer
This is kinda like everyone’s brackets every March…nobody cares.
RlBurnside
Pitching wins in the end. It’s always pitching. And the Twins don’t have enough. They will be the Padres of the AL
mrpadre19
RIBurnside the “Padres of the NL”?
Maybe take another look at the Padres pitching eh?
When the top LH prospect from the last 3 years is your 6th starter going into then season….that’s hardly the same as the Twins pitching situation.
Unless you’re guaranteeing injuries that no one could predict for 22’?
Paddack and Weathers are #7 and #8.
Same as Twins?
Lol
Best Screenname Ever
Good moves for Twins. Unloading Donaldson on MFY, and using the money to sign Correa to a risk averse contract is terrific work.
VonPurpleHayes
35 a year for 1 player is too much for the Phillies who have many holes. But otherwise I agree with you Manny.
THE downvoter
[Notification]
Kayrall: This is to advise you that your participation trophy has been shipped. Normal delivery is 4 to 5 days. Thank you for participating in the contest.
Fonzy13
I’m pretty sure RIB was referring to what happened to the Padres last season down the stretch not predicting what will happen in 22. At least thats what I took from the comment.
Captain Judge99
@MannyBeingMVP- 1 year? Wish he could go back to Houston where he belongs. All I hear are banging trash cans when I see him. I can’t even imagine having him as a teammate. Easy pass.
fox471 Dave
You picked Correa for the Twins? Really?
rennick
I think it gives Correa too much power in the contract and limits his investment in the Twins’ future success. The money is fine, I think that’s good for both sides. However all those opt outs and no trade clause, which is really just a bargaining chip used for the player to receive more financial concessions, gives the Twins very little m for their money, in the long term. Correa has no reason to be emotionally or professionally invested in the long term success of this team.
Mikel Grady
It’s essentially a one year deal blowing 30+ million to make playoffs and early exit? Or correra gets injured and essentially you blew 105 million guaranteed
Cmurphy
If he sucks, he’s not going to opt out. I’m not saying he will but it’d take a pretty good run in 2022 (or 23) to decide to opt out. Think Arrieta or Heyward.
DODGER JR
There is NO WAY The Dodgers would have ever signed Correa. Their players wouldn’t have allowed it.
Led Hoyer
Not so sure for Correa. All he really needs to do is stay healthy and he will get paid. A down year will be forgiven with his track record.
SodoMojo90
That flew right over your head. Or perhaps it bounced off your head Canseco style.
JackStrawb
“Forgiven”? Unlikely. That would give him 3 down years of his last 5.
dsett75
Just that he has a limited no trade clause.
Augusto Barojas
This is a great deal for the Twins, great opportunity to trade him, and I am sure they have that in mind too. It’s a short term deal that Correa might opt out of after 1 year, and their payroll was super low. So why not.
tigers_fan_inatl
This plus the Baez-Tigers deal and the offer Tigers made to Correa are proof that mid-market teams are losing any semblance of balanced leverage to sign big FA’s. This is a single year platform for Correa or a great $105m deferred comp deal if he plays terribly. If he provides any surplus value, he’ll opt out. Without the pitching to win, Twins are effectively signing to pay tickets and maybe trade.
I would understand a Braves or Dodgers or “one piece away” teams doing it but otherwise, it’s a nice pillow contract for Correa with insurance against injury / failure.
stymeedone
Why bother introducing him? He’s not going to be around long enough to print up jerseys.
bigsombrero
What he’s saying is that the Twins are a team with a bunch of talented players.who won’t make the playoffs. Much like your Padres.
Dock_Elvis
I guess his emotional investment will be wrapped up in trying to maximize his yearly statistics and ability to show himself a good team presence in the clubhouse, then. Seems kinda like a win for the Twins of he does. They pay for single season max effort.
BeansforJesus
Twins look sneaky good….real sneaky
Captain Judge99
@BeansforJesus- that’s great for the Twinkies! I hope everything works out for them now with “Cheater Correa”
Rallyshirt
White Sox – Joe Kelly
Twins – Carlos Correa
Captain Judge99
@Rallyshirt- thanks for sharing. I love the sound of that. Drum roll please!
deej
Their pitching is still awful and they can’t let Gary Sanchez catch
i like al conin
Interesting bc they’ll have Royce Lewis ready next year, basically trading the 2nd highest AAV for the lowest bass salary.
i like al conin
*base
goob
I was gonna say, that’s a lot of fish.
i like al conin
Haha that’s good
Astros2017&22Champs
Royce lewis and ready? He hasnt played since 2019 and he was awful at double a. Thats wishful thinking
i like al conin
Of course there’s uncertainty. But Royce Lewis will be ready in 2023 to make his case to be an MLB player. Will it happen? We’ll have to see.
Avory
Agree this is just silliness. But go ahead, have him play in Twins uniform for a year, or three if he gets hurt real bad. Jesus.
deweybelongsinthehall
Insurance against an injury. The team and Correa probably both got different policies. The Twins for years two and three and Correa for a potential career ending injury.
KnicksFanCavsFan
@Avory
So don’t sign ANY free agent because they could potentially get hurt? gotcha
VonPurpleHayes
Avory is very much against billionaires spending money.
Captain Judge99
Avory needs more $ for her Guardians. Poor Avory!
stymeedone
Another player with no sense of direction. Where’s your Ten Year Contract, Correa?! Did Boras have to run back to all the teams that said they’d be interested if you would take a one year contract, and then talk them up? How humiliating! Even your old team would not move from their offer! Nice face saving move on the yearly value, but still, how disappointed you must be! Even the Yanks and Blue Jays must have said no! Was Minnesota a team you even thought you’d be signing with in November? How far down your list were they? Bet you’re quite motivated to start the season. Lets go Twins!
AmericanRedneck
You’ll appreciate his dedication to his craft. Hopefully it’s a humbling experience for him.
Oddball Hererra
Not sure the guy walking away with $37 mil for a year’s work should be classified as ‘disappointed’ or ‘humiliated’
JackStrawb
With just one star-caliber year out of the last four, no one was likely to give Correa $300m.
Still, it was beyond bizarre to see a 30 yo Bryant get paid like Marcus Semien, either of whose 2019 and 2021 are odds on to be better than Bryant’s WAR in 2022 through 2024, so who knows?
377194
Despite what Correa thinks of himself, he’s good, not great.
Lucky to get $37 million cause he ain’t worth it.
lady1959
What? Lol ⚾️
mmyechoandbunnymen
Uhhhhh what? The Twins have a good sense of direction with this deal. Are you seriously this daft?
dadofdonnydownvote
What the heck? I’m guessing almost nobody predicted this in the free agent contest!
goob
I’m guessing almost nobody predicted this in the entire free world!
(which seems to be getting smaller every day, BTW)
SonnySteele
Kayrall says he called this one.
fox471 Dave
Of course he did. Of all 30 teams, the Twins were probably 31st on his list.
HBan22
I agree that the Twins lack direction, have made plenty of bad moves recently, and really can’t seem to decide whether to compete or rebuild, but this is a great signing for them. No doubt.
IronBallsMcGinty
Correas skills are a good addition to any team but that doesn’t necessarily make it a good signing.
HBan22
From a value perspective, it’s a terrific signing. But as far as it being the right move for the Twins to make, you may have a point.
377194
Good value. I don’t think so $27 million might have been an okay value. $37 million is being robbed.
stymeedone
If you consider over paying for 1-3 years a better value than over paying for 8-10 years, I guess you can consider it value. I don’t consider any of the SS’s as being a value signing. I hope that Baez has two good seasons and then feels he can get more on the Market. The only valuable SS is the one that is not yet eligible for FA.
JackStrawb
2/70m or 3/105m if he’s bad, and 1/35m if he reaches his 4-year average of about 4.5 WAR?
This deal has a very good chance of being s0-s0 and only a small chance of being a great signing.
ohyeadam
Bang!!! (Crying deep inside about having to cheer for him and Sanchez)
Shoguneye
Looks like Correa’s more intent on feeding the ego than contributing to a championship. Happy to see him with a non-contender. A vert good lineup if Buxton can stay on the field and 2019 Kepler shows up but the pitching is middling..
Good for the twinkies
LarsAnderson
Everyone knew it was either going to be the Twins or Pirates.
Indianfan
I was sure it was going to be the Indxxxx Guardians. You know, new name, new MO.
Samuel
Good on the Astros FO and owner for standing firm!
Scott Boras yet again finds the desperate owner / FO that not only pays up, but agrees to the ridiculous opt-out clause.
sean-11
Lol
iverbure
Ivy League gms don’t consider opt outs bad. They know if a guy opts out they just got a very productive season from the guy and they know they can replace anyone at anytime
Samuel
Oh….
So next year if Correa leaves the Twins will replace him?
Meanwhile the Twins “get a productive season” out of him and may well finish in last place again in 2022.
But if Correa gets hurt or no other team is interested then they get to pay his salary for anther year and wait to see how he feels about things after the 2023 season.
Such a deal!
padam
If the Twins finish last with him I’m sure they’d be happy to see him leave and get off their payroll.
Samuel
What if he doesn’t want to?
LOL
Question – Did Manny Machado lead the Baltimore Orioles to glory over his last few years there? Has he led the Padres to glory?
Whereas I think Correa is a better and more valuable team player than Machado, it remains that one player can only do so much for a team in MLB.
5toolMVP
Even worst case scenario it’s safer doing 3/105 for the team than 10/350.
If Correa has another 155+ game 7+WAR season he likely opts out and tries for a 8-9yr/$320-350mm deal or maybe a $40mm AAV 3/120 with another team.
realsox
Why will Correa get the big deal next year that he couldn’t get this year?
Ducky Buckin Fent
Lol
@Sam with the panic stricken Royals fan take. His clubs annual “march” to their 75 wins just got harder with Correa in the Central.
Love seeing Pohlad dig out his checkbook.
& trust me: the irony of the Yanks getting Kiner-Falefa from the Twins while they broker a deal with a premier free agent is not lost on me.
WAR_OVERRATED
If… if… if he is superman…. if he is Hercules or Samson… if he is Ironman from now on and breaks Cal Ripken, Jr. record… if if if…
They better have a backup ss after 70 games….
fox471 Dave
Samuel, opt out clause is dumbest thing ever !
BLIN7Y
Good Day DBF,
You know as well as me that they don’t do this Deal with the Yankees. Boras would have asked for the Moon. This gets done because the Big Market Teams wasn’t Bidding the Price up.
If the Yankees were in the Picture or Dodgers they wouldn’t have settled for 3 years (really 1).
BaseballClassic1985
Opt outs only benefit the player. You never see a player who has underperformed opt out, saddling the club with an onerous contract (see Cubs/Jason Heyward)
Or, a player performs very well, opts out and signs with a different team. How are either of those scenarios beneficial to the team that originally gave the contract with the opt out?
5toolMVP
Team is not stuck with 10/350m if they suck or get injured long term.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
True, but this is a three year maximum time period.
twins33
I may be in the minority but I will take all the best players in MLB on a one year deal. A team like the Twins was never going to go 10/300. This was their only shot at signing a really good player and in the past they said the exact same thing you are saying, that opt outs have no benefit to them. They changed their minds and I am extremely happy about it.
Will it suck if he’s great and opts out? Sure, but that’s better than not having Correa at all especially the “he’s great” part. I will take great seasons from players every day of the week.
The worst case scenario is a big injury and no opt out, but it would have to be a really big injury where it would be impossible for him to bounce back in year 2.
stymeedone
@twins33
But the Twins only got one player on a one year contract. One doesn’t move the needle much. It just makes that one player a mercenary.
Randomuser4567
They know they’re bad because if he’s good, he’s gone; if he’s bad, you’re stuck with him. It puts all the risk on the team.
DogDays2
Why is it a ridiculous opt about clause? That’s how a team like the Twins can afford him.
Samuel
If he gets hurt again lets talk about how they can afford him.
DogDays2
Well that’s the risk they and many teams have to take….there’s no certainty.
deweybelongsinthehall
If your paying $35m oer, another $2m for insurance is not a big deal.
Randomuser4567
Look at what was required from Fielder in order to collect insurance on his contract. I think people overestimate how team friendly the coverage plans are
twins33
They probably will have insurance on him, all big contracts do. And can we stop acting like the Twins are the A’s or Rays. They are a mid market team that clearly plays on a self imposed budget. Keyword self imposed. They, like many other teams, can absolutely afford to have a bigger payroll…they just choose not to.
Based on speculative revenue, they can very likely afford to sustain 150 million for payroll. This does not hurt them. The payroll right now is somewhere in the 120s. If Correa stays next year, the payroll before doing anything/paying arb guys is like 75 million which means they’ll likely have 40 million to play with next year even with Correa. And that’s if they keep the payroll at 120s or below.
Oh Boy Here We Go
As things currently stand the twins arent built for a world series. Especially with the rotation theyre projected to have.
Correa just replaces Cruzs bat in the lineup offensively.
The 1 year opt out is problematic because Twins are costing themsves draft position by making this move. Instead of committing to a rebuild and trading off expensive contracts they decided to halfway attempt to compete.
If he does well he leaves and twins get worse draft position
If he doesnt do well theyre saddled with money owed to him for a few years
I dont see the end game strategy here.
DogDays2
Draft position? Cmon
Oh Boy Here We Go
Can the twins current rotation lead them to a world series victory?
DogDays2
No but so what? You’d rather not compete at all?
That doesn’t even make sense, they didn’t trade prospects here or anything.
Oh Boy Here We Go
Id rather pick a lane
Compete
Rebuild
Not half compete half rebuild.
If youre trying to compete why get rid of Donaldson and Garver?
If youre trying to rebuild why bring in correa and gray for 2 years or less?
Samuel
@ DragBunt;
I agree with you.
I also agree with the post that said the Twins put off the inevitable by not going into a rebuild.
Correa is a sugar high for Minnesota baseball fans.
@ Oh Boy Here We Go;
I agree with you as well.
The owner is lost and desperate.
Ulmanoma
They’ll flip him if they are out of it
DogDays2
Oh Boy: because you’re trying to sell tickets and have someone to market. I have no idea how this hinders a rebuild.
HBan22
Exactly. Just said this a few days ago. They can’t decide at all what the Hell they are doing, clearly. Why did they not offer Berrios 7/$150 if they were planning on competing? Along with other strange moves they’ve been making.
i like al conin
No coincidence that Donaldson got traded and they happen to have an MLB-ready 3B in Miranda.
tcav1222
WS? They have to require to win a playoff game first
hyraxwithaflamethrower
I doubt it can lead them to even a WC spot.
Ducky Buckin Fent
Why does it piss you off so much when teams make improvements? Isn’t that sort of the whole point of MLBTR?
You’re a really weird dude, Sam.
Captain Judge99
@DBF- no Sam isn’t a weird dude, he just mutilates squirrels on his weekends. They’re’s absolutely no reason for concern.
Ducky Buckin Fent
When I first started posting here, he used to leave the same type of long, rambling dissertations on cryptocurrency. Those were just as bizarre & inaccurate but at least they were worth a laugh or two.
Jeeez. I sound like him as a pine for the olden days.
OHjohns
Because Garver and JD needed to go…both had great years in the past, and I had plenty of hope in Garver.. :/
He just couldn’t put it together. 2nd and 3rd, 1 out? Garver would strike out or pop up so frequently.
TwinCities
That rotation is going to change before opening day. I don’t know if it’s going to change enough, but they wouldn’t sign Correa if they weren’t going for it.
Captain Judge99
@DBF- Nah man, I always enjoy your posts. Yes, Sam will drive you nuts all the time. It sounds like you definitely understand.
amk1920
7 WAR ss at this price is an insanely good deal. Found Bob Nutting’s burner
Oh Boy Here We Go
Thats cool. Nelson Cruz is in Washington. Mitch Garver is in Texas and Josh Donaldson is in New York. Bringing in Correa to replace Cruzs offensive production doesnt suddenly make them world series contenders as things currently stand
DogDays2
I never said that. But it’s better than just sitting there and trying to improve your draft position. It’s baseball, not the NFL.
And isn’t getting rid of Donaldson and Cruz what you wanted?
Oh Boy Here We Go
If youre getting rid of expensive veterans and money owed to them for a rebuild you dont turn around and ruin the plan by trading and signing a couple guys that wont be there long term thus sticking you in no mans land without an actual plan.
Samuel
@ DragBunt;
This is what happens when an organization has no direction. Fans argue amongst themselves because one move contradicts another.
The Twins ae hardly unique in that regard.
Cheers!
DogDays2
They didn’t trade prospects so it’s not hurting a rebuild. Correa might be off the books in a year, it’s not an 8 year commitment.
DogDays2
Samuel: you seem negative about every team so maybe you just don’t understand the direction.
Oh Boy Here We Go
They literally traded their 1st round pick from last year Chase Petty for 2 years of Sonny Gray. Not what a rebuilding team should have done.
amk1920
They have an extremely valuable asset to trade if they are out of contention
HBan22
They traded a recent 1st round pick for Sonny Gray. Not saying it was a totally awful trade, just that it doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. The Twins, Reds and Rockies seem to be the three teams that are baffling everybody this year. The Reds dumped Wade Miley for nothing and then traded for Mike Minor who is owed more than Miley next year and was worse than him last season. The Twins seem to be going down a similar path lately.
DogDays2
That has nothing to do with this, I’m simply talking about the Correa deal and why they did it.
I mean saying that Correa simply replaces Cruz is pretty ridiculous.
Samuel
@ DragBunt;
Negative about every team?
OK, you don’t know me.
I love the Rays, Brewers, Astros, Giants, Royals, Tigers, Guardians. Impressed with what the Angels and Red Sox are doing. Understand what the A’s and Nationals are doing. Think Dombrowski has done a great job cleaning up the Phillies with little to start with. Cohen is moving the Mets in a positive direction. Watching the Jays. Respect the Dodgers. Probably missing 3-4 other teams here.
I told you the Yankees were thrashing around, and now the Twins along with the Padres. I grew up watching a MLB team losing for decades. I recognize it when teams are going in circles. Their fans deserve better.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Exactly you can rotate players through DH, you cannot rotate batters through shortstop.
Oh Boy Here We Go
“Correa just replaces Cruzs bat in the lineup offensively.”
“Bringing in Correa to replace Cruzs offensive production”
Correa replaces Cruzs production on offense in the lineup* not sure where the confusion is for you dragbunt
Cruz hit .294/.370/.537 last year for the twins in 85 gaames. 148 OPS+
Overall Cruz hit .304/.386/.598 as a twin good for 168 OPS+
Corra hit .279/.366/.485 last year good for 131 OPS+
In his career hes hit .277/ 356/.481 good for 127 OPS+
DogDays2
@Samuel. I see, so you’re impressed with many teams that do nothing. I still haven’t figured out your criteria for well-run vs poorly run.
The Angels?? Huh?
Jean Matrac
Great point point Manny.
DogDays2
But one guy is in the twilight of his career and the other in his prime, not to mention defense.
Oh Boy Here We Go
Does replacing Cruz Garver Donaldson with Correa Jeffers Urshela make the twins better offensively? Youve already said “no their rotation isnt capable of winning a world series”
Hence the whole they should be rebuilding theme.
Samuel
And boy……
The Pirates are going to begin to be a power n the next 2-4 years!
DogDays2
But they are younger players—- which you wanted!
Is it the Twins direction that’s bad or maybe your inconsistency?
They might just view Correa as a temporary piece while they work on other things. I mean, they still have to sell tickets.
Oh Boy Here We Go
Lmao. Ive been consistent in my stance. Pick a lane. “Youth” had nothing to do with any of this. Are you even paying attention? Cause I dont think you are considering you completely missed me talking about offensive production.
Rebuild
Compete
Not half rebuild half compete.
Trading Donaldson and Garver not resigning Cruz = rebuild
Trading for Gray signing Correa for 2 years or less = compete immediately
Pick one.
DogDays2
No, I’m not trying to be a jerk but you just don’t understand. You can build for the future with a few veterans on the team.
In the meantime, they would still like to sell tickets and not lose 100 games.
Oh Boy Here We Go
Not when theyre signed for 2 years or less you can’t. If youre making future plans revolving around guys who may not even be there. Youre doing it wrong.
Samuel
@ DragBunt;
My criteria is simple…..
An organization has to have a united vision. It starts at the top with the owner and head baseball ops person. In turn they have to have an infrastructure of department heads and a manager that oversee the coaching staff and scouts. All must be on the same page.
There are numerus styles that can win in MLB. Mostly it comes down to tailoring a team to play well in their home park, being balanced – i.e. strong Catcher, good D up the middle, good fundamental play and especially high baseball IQ’s and team leaders. Management must identify its core players and keep most of the core intact – replacing players if they leave for whatever reason.
MLB today is playoff sport. The object is to get there for years – so sustainable contention is the objective. I’ll close here by saying that in this case bringing in a guy for one year and maybe 2 or 3 is hardly a way a team becomes a sustainable contender.
DogDays2
Lol yes you can. He has a good year, they can just trade him to help with this rebuild you’re doing interested in.
I’m curious, what would you do with the money they gave Correa for this year?
DogDays2
Samuel: So signing guys to short contracts is poor, but longer contracts is great? That’s how the Angels are such a good organization?
DogDays2
Also explain this one: this Correa contract is terrible but the Baez contract ( from one of your ideal organizations) is a great move?
WolvesSufferer
@Oh Boy Here We Go I’m sorry but this is just idiotic.
The Twins got rid of Garver so they could get off of Josh Donaldson’s $21 million salary over the next two years. They replaced him with Gary Sanchez, who has been bad the last two years, but is a similar player to Garver with at least some upside to outproduce him. He’s also healthier than Garver.
They replaced Donaldson with Urshela, and their top prospect Jose Miranda will likely be promoted in May or June. Donaldson is a better player than both of those guys right now, but Donaldson had to spend 1/3 of the season at DH last season. He can’t be counted on to play 3B 5 times a week.
So the Twins downgraded at 3B and C, but not nearly as much as you seem to suggest. And they just upgraded from Andrelton Simmons, who was among the worst shortstops in baseball last season, to Carlos Correa, who is 26 YEARS OLD and was the best shortstop in the league.
They turned a high school right handed pitcher who throws hard with iffy mechanics and a slight build into two seasons of Sonny Gray, three months after trading Jose Berrios for a prospect haul considerably better than Chase Petty. (Martin, Woods Richardson) Gray is older than Berrios, but they have been very similar pitchers.
The Twins need to add one more starting pitcher to be a true contender, but with the playoff pool expanded and the AL Central looking extremely weak again outside of Chicago, the Twins have a good chance to make the playoffs with this move.
If Correa plays well and the team still is bad, they will get a major haul for Correa at the deadline. Teams overpay every year for a rental star, and Correa is about as good as it gets. Even if he was given a no-trade clause, he will certainly waive it to go to a post season bound team to help his value next season.
The only risk is that Correa gets hurt, but even then, paying him $35 million in 2023 is not a BAD contract if he opts in. It’d still be a low risk, high reward option. Would you really prefer the money be spent on four decent-average players rather than one superstar? That’s the worst way to build a roster.
This is a fantastic move for the Twins. It cost them a pick in the 60s to sign one of the best free agents in baseball history.
Ma4170
Finally, someone who recognizes that Correa is good to very good offensively but not near elite… and definitely comes w injury concerns
bamck
If you believe spending on 4 decent players over paying one guy 35 million is bad strategy you’re not paying attention.
WolvesSufferer
I’m sorry but this is so wrong. Like not even arguable, just plain wrong. JA Happ, Andrelton Simmons, Alex Colome, Matt Shoemaker and Hansel Robles received almost $30 million last year. All but Shoemaker were coming off solid seasons. And they all were awful.
Didi Gregorius signed for $14 million last off-season. Michael Brantley got $16M. Outside of Marcus Semien, there were no stars available in the range you’re talking about. And he signed for $18 million.
It’s easy to find league average production at most positions late in free agency, and relatively cheap. But if you don’t have stars at key positions, having league average players everywhere else doesn’t do any good. Finding a superstar shortstop is almost impossible.
Even looking at the free agent signings only from this off-season, there’s not a single combination of players I would prefer for $35 million over Correa, especially for a team like the Twins who have most of their positions filled and had no great options left to sign at starting pitcher.
Oh Boy Here We Go
Lmao. Twins are way more than just 1 pitcher away from contending.
WolvesSufferer
You can laugh all you want, but they were projected to win between 80 and 84 games before signing Correa. If Correa plays like he did last year, he adds 5 or 6 wins to that projection. That puts them square in the mix of contending for a playoff spot.
If they add a 4 WAR SP like Montas, to replace a current negative projection at the bottom of their rotation, that puts them in the 90-94 win projection range. It really is simple math. But I get it, you’ve tried to argue this terrible point all night, why stop now.
DogDays2
Bamck: if that’s the case, you must love trading stars for prospects trades.
Oh Boy Here We Go
Projections =/= Reality.
I get it. Youre incapable of facing reality.
Twins arent 1 starter away from competing. Montas and Gray arent carrying you to a world series.
Twins arent better offensively. Not by a by long shot.
If youre goal is just to make the playoffs the next 2 years with gray and correa thats pretty low standards.
Other teams have world series aspirations. Twins just trying to sell tickets maybe make the playoffs. Lmao. Pathetic.
WolvesSufferer
So you, some random angry commenter, is more trustworthy than a projection system that has an actual good record?
Obviously, things can change. Players can have poor years. Stars can get injured. Other teams can be better than projected.
But yeah, I trust the projection systems more than “Oh Boy Here We Go” on the MLB Trade Rumors Comment Section.
Go figure.
WolvesSufferer
Who were the Braves starting pitchers this past season? Gray + Montas (If Montas pitches like he did last season) is very similar to Morton + Ian Anderson. What was the Braves record on August 3?
You just have to get into the playoffs to have a shot. Nobody is suggesting the Twins are close to the Dodgers in talent level. But they have to be one of the SIX best teams in the American League for this to be worthwhile.
I just don’t understand the argument against signing him. What is the risk? Even if the team sucks and ends up with the 11th pick instead of the 2nd pick because the rest of the team is awful that’s hardly a huge loss given the crapshoot of the draft. And in that scenario, they almost certainly trade Correa at the deadline for more prospects, more than making up the difference between the #2 and #11 picks, for example.
And that’s a worst-case scenario. There’s plenty more scenarios where the Twins beat up on the weak AL Central, add Montas from Oakland, and head into the post season with a deep lineup and good starting pitching.
If Correa has a season ending injury, he’s still going to be a valuable player next season if he opts in. So the only REAL risk is that he suffers a catastrophic injury in one of the final games of the regular season, forcing him to miss the 2023 season so he opts in. But that’s a HUGE long shot, and well worth the risk of signing the best shortstop in baseball last season.
“Have a plan” sounds good until you realize only bad teams rebuild by getting rid of all their talent at once.
DogDays2
Apparently, a rebuild to oh Boy is to have no good players to help their draft position because he thinks they need a qb.
WolvesSufferer
Good point. Thanks!
emac22
The guy doesn’t get the difference between an elite defensive SS and a DH when it comes to offense. Not sure what you’re hoping for.
BLIN7Y
This could be problematic for Correa as that Park isn’t RHB friendly. Correa won’t have the EL in LF to shoot for.
Baldkid
What are his stats hitting at Target Field (you might want to look that one up)
Texandave
Truth
Avory
@Samuel
Yeah, this is effectively a one-year deal. Or a three-year deal if it sours badly. Why any team would do this is beyond me.
DogDays2
Huge business lesson: it’s much cheaper to maintain fans/customers than to acquire a new customer.
If the Twins do nothing and lose 100 games, they may start to alienate a good fan base. Ask the Orioles.
In a sense, they just bought themselves some time.
WolvesSufferer
You do this because it’s the cost of acquiring one of the league’s best players. If the Twins had insisted on only a one year deal, he almost certainly just goes back to Houston.
The options weren’t “Give him 1 year or give him the 3 year deal with options.”
The options were “Give him the 3 year contract with opt-outs, or you don’t get him at all.” It’s a pretty easy decision.
mrmackey
Not sure why the Astros wouldn’t have wanted a deal like this though? Much less risk than the 10 year deal Correa wanted, and they’re in a window of contention.
I bet they will end up signing Story now to a similar deal (a little less per year though).
Jean Matrac
Mmkay.
bkbkbkbk
What’s ridiculous is all the allegations of sexx trafficking of minors against Jim Crane.
DogDays2
Huh?
Hyatt Visa
Bore Ass really misread things and advised his client – heck, probably insisted – to pass on $275MM from the Tigers and Correa settles for $175MM less? Sounds to me like Bore Ass didn’t do so well by his client!
DogDays2
Of course. Boras doesn’t get same commission on this contract. Correa opts out and Boras wins!
fox471 Dave
Was Boras even his agent, when Correa passed on Tigers offer?
justkidding
Boras was not his agent at that time, he hired him during the lockout.
Shoguneye
We all know what Correa is, we’re just haggling over price
mp9
Here we GOOO!
bring some starters now
foreverseahawk
interesting, didnt see that coming
em650r
Holy smokes
RobM
I knew it!
Ok, I didn’t.
amk1920
Yankees are so inept its sad. Cashman takes on an old injury prone bat from a small market team, who then goes out and gets Correa on a very reasonable deal. There is zero reason the Astros and Yankees couldn’t have doubled this offer. Who holds back this hard over their prospects, who wouldn’t even be blocked.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
“Doubled’ it, well not per year. If you mean over a six year deal at $35 million with an opt out every year, well maybe. Now, Yankees, Astros and Phillies are all watching Story.
This puts the “win” back in “Twins”.
Correa was the biggest loser of the off-season but with a good but not great season he will still get good offers next year.
amk1920
Yes, 6 years 215 for Correa is a great deal
Poster formerly known as . . .
If the Astros, who know Correa very well, weren’t willing to match this offer — assuming Boras came back to them to ask for a counteroffer — why not?
Correa has missed 178 days to injuries.
5toolMVP
How many missed in 2020/2021?
Most of his missed games were prior to 2020.
jjd002
The Astros have Tucker and Alvarez to pay soon. That’s why they didn’t double their contract.
Pill Cosby
Cashman needs to be fired over this. NYY literally helped the twins get Correa when they could’ve done this deal themselves
MLB Top 100 Commenter
The “Story” isn’t over yet.
Poster formerly known as . . .
If Hal set a limit that precluded his spending this much money, he’s not going to fire anybody. Besides, how many injury risks does a team want to assume?
Stanton, Judge, Hicks, Donaldson … and add Correa?
If Correa gets injured again, the Twinkies are screwed, unless they can get an economically viable insurance policy on a guy who’s missed 178 days to injuries.
HBan22
The Yankees only seemed to really want Seager. But when they realized what it would cost, they probably lost interest pretty quickly. And I think they made the right move there, honestly. Volpe is going to be a stud soon and they have several other very good middle infield prospects on the way.
Sunday Lasagna
Rays have won 326 games the past 4 years, Yankees have won 328, Rays do it with about $70M per year, Yankees with about $240M. Ever think Steinbrenner has sat down with Cashman and told him that he needs to start proving that the folks running the Rays are not way smarter than he is and maybe that is why Seager or Correa and Freeman or Olson are not playing SS and 1B for the Yankees?
Poster formerly known as . . .
If Hal held Cashman accountable for his failures despite his enormous budget, he’d have fired him years ago. Cashman no longer has the excuse that “George made me get that player.” He’s repeatedly taken on bad contracts and assembled unbalanced rosters. I don’t know why Cashman seems to be fireproof.
DogDays2
Fink: You seem to constantly access injuries , albeit important, not all that’s important.
Sometimes there are risks— it’s just part of the game.
fox471 Dave
Drag bunt: I don’t know much about Correa, other than he cheated along with the Astros, with literally no subsequent remorse in 2017. However, he has had two injuries during his time with the Astros, both occurred during game play. Do not totally understand why a 26 year old is considered an injury threat. What am I missing?
DogDays2
I mean , I don’t like him personally either. Yes, he’s had some injury issues which is a concern. But he’s still young.
I wouldn’t commit to him long term but I think the contract the Twins gave him is phenomenal for them.
Poster formerly known as . . .
Dave, I don’t understand how a 27-year-old got a year younger. What am I missing?
Kidding aside, his agents said they wouldn’t let any team see his medical records unless they first made an offer:
twitter.com/espn975/status/1466209151651037196?t=z…
He’s 6’4″ 220, very large for a shortstop.
Yankee Clipper
It is embarrassing as a Yankees fan when our prime offseason was met with our big acquisition of Anthony Rizzo @ 2/$16M w/opt-out after 1 year. Especially when the class is designed to address our greatest position of need, SS (now C too).
When Twins can swing a deal for the #1 FA & he’s a SS, sign him & get the Yankees to take their 36-year old w/$50M left on his contract for a UTL player to cover that same void?
Think about it, Yankees paid nearly 50% of Correa to have JD & IKF for the same amount of time, potentially. And if he opts out, the disparate margin shrinks!
Oakland Yankees, man. Like Hal says, “I don’t need to spend to compete with anyone.” Yep, because he’s not competing at all. He’s running it like a Walmart.
DogDays2
Correa handled the trash- can issues very poorly. What makes you think he would have been great in New York? It wouldn’t work out.
Mickey777
@Clip. They are the “dynamic duo” Hal and Cashman. We need the new ownership!!!!
Ducky Buckin Fent
Yankee fans hoping that:
– Hicks stays on the field for 100 games
– We find a 4th outfielder in a dumpster or on the farm
– We find bench help in a dumpster or on the farm
– Kiner-Falefa takes “another step with the bat”
– Higashioka takes “another step with the bat”
– Rortvedt takes…yes; same thing!
Meanwhile, the Twins(!) are sloughing Kiner-Falefa off on us while those persnickety Twins land the premier free agent on the market. Full speed ahead, Cash…full speed ahead.
fox471 Dave
Yankee Clipper: Walmart is the most successful company in the history of business. Dodger fan here. Yankees have been relatively successful over the last 100 or so years.
mrmackey
So I guess the Astros GM should be double fired right?
Wonder if they will sign Story now to a similar deal.
clrrogers
Well, that’s a surprise.
orioles2026champs
It’s literally just because Boras gets his entire 5% on the next contract and wasn’t able to on this one. Now he’s got a “1 year deal” with security. Can’t wait for the twins to be .500 this year.
iknoweverythingesq
What?
Maclunkey
Wait. What?
Old York
He’s going to hope for another good season so he can get that long-term deal.
Jackalopal
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
bigpooky
I guess we know who’s NOT focused on winning as a primary motivator
Col_chestbridge
The Yankees? Also the Angels.
Seriously, it should really be said that years ago we all knew that so many premium shortstops would be on the market at once – Baez, Lindor, Seager, Correa, Story, and later Semien. Lindor rather smartly took himself out of the bidding early with the massive contract with the Mets.
The Dodgers took themselves out by trading for Turner and developing Taylor/Lux. The Red Sox have Boegarts so they were never really in it. That left two major market, big spending teams with notable holes at SS.
I still don’t understand why the Angels were out. They’re wasting the prime of Trout and Ohtani. Fletcher is a nice enough player but he can play 2B. It can’t be for Duffy. And in any case, the Angels make enough money that they should be the type of team making someone like Duffy into their super sub backup who comes in when inevitably Rendon gets hurt.
Somehow the Yankees took on a cast-off from 2 different teams that upgraded at SS this offseason. Somehow the Twins, Tigers, Rangers ended up with 4 of the 6 marquee guys.
I wonder, if Lindor’s iffy season last year scared teams off of investing in shortstops like this. We know the aging curve for Shortstops generally peaks at about 27, pretty firmly guaranteeing all of these guys wouldn’t be wort a mega contract 5+ years later.
padam
Well, didn’t see that one coming. Seager must be smiling right now.
Mozzarella
Lol Seager got 3x the amount Correa got
orange2001
Someone overpaid for Seager.
DogDays2
Really not a good comparison .
HBan22
Seager was a massive overpay. The Rangers spent way, way too much on him, Semien and Jon Gray combined in my opinion. Maybe signing one of the three I could understand. But the Rangers are more well built for 2023-24 and beyond. Feel like they jumped the gun on those signings. I don’t think Seager or Gray will be worth what they’re getting paid, and I think Semien’s deal was two years too long. They also have a ton of good infield prospects, so I’m not sure they used all that money very wisely.
DogDays2
Every long contract is an overpay, you’re not expecting value on the backend.
HBan22
True, but I thought that Seager’s contract was pretty over the top even taking that into consideration. If they had only signed one of Seager or Semien, I wouldn’t be nearly as critical of them. But giving both of them those contracts when they’re probably a good year or two away from truly competing, and when Seager will have to move off SS in a few years… eh.
stymeedone
Every FA signs for more than 29 other teams thought they were worth. They are all overpays.
emac22
I think that was a set up for CBA negotiations. Players thought everyone was going to use the new network contract money to be the Rangers so tax caps became valuable.
In fact Correa is the new norm and floors will mean everything.
bygserch
didn’t he pass up like $180 mil, or $200 mil or something?
At least it’s only 3 years, and if he does well there, can maybe finally sign that big deal he was looking for…not that $35 mil a year is tiny…
bygserch
forgot to add “if he doesn’t opt out,”
HBan22
He rejected a 10 year, $275 million dollar offer from the Tigers. What a stupid decision on his part. Correa seems to have a massive ego, and I think he wanted to top Seager and Lindor’s deals. Backfired on him, it seems.
DogDays2
Not being a jerk, but I don’t think you guys understand what he’s trying to do.
HBan22
And that is?
Jean Matrac
No, It’s too soon to say his decision backfired on him. He could hit the Jackpot next season and exceed that offer. As it is, he’s still making a higher AAV than if he’d accepted the Tiger’s offer. If he was in his 30’s I’d probably agree. But he can opt out, and be a FA again next season entering his age 28 season.
HBan22
Good points, but I still say he should have taken Detroit’s offer and I bet you if he could go back a couple months, he would accept it. I truly think he overplayed his hand a bit.
For Love of the Game
Plus he won’t have the QO next year, not that a QO is a big deal in the context of a $250-$300 million contract!
kylegocougs
There’s no excuse for this deal wtf Mariners
foreverseahawk
This is good for the mariners, gets him out of houston , But if he does good this year the mariners will have another shot at him if they want him because he will opt out.
Sunday Lasagna
Mariners 75-87 in 2022. Only the Phillies (-11) and the Mariners (-51) had negative run differentials and winning records last year. That magic of getting outscored and getting more wins than losses doesn’t last. They lost their clubhouse leader. Who is filling that role? Eugenio Suarez?
TMQ
No it will be Mitch Haniger and Crawford.
iameddie909
Why ?
Rangers29
Presumably so he can play baseball for them
Rangers29
A Dodgers type signing in a small market, I love it.
HalosHeavenJJ
Crazy. Makes Correa turning down that extension look foolish.
We’ll just have to boo him in a different jersey now.
DogDays2
Not really, he has another good year and he can opt out into FA again, this time without an assortment of good shortstops.
Sabermetric Acolyte
Why? It’s a sweetheart deal for Correa. It’s a short enough contract and he’s young enough that he can decide in which off season he stands a chance at cashing in. And in the meantime he gets paid over 30 million a year to wait.
Jean Matrac
HalosHeavenJJ:
No. If you want to judge the results of his decision, you have to wait to see where he is 5 years from now. He has a chance to be far ahead of the 5/$125M that was the best offer he got,
It’s possible that he could get injured, and fall short of that number, but, at the least, it’s still far too soon to make a judgement about whether it was foolish or not.
fox471 Dave
Halos,
Yes! Booing this guy is exciting for American League fans. Not sure how many times we will get this opportunity in National League.
RobM
Basically, it’s a one-year contract if he stays healthy with the opt outs. He re-enters a more friendly market next offseason, but he’s covered himself in case he gets injured.
Good deal for Correa, smart deal by Boras, good acquisition by the Twins.
padam
He’s still $200M+ short of his goal, rolls the dice on injury now (as you mentioned), and is hitting in what I’d say is relatively a pitchers ballpark as opposed to that nice indoor dome half the time. Not gonna be easy selling that $300M+ contract after next year.
Braves Butt-Head
He should have taken that offer from Baltimore. He just lost out on 200 mil over 7 more years. Hes imjury prone already if he misses time his value or drops in production his value will go down.
RobM
He likely hasn’t lost out on anything. He’s planning to go back into the market as a free agent after 2022. If he gets injured this year, then he can opt out and be a free agent after 2023. He’ll still be in his 20’s after both seasons. He’ll easily eclipse the $200M total. His former agent misread the market. That’s why he switched to Boras, who will get him his money next year. I am a bit surprised the Astros wouldn’t match this contract.
mrmackey
What if he gets injured in a way that he’s never the same from?
Can’t feel too sorry for anyone who’s going to make over 100 million no matter what happens, but he was shooting for 300+ million.
8791Slegna
Good for the Twins. Impressive! Most impressive!
mrperkins
Maybe he heard about the trash bags on the wall years ago and thought it could replace his trash can?
Sfgiants4l
If Buxton can play more than 25 games they might be good !
WAR_OVERRATED
Twins will need a Gold Globe first baseman to get his erratic throws and protection before and after his at bat. Don’t expect much; he’s already late. Good for CC.
Rsox
I wonder how many Golden Globe winners can field a grounder let alone reel in an errant throw?
Twins are looking like Sano will be back at 1B unless they decide see if Kirilloff can play there like they were trying before he got injured last season
twins33
I wish Kirilloff was the 1B and Sano the DH, but with LF being a hole I think you have it correct. Kirilloff is the best LF defense-wise that they have unless they give it to Celestino.
JonathanJ
Stupid move for Carlos. No cheap Crawford box homers to pad his stats in Minnesota.
Rsox
So instead of a pillow contract he got a parachute contract. A big year and he opts out, if he is injured or struggles he can stick around another year.
goob
Instead of a pillow contract – maybe a Beautyrest contract..?
Nabillionaires Live for Crismania
Absolutely wild, wow
Jaysmooth2121
Screw the trashtros ! Love it !
Dusty Baker's tooth pick.
Im amazed he signed a 3 year deal. I figured he’d either do a 1 year deal or a 10 year one.
RobM
He did better. He has opt-outs after years 1 and 2 so he can re-enter the free agent market. He gets the flexibility of a one-year deal with the benefit of locking in over $100M is he suffers a catastrophic injury.
JackStrawb
But Correa is paying for the opt-outs handsomely with the short deal that eats up at least one of the big years he was hoping to sell as a $40m-50m part of a $300m package.
This is a nice AAV but is also very costly to CC.
jessethegreat 2
He essentially did sign a 1 year deal. He just has 2 extra option years as insurance in case he struggles or gets hurt. He bet on himself with the options, but he also got the insurance policy
JackStrawb
With a strict one-year deal Correa could have gone for north of $40m. The price of settling for ‘only’ $35m is that insurance policy of the 2nd and 3rd year.
mack423
He signed three one-year deals here, basically.
Dusty Baker's tooth pick.
Yeah looking back I agree. My guess is he will opt out after the first year unless he misses close to half the games.
tercera_base
Kinda like this move for both club and player. Good job, Twins.
johndietz
What a great contract for the Twins AND Correa. He’s only entering his year 27 season and be a free agent whenever he wants before 30!! Clearly betting on himself with this contact. Only drawback could be less potent bats around him in the order could. The Astros have a stacked lineup that pads everyone’s stats. Arte couldn’t do that kind of deal with Boras? Does he KNOW we don’t currently have a shortstop?
Winner962
great for the twins!
bjhaas1977
Didn’t see that coming
5toolMVP
I had a feeling 3/105 with opt out would do it.
Dammit Angels this was doable!!
Winner962
arte would never sign him. he is not marketable.
roob
The Angels SHOULD have signed Correa.
Chief Two Hands
The Angels should have done a lot of things over the years, but they never do, do they? Signing Correa isn’t one of them.
hyraxwithaflamethrower
Real winners of this deal are the M’s, particularly if the Astros don’t get Story.
RobM
This should open up the Story market a bit now. Question is does Story sign a similar shorter-term deal with opt outs, or does some team go longer?
hyraxwithaflamethrower
I think he’ll get a mix of offers. As for what he prefers, who knows? His case is a little different coming off a down year. Maybe he would prefer a one-year make-good to maximize his potential for next year.
5TUNT1N
What’s correa to a contender return at the deadline?
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Does he have a no-trade clause? If not, that would be wild.
Sabermetric Acolyte
Just a guess, but if any no trade clause then a limited no trade clause. Maybe he can say no to 4-8 teams. But it seems to me the trade off to essentially giving Correa the option to walk away whenever he wants should come with the corollary for the Twins to try to cash out first and send him to whatever major market is willing to drop prospects and a 300 million extension.
kingbum
I think that’s exactly Minnesota’s intention, give it to the deadline see where we are at and if we suck flip Correa for prospects. I don’t think he has a “no trade clause” per say but the other team is going to want to know about next year from Correa in order to send the right prospects…
5TUNT1N
I mean it has to be comparable to the return for Chapman right? He’s that big of a difference maker,middle of the order bat and premium defensive position.
notnamed
i’d settle for banning opt outs
RobM
Who are you negotiating with?
notnamed
just throwing it out there. make somebody think.
JackStrawb
Makes us think you’re not too bright—is that what you were aiming for?
No Salary Cap For You! (Come Back One Year)
Who will beat the trashcans for him from the Twins coaching staff?
angt222
Breaking: Twins hire Carlos Beltran as quality control coach.
clotty
My guess is other teams stood pat on the opt outs but who knows
Yankee Clipper
My guess is other teams stood firm on NO to 10 years & NO to anywhere close to $300M for this dude…. Would you do that? I wouldn’t for almost anyone, but especially not Correa for several common sense reasons.
He won’t ever see the contract he’s looking for. The second he broke a rib getting a massage nobody was ever signing him long-term…. Hahaha!
MLB Top 100 Commenter
I think the Astros would have given Correa five years $170 million (they reportedly offered five years $160 million before lockout), with no opt outs. If I was Correa, I would have taken that over this deal. But I am risk-averse.
Yankee Clipper
Yeah, man, I had them at 5-6/$185M. Just talked about this with Goastros on the last posting. He’s a really good dude, btw. We both thought for sure Correa was headed back to the Astros.
Makes you wonder, was their newer offer less than $30M/year…or maybe because they didn’t want to offer opt-outs?
MLB Top 100 Commenter
I had thought all along Correa to Astros (with tiny chance to Phillies or Yankees). But I also thought Rizzo and Story to Yankees. Not so sure about that with IKF tagging along with Donaldson, though IKF could become utility.
emac22
Yankee fans should be laughing. Cash is the far bigger fool.
mannyl101
Correa is a scumbag! A great hitting & defensive SS and nobody took a serious hit on him! He’s a big jerk and I’m so glad the dodgers didn’t sign him! He still got paid but he & Boros sure didn’t see this coming!
foreverseahawk
ya they did, if he would have signed a long term contract this year his former agent would have received most of the agent money .But since this really turns out to basically be a 1 year deal if he stays healthy and productive, Next year boras would receive all of the agent money, Boras knows exactly what he is doing .He will get his money but also protected his client with a 100 plus million guarantee in case of injury.
Yankee Clipper
A) Lololol
B) Nice going, Twins! Signed top-tier FA and have what looks to be an exciting under-the-radar (maybe not anymore) competitive team…
C) No offense to The Twins fan base intended here, seriously; but, I sincerely hope Correa tanks…. He should’ve never turned down the better offers he had. May work out for him when he opts out but he’s never getting that Seager money & lots of people said he would pass him.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Hi, Yankee Clipper.
Did Correa (and Boras) spurn a similar deal with Astros and the Yankees because they were upset that neither offered eight to twelve years at $250-$350 million?
Wow!
Yankee Clipper
He gave up so much money, Manny, I just don’t see him getting the years or the money back, man. This is actually good for the game and I’ll tell you why I believe that:
Negotiations the owners though they had all power, players demonstrated effectively they didn’t & created a more balanced CBA
But, although that was positive, imo, it also reinforced a faulty notion of guys like Correa that they simply need to wait and someone is going to give them the money, almost as if it’s …. required (probably not the right word choice). Nevertheless, this shows players that waiting too long, trying to hold teams hostage because you think you’re getting the most years/money because the last guy did, is far from a guarantee.
We begin to see more balance again – plus it’s Correa so it couldn’t happen to a nicer individual, so there’s that…
MLB Top 100 Commenter
I think part of it is PR and the trash can scandal but a bigger part of it is injury risk.
I agree that he seems unlikely to get this back. Maybe next year he will get the 5 years and $160-$170 million but his batting may suffer a tad with Twins.
I do think if Boras had made it known that Correa would take seven years at $30 million per year there would have been a taker. But after the Seager and Semien deals, and on the heels of Lindor, they falsely assumed that three overpays guarantees a fourth.
Not the end of the world for them if Yankees can re-sign Judge in the next month. They do not have the pitching depth to dominate but they have the hitting to stay in the mix and play in the Fall.
Yankee Clipper
Yeah, very true, but this move does make the Twins a lot better. Yankees have stayed fairly stagnant and has to hope for some repeat performances & bounce backs.
Playing for the WC appearance , man…. Yuck.
JackStrawb
No one put up more rWAR than Semien in 2021, in 2019-2021, in 2018-2021… so calling 5/175 an overpay seems distinctly odd. He’s surely likely to provide more value than, say Freeman.
JackStrawb
Oops–…7/175.
5toolMVP
How much is Seager being paid in 2022?… and Correa?
Correa is betting on himself to have another 7+WAR season in 2022 and opt out for the 8-9 year deal worth $320-350m, maybe even more.
How would that compare to Seager money?
5toolMVP
I think Correa is ahead in 2022 dollars and could parlay that to a bigger overall payday than Seager the next 10-11 seasons.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
I doubt it, notwithstanding inflation.
Yankee Clipper
He is never ever getting that, imo. He will be even older and teams are apparently reluctant to spend that type of money. He can bet on himself but those 7-WAR seasons don’t just Will themselves along. Even if he does repeat, nobody is going to pay him for 9 years, man. Just my opinion. Gets hurt too much while young, doesn’t have the body type to age well at SS, historically. He also has a very, very limited selection, so the club has the leverage, just like now. They simply don’t want to pay.
Zonedeads
You sound ridiculous. He’ll be 28, which is not old and Seager is injured just as much if not more and got paid.
Rallyshirt
Wisdom. Better to have talented player betting on himself than have him locked down on the couch.
Moneyballer
@yankee clipper you sound upset, are you upset? Would you like to talk about it? I mean it’s not everyday the Twins get the better of the Yankees but they certainly did here. Enjoy Donaldson’s calf problems!
MLB Top 100 Commenter
On a different topic, I just laughed when I saw:
“Is there any meaning behind choosing #27?”
Seiya Suzuki:
“Mike Trout… I love you.”
youtube.com/watch?v=j-Wf-jVSe6w
Get Off My Mound
Lol, thanks for this.
jonbluvin
But the big market teams are getting all the big time free agents.
DogDays2
Huh?
RobM
Sarcasm.
TradeAcuna
This is a good baseball transaction. The Astros are no longer a top team. Time for the other teams in the West to take over. Now for somebody to dethrone the Dodgers already!
Stone Cold Steve Austin
You’re kidding yourself if you don’t think the Astros are the favorite to win the west this season. They were the number one offense last year. Sure losing Correa hurts a little but still a stacked lineup
Get Off My Mound
Um What
BraveLil'Toaster
Safe from Correa making life difficult in the WS.
Not bad…
honey nut ichiros
I hope Thad Lenine sends Brian Cashman a Thank You card.
goob
I love the handle, “honey nut ichiros”. :))
luclusciano
I am sure Cashman will send him a “you’re welcome” when the Twins are watching the Yankees in the playoffs
JonathanJ
Why does everyone keep saying next year will be a better market for Correa? Trea Turner, Bogaerts, and Swanson will be free agents. It’s not that great….
DogDays2
Still better
RobM
Unlikely the Dodgers let Turner leave post Seager. Xander likely would be moved to a new position. Swanson? Meh.
It would be funny if Story also signs a short-term contract with an opt out next year and they’re both back on the market.
Sabermetric Acolyte
That could also potentially make the Dodgers and the Red Sox bidders.
Jean Matrac
Turner is the only one of those guys at same level as Correa. Bogaerts isn’t a SS, and, while I like Swanson, he’s nowhere close to Correa.
Moneyballer
He would be the best out of that bunch!
Kelly Wunsch N' Munch
Twins quietly (well maybe not too quiet) building a better team. If they’re able to sure up their pitching staff, they may be in contention for their division. The White Sox haven’t addressed their weaknesses from last season. The White Sox starting rotation is questionable also. I’d still say the White Sox are the favorites to win the Central, but their margin for error is getting smaller and smaller. The gap is quickly closing. The White Sox better wake up and sure up their situation. I’m no fan of Correa personally, but an excellent move for the Twins and Correa.
BaseballClassic1985
Looks like you should’ve taken the $275 million Detroit offered you, you greedy, cheating stiff!
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Juan González says, “I concur”.
Zonedeads
Why would he want to lock himself down to a terrible team? He can choose when to hit the market in the next three years when better teams will be interested, no lockout and less comp at ss
Hard to walk with four balls
There are 170,000,000 reason that are rather easy to think of.
angt222
No one saw that coming. Correa can stay for the life of the contract and still tryout FA again at age 30.
foreverseahawk
Over all its a good signing for baseball ,When the smaller market teams try everything they can to compete.
sufferforsnakes
Stupid.
antsmith7
Wonder if the Twins did this just so they can flip him at the deadline for assets? Barring injury there is a 100 percent chance he opts out after this year.
brucenewton
Boras gets full rate this way. He played Correa potentially.
Who would have thought Story might get more years and total money?
roob
Good deal for the Twins. It’s smart and could work out well for them. No huge long term risk.
Highest IQ
That’s a great deal for both sides. Twins are a much more interesting team now and Correa gets a nice avv and the ability to enter the market again.
DS1
Correa is over rated.
Wilmer the Thrillmer
Seager gets 325mil and Correa gets 105mil. Didn’t see that coming.
Top remaining free agents.
Story
Conforto
Soler
Pham
Jean Matrac
The Seager and Correa deals are apples and oranges.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
How so?
I mean every player is unique. Both have great skills, both are brittle. Seager is liked by fans, Correa less so.
But apples and oranges? What does that mean?
Sabermetric Acolyte
The deals are hard to compare, not the players, Seager basically signed his last major contract. Correa on the other hand still can possibly sign another massive contract. Even if he plays 3 years in Minnesota he’ll only be 29 and could still sign a new deal. Or he could hit the free agent market next year if he believes he could get more money. The gamble for Correa, of course, is that he’ll stay healthy and productive. But still, ask again in 1-5 years on who got a better deal and we may get another answer.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
I agree with everything that you said. But Seager could have gone that route and chose otherwise, as most would. Not apples and oranges to me. Prefer to say that the Story is not finished.
Jean Matrac
Manny:
Because we know what Seager will make for the next 1o years, which is probably going to be the rest of his career. Anything post-contract probably won’t be significant
All we know for sure about Correa is what he’ll make next season. How can you compare a 10 year contract, to one that has an unknown length, that will be 3 years max, but potentially only 1 year?
The only way to compare is by AAV, but that’s only one aspect of a contract.
JonathanJ
If Story goes to the Astros I bet he puts up better offensive numbers playing half his games in Minute Maid than Correa does playing in Target Field….
MLB Top 100 Commenter
I would take Correa in that bet. You would probably only win if Correa is injured more, which is always a possibility with him.
JonathanJ
According to baseball savant Trevor Story would have had 41 HRs if he played all his games at Minute Maid last year vs 19 if he played all his games at Coors Field. Correa would have had 34 HRs if he played all his games at Minute Maid vs 22 at Target Field and 19 at Coors.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
More home runs is slightly different than better offensive numbers. Your response is interesting and i don’t disrespect it, I just disagree. If Correa and Story play the same number of games, I expect better offense and defense from Correa.
Now if the D-backs pitchers go to AL West that would help. Over Story’s career playing at Chase Field, 105 games, he had 174 at-bats. Across those at-bats, he had 50 hits, 9 doubles, 4 triples, 13 HRs, and 32 RBIs. That equated to a .287, .361, .591, 147 WRC+ batting line.
Moonlight Graham
Wow, that defense, between Correa, Urshela, and Buxton. This trio almost makes up for Sanchez behind the plate.
Moneyballer
Jeffers will be behind the plate and he can defend. Sanchez will probably see his at bats in the DH slot as he rebuilds his value. Remember Gary Sanchez is a free agent after this season so he needs to turn in a solid year.
Baldkid
I don’t believe it’s a given that Sanchez is behind the plate (Jeffers). I could see him at DH more than C.
LordD99
Wakes up, looks at MLBTR on mobile, decides I’m dreaming Correa signed with the Twins, rolls back over for sleep.
raulito23
Eso se llama mala decisión de ambas partes.
Los Twins por darle 35 millones por año a ese jugador que sus estadísticas no valen.
Correa pq tendrá q poner una gran temporada para poder salirse del contrato y pedir mucho dinero.Baltimore le garantizaba 30 por año con los 300 q ofrecieron y sólo por librar a Boras de compartir comisión Jajaja.
bcjd
?De veras? La mayoria de los fans no estancia de acuerdo. A ver que pasa…
Wilmer the Thrillmer
Best starters available?
Cueto
Davies
Folty
Twins sign one of those guys. My bet is Cueto.
Chief Two Hands
Cueto seems like a good bet to land with the Twins.
Phillies2017
Anderson is better than Folty. I would also rather bet on Archer or Urena. Folty has been awful for a few seasons now.
captainskol
we might sign Cueto. he will be a back end rotation arm and that’s ok as long as the Twins make a huge push and get one of either Manea or Montas.
Chief Two Hands
Seems like Correa overestimated his value and the market just wasn’t there.
Moneyballer
Not really, he just made an incredibly smart decision and is betting on his ability! A guy of his talent, the market will always be there.
luclusciano
Not sure. His “value” is $35 mil per year. He could have 3 great seasons and come out with a 7/310, 3 mediocre seasons and come out at 7/190 have 1 amazing season and still come out of this with a 10 year deal next year.
Everything is speculation, but we can confidently say he valued himself at $30mil per year and got better.
Poppin' Balls
Seems like Boras just wanted more commission to me.
Moneyballer
Probably right, Boras was like…well I get nothing from this deal, I need to set myself up for the next deal! Watch him “advise” his client to opt out no matter what next offseason!
goob
I thought he’d wind up in the KBO, because you see, his last name…
Lurking, looking, and laughing...
Unreal…
Phillies2017
Listen, I read the first 30 comments and didn’t see this so I’m just gonna say it.
This is an absolute power move for a team that’s trying to do a swift rebuild well. Josh Donaldson is old and was pretty average last year. Odds of him absolutely rebounding to Oakland/early Toronto form weren’t great. You give Buxton an affordable extension to have him in town for when the team was competitive. Think about it. Buxton’s 28. Realistically, he has 3-4 years left until he starts declining. Correa helps try to push the team to compete to some extent in 2022, and if not, Correa has a very likely chance to immediately the best rental bat on the trade deadline market that could net a package of 3-4 very good prospect.s Especially from a team looking to extend him.
I salute the Twins on this move. Yes, they took a risk, but it’s a very high upside risk worth taking. Correa’s going to get you more in a mid-season trade than Donaldson.
emac22
It’s funny seeing people complain that the Twins are basically rebuilding too fast..
You don’t rebuild so you can stink and build through the draft. You rebuild to get rid of you old players on bad contracts and replace them with great young players. While that usually takes 5 or 6 years you don’t usually have a team like the Yankees their to clean out your garbage in time to sign the top free agent on the market.
The Twins just added a young two way star and traded a prospect for a solid number two starter. You’re a couple of pieces away from being done in an era where the cheap prospects you were going to slowly rebuild with are worth more in trade than quality veterans.
Dustyslambchops23
Nice move but they have no pitching x
35 mil SS to finish 3rd in the division
Moneyballer
They have more than you think plus this offseason is not over….they could also bring in some mid-season reinforcements if they are competing.
48-team MLB
Correa’s great grandson will be a member of Minnesota’s next championship team.
Moneyballer
ABCDEFU.
48-team MLB
0-18
zacharydmanprin
Curious what the Astros do now. The AL West is up for grabs and the A’s made their moves a week ago. If this move is made before the A’s trades – do they hold off and wait until the trading deadline?
48-team MLB
The Astros could always try to sign Story but I doubt that he goes there.
jjd002
The west isn’t up for grabs. No team will finish within 7 games of Houston.
Fred McGriff
The NL East and the AL East are the two strongest and most competitive divisions in baseball
Hard to walk with four balls
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
damian56x
Regardless of whether they are or not, exactly what does that post have to do with the subject @ hand?
Oh…that’s right…nothing whatsoever.
Jean Matrac
Crime Dog:
Are you predicting for 2022? Because in 2021 the NL West was much better than the NL East.
Stats show this: The only team in the NLE to not have a losing record against the NLW was the Marlins who went 17-17. The rest of the division were a combined 16 games under .500.
3 of the 5 NLW teams had winning records against the NLE, and the division was a combined 20 games over .500 head to head.
The Saber-toothed Superfife
Even if Twins do less than expected, he can always agree to get traded, right?
If he get injured, they have insurance, right?
The likelihood of Correa stinking up the place is no too likely, is it?
Maybe Correa wouldn’t mind being someplace where he can win, right?
He probably doesn’t mind if that is in TC or wherever precious goes, does he?
An opt out maybe isn’t so tempting when you know you are with a real winner, is it?
Pretty good deal all around I’d say.
For the fans, for the team and for Corea
jdgoat
It’s extremely hard to believe that the Yankees wouldn’t beat a deal like this. Are they not looking for a bit of a stopgap with the hopes that one of their two big SS prospects will develop into an everyday player? It seems like Minnesota negotiated the perfect deal that Cashman would have been looking for.
Moneyballer
If things fall right and they can somehow avoid the injury bug, this team can be DYNAMIC this season and win a lot of games! They need to further invest in starting pitching but they are certainly on the right track! Best offseason the Twins have had, ever!
Moneyballer
So the twins shifted from around a 3 war often injured player in Donaldson to a 7 war player in Correa who saw twice as many at-bats in recent years and still have very capable options (Urshela / Miranda) to take third. That is front office wizardry for a small market team playing in the AL Central. Major props!
ChrisEnvy76
I wanted Correa on the Cubs, but honestly at 35.1 Million? Then if he does well he is gone and if he is crap or his back goes out you’re stuck with him? He is pretty good, but looking at his numbers I am shocked he is getting that kind of money even for a year.
WolvesSufferer
Not sure what stats you’re looking at, then. Correa’s been worth more than $40 million in 3 different seasons, and was worth $46 million last season alone, according to FanGraphs.
The Saber-toothed Superfife
Who is fangrapghs? And why should anyone even care? They are an advertisement tool.
Simm
Bad take. This would of been a great deal for the cubs. Plus if he sucked they could afford it. All the cubs have to do is act like a larger market money printing club they are. Correa made perfect sense even a 10 year deal would of. Same reason Baltimore was concedering it the cubs should of.
Short stops that are great and Correa is great are the perfect position to sign long term deals with young players. That sets your foundation to build around at a position of value.
Simm
Correa clearly couldn’t find the long term deal he wanted so he pivoted. Smart by him.
What like about this deal for Correa is the high aav and the opt outs. He can definitely still get the overall amount he was looking for in future years.
What I dont like is the team he selected for 2 reasons. One I dont see him getting the exposure on the twins because I still think they are going to miss the playoffs, plus are a small media market team. The second reason I dont like this is the ballpark. The twins park and others in this division may very well hurt his power numbers. This could hurt his market next year.
Twins side I like the deal 100%. Short term, star power. Good for the game to see small market teams spend money. Gives them a punchers chance at making the playoffs.
So mostly good on both ends and would love it more for Correa if the park was a bit more hitter friendly.
Moneyballer
Correa has a 1.200 OPS at Target Field, seems like he enjoys hitting there.
ohyeadam
Every visiting player has great numbers at Target. Twins pitchers are bad
vikefansbc
What are you talking about?! A) It does not matter what team a player plays for as far as exposure is concerned. B) The Twin Cities metro is the 13th largest media market in the U.S., so that does not make them a small market team. C) The Twins set the record for the most homers in a season, while playing at Target Field.
WAR_OVERRATED
Sorry… Help me to understand…Power? The first player ever getting paid over $15m a year without a single season with 30hrs/100rbis. He should thank Houston first baseman gold glover and all players batting before and after him. CC should be prepared for an overdose of breaking balls and off speed pitches outside the strike zone. Good for him anyway.
WAR benefits players playing less than 162 games. It shouldn’t be the only metric or statistics to look at ever. It does a lot of assumptions about replacement, obscure bonus per position and protection or extrapolation to 162 games.
The formula itself is not very complicated and it is WAR = (Batting Runs + Base Running Runs +Fielding Runs + Positional Adjustment + League Adjustment +Replacement Runs) / (Runs Per Win). The team has a lot to do with it.The WAR statistic stands for wins above replacement(who where when) and is used to try to see a players overall contribution **to the team**. I know there are a lot of writers here fans of it and very probably are employees who receive a lot of benefit aside. Should have full disclosure, please.
jakec77
If I’m a Yankee fan I have to be wondering why they didn’t just do this instead of making the trade with the Twins.
I wonder if the Yankees just were completely uninterested in bringing him in under any circumstances? Or maybe he didn’t want the NY market?
Best Screenname Ever
Didn’t want to risk Gardner not coming back.
Joseph Gonzalez
I think he wants a bigger contract from a cont Mede he is interested in so he is going to try again next off season
Joseph Gonzalez
*contender
Dutch Vander Linde
So much for waiting for that 10/200mil contract.
Dutch Vander Linde
I think he’s still getting punished for that Astros cheating.
jjd002
Punished by getting the 2nd highest per year average of any offensive player? You have a strange definition of punishment.
Moneyballer
10/200 would have been a HORRIFIC contract for Correa. He’s going to make 100 million+ more by going this route.
jeppeson
You can bet the Twins already have deals in place for pitching. Remember 91 when 2 deals (Chili and Morris) took them from last to a World Series Championship.
ohyeadam
Last to first!
riffraff
I can see it now.. elimination game between Twins and NYY.. Sonny Gray pitches 9 inning 2 hit shutout going into the bottom of the ninth. 2 outs..bases empty.. Correa reaches on IKF error, Urshela reaches on Rizzo error and Sanchez hits 3 run homer to send Twins to the World series.
damian56x
The Yankees have owned the Twins in postseason play for all of the 21st century so far. Unlike the Twins division rivals in the Tigers, where it has been the opposite in their postseason series vs Yankees.
Hard to walk with four balls
What a moron…. he should have taken that deal the Tigers offered him.
damian56x
Maybe Correa should have, but I am not that unhappy that the Tigers wound up signing Baez instead. If he opts out in 2 years, Miggy’s enormous contract will also be off the books as well. Plenty of $$ to sign Correa /some other FA SS… or maybe their prospect in Kreidler could step in.
Milwaukee-2208
All this just to sign with the Twinkies for barely 100? Mr 330 million my a*ss
vikefansbc
People on here crack me up. Did the Twins just improve their team? YES… Did they spend your personal money to do it? NO… Would you rather be a fan of a team like this that is at least putting in an effort to win, or a team like the Pirates who never even try?!
mrpadre19
Trevor Story next…..
Joseph Gonzalez
For the people saying that cashman needs to be fired over this move I guess every other contending GM needs to as well as they too didn’t get this deal lol
WolvesSufferer
No, the difference is Cashman basically decided to trade for Josh Donaldson and IKF instead of signing Correa. Donaldson + IKF will make about $26 million this year, Correa $35 million. $9 million is nothing to the Yankees.
They would’ve had to find a different trade for Sanchez/Urshela, or they could’ve kept Urshela as depth.
I sort of understand the Yankees decision, since they filled two holes (3B and SS) with two solid players, but it’s hard to argue that Correa + whoever they used at 3b wouldn’t be better next season than Donaldson + IKF. And of course the fact that the Twins can’t make this move without the Yankees taking Donaldson’s deal, makes it easy to understand why lots of Yankees fans are upset.
Joseph Gonzalez
I get all of that but couldn’t the Astros have done this deal and the other contenders who needed a shortstop as well ? Yes. But did they ? No
The question is why ? As a yaknee fan I’m honestly not upset, I’m more surprised than anything else. I think he just wants a much longer commitment from a contender of his choosing
whyhayzee
Go yaknees!
jjd002
The Astros have to pay Tucker and Alvarez soon, too.
emac22
The question is why cashman purchased Correa for the Twins instead of for his own team.
It isn’t about why other contenders didn’t have the money in their budget. It’s why the Yankees did and decided to spend it on Donaldson and Rizzo.
CaptainHooks
Incredible signing for the Twins. Welcome to Twins Territory, Carlos Correa!!!! Now the Twins need to complete the trade with the As for Sean Manaea AND Frankie Montros. Perhaps a package of Luis Arraez, Brent Rooker, Randy Dobnak and Lewis Thorpe would be enough. All 4 Twins should make the As staring roster, and are under team friendly control for at least 4 years. Manaea and Montros would give the Twins solid 2-3 starters behind Sonny Gray that would improve the Twins rotation, and give the Twins a chance to WIN NOW! Go Twins!!! Welcome to Minnesota, Carlos Correa!
Baldkid
^^This right here. Although I believe the Twins would have to give up more or better players to the A’s. The Twins have a glut of middle infielder types, I could see some of them included in this trade to the A’s.
agrorolm
Chicago White Sucks jealous fans 3..2..1..
damian56x
White Sox are still a very formidable ballclub, and they are ALCD champs until or unless one of their rivals knocks them off.
Dumpster Divin Theo
Trolling Ronnie Woo woo Chicago Cubs fans 3..2..1..
❤️ MuteButton
I think his back injury history had a lot to do with teams not wanting to give him a long-term deal.
Paul Griggs
Oh, for Pete’s sake, you whiner 49ers need to move to San Francisco. These same people were complaining about the Twins not making any moves and. now they whine about making a move every team in the league would drool to have. You people need psychiatric help!
resident
Hope he enjoys playing in the snow and cold of the north.
Baldkid
^^^HAHAHAHA what a clown response!
Chassoo
Scherzer has the highest average annual salary, not Trout.
Amanda
i wonder if at his press conference he’ll be stupid enough to say they have a great team that can win it all, it will be adorable seeing him say that with a straight face. I also cant wait to see Watson say that in Cleveland. imagine mouthing the words ‘ we can win a superbowl here in Cleveland’
WolvesSufferer
Even the Red Sox managed to win a world series after a century of embarrassment, so it’s possible a team with 30 years of struggles could win one too.
Amanda
the twins didnt get him to win, they got him cause teams make money through tv revenues and who watches, why do you think seattle signed robinson cano? it was because nobody cared about them and they needed something to act like they are trying.
WolvesSufferer
Yes the Twins just spent $35 million on a shortstop to increase their TV revenue, something that is already negotiated and fixed for years to come. /S
This puts the Twins into wild card contention immediately.
whyhayzee
“Gosh, I hope something happens so I can complain about it.”
– 90% of the posters here
30 Parks
If this is the best deal he could find, then Correa was held accountable for his obnoxious handling of the Astros scandal. $105 million of accountability, granted, but that’s MLB. I hope it snows in Minnesota until mid-June.
jjd002
Lol. The cheating had nothing to do with it. Didn’t hurt other former players or the old manager. It was a league-wide issue, so it is a non-issue. Only an issue with the fans who think their team didn’t cheat.
CluHaywood
Yeah, only fans that have an issue with it were literally everywhere. There wasn’t a single stadium the Astros weren’t booed relentlessly, garbage cans banging in the stands, inflatable garbage cans tossed on the fields. Whiny turds like Correa and Altuve complaining about the fan treatment. Got to be so much Dusty Baker had to say that somehow a year without playing in front of fans was penance enough and to forget it happened. They deserve the stigma throughout the rest of their careers.
jjd002
You’d be pissed if you were a fall guy for a league wide issue, too. They apologized multiple times, but people like you seem to believe they never did. And you know your favorite team was doing the same, right?
TennVol
Hmm, Jose Berrios would good with the Twins right now…
Baldkid
He didn’t want to sign long term with the Twins – look it up
msqboxer
This is rent a player…Correa stats are going to crater with these players around him.
Libpwnr
Gotta use those DL slots, so why not spend 35MM on one of them?
cheapseater
Not off topic: Joe Jackson is still banned from the Hall of Fame.
Col. Taylor
That’s because he doesn’t have any shoes.
dimelotitony
this is a smart move by the twins front office they turned the yankees trade into getting urshela, sanchez,gray and now correa even if they end up in last they made a smart business move. Think about it fans now will go to the park as merchandise sales will go up which means revenue will flow endlessly with his signing and the other trades and ballplayers they are bringing in. From a front office decision giving correa two straight opt outs is genius if he has a great year he can opt out and you used him for a year to gain that revenue if he gets hurt then the following year all he has to do is stay healthy and then he can opt out 2nd year the worst scenerio if be hurt all 3 years but is a 3 year contract and not long term like texas with simeon and seager or dodgers now with freeman. In making thus shrew business move it demonstrates to small market teams to be creative the ends justifies the means. As for cashman he got played into picking up donaldson and ikf while resigning rizzo and it pushed the yankees not only past the first penalty but the 2nd penalty without really improving much so he better pray volpe has a great year next level of the minor leagues otherwise the new gm that wont have any scentimental attachments to jeter in what correa said about his gold gloves will almost certainly sign him next year.
Mystery Team
I have no problem with this move for either side. I have always said that no player should ever get more than a four year deal. All these eight and ten year deals do nothing but handcuff teams. Good for both guys and now if Correa doesn’t like the direction the Twins go in he can simply leave. Texas on the other hand is chained to the ball known as Corey Seager and his good not great game for ten years. They’ll be begging the Dodgers or Yankees to bail them out of that deal in two or three.
Joseph Gonzalez
Aka Alex Rodriguez 2.0 ? Lol
twins33
I am still in shock. Signing Correa is what I wanted but I never thought it would happen for obvious reasons.
twinky
wowza!
DarrenDreifortsContract
Correa thought he was getting the same contract as Seager lol.
Cheaters never win!
WolvesSufferer
Poor Texas, paying Seager all that money instead of Correa.
jjd002
Guy signed a $100 million contract and you say he didn’t win? Besides, every team was doing what they were doing, including Seager’s old team.
Unclenolanrules
He has a ring. Whether you like it or not.
toolsbutchp
Interesting coincidence. 2012 draft, Buxton was favorite to go number 1 in draft…Twins may have had Correa in their sights and now finally got their man. 2013 draft, Appel went 1-1…Rockies apparently wanted Bryant at 3 thinking Cubs were going to take a pitcher in Gray.
Twins finally got their man in Correa and the Rockies finally got their man in Bryant. Interesting.
Unclenolanrules
Interesting perspective.
dman07
Twins need pieces. Look for them to Move Correa at the deadline IF they’re not in striking distance. This contract will cost them less than $35 mil