Matt Holliday Resigns As Cardinals’ Bench Coach; Joe McEwing Hired As Replacement
The Cardinals announced Thursday that Matt Holliday has resigned from his position as the team’s bench coach. He’ll be replaced by Joe McEwing, who’s spent the past 15 years on the White Sox’ coaching staff. It’s a surprising announcement, given that Holliday was only hired to the post back in early November. Both Bob Nightengale of USA Today and Katie Woo of The Athletic suggest that Holliday’s decision came down to a matter of wanting to spend more time with his family (Twitter links).
Holliday, 43 this weekend, played in the big leagues from 2004 to 2018, donning a Cardinals uniform for much of that time. It thus made for an exciting return to the franchise when it was reported in November that he would take over the bench coach job that was left vacant when Skip Schumaker left to become manager of the Marlins.
However, with Spring Training now just over the horizon, it appears that Holliday has had a change of heart. Instead of returning to the MLB life of constantly being on the move from roughly January/February through October/November, he will choose a less-nomadic path and spend more time with his family. Holliday has four children with the eldest of those four, Jackson Holliday, having just been selected by the Orioles with the first overall pick in the 2022 draft.
As for McEwing, 50, he spent some time with the Cardinals as a player back in 1998 and 1999. He went on to suit up for the Mets, Royals and Astros. He’s since transitioned into coaching, starting in the minor leagues of the White Sox system in 2008. He jumped up to the big league team for the 2012 season, spending time as third base coach and bench coach through 2022.
Red Sox Designate Connor Seabold For Assignment
The Red Sox have designated right-hander Connor Seabold for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for right-hander Corey Kluber, per a team announcement.
Seabold’s DFA registers as something of a surprise, as the 26-year-old (27 later this month) is generally regarded as one of the better pitchers in Boston’s system. While he’s certainly older than most “prospects” at this juncture, each of Baseball America (No. 23), MLB.com (No. 21) and FanGraphs (No. 7) ranked Seabold favorably within the Red Sox’ farm as recently as midway through the 2022 season.
Granted, Seabold has been rocked for 25 runs in just 21 1/3 big league innings to this point in his career. However, the right-hander also turned in a strong 3.32 ERA with a 24.7% strikeout rate and an excellent 5.3% walk rate in 86 2/3 innings of Triple-A ball in 2022. That marked the second straight Triple-A season in which he’s pitched to an ERA in the mid-3.00s with average or better strikeout and walk rates.
Seabold, however, has battled injuries throughout his career — including some elbow troubles in 2021 and a forearm strain in 2022. Those recent arm troubles surely played into this decision, even if Seabold finished out the 2022 season in what appeared to be good health. Durability has been a concern that’s been cited on multiple scouting reports for the 6’2″, 190-pound righty. The fact that he’s tossed just 364 innings, between the big leagues and the minors combined, since being drafted in 2017 speaks to those concerns. Even accounting for a half season in his draft year and he lack of minor league games in 2020, that’s a fairly light innings total for a pitcher who’s worked as a starter over the course of four full professional seasons.
Durability concerns notwithstanding, Seabold is a more or less MLB-ready arm with a solid track record in Double-A/Triple-A and with one more minor league option year remaining. That seems likely to generate interest from another club, be it via a trade or waiver claim. The Red Sox will have a week to trade Seabold, pass him through outright waivers or release him.
Phillies, Vimael Machin Agree To Minor League Deal
The Phillies and infielder Vimael Machin have agreed to a minor league contract, reports Melissa Lockard of The Athletic (Twitter link). Machin himself all but confirmed as much, thanking the Phils for a new opportunity in a tweet of his own.
Machin, 29, has spent the past three seasons with the A’s, who selected him out of the Cubs organization in the 2019 Rule 5 Draft. He’s seen sparse action at the MLB level, appearing in 112 games and tallying just 361 plate appearances during that time. The resulting .208/.290/.261 slash he’s posted as a big leaguer, understandably, hasn’t exactly been enough to force his way into the lineup more frequently.
That said, Machin has regularly been a terrific hitter at the Triple-A level, and that continued in 2022 when he slashed .324/.401/.457 with more walks (11.3%) than strikeouts (10.3%). Overall, he’s a career .307/.400/.468 hitter in Triple-A, where he’s walked at a hearty 12.8% clip with just a 14.9% strikeout rate. Machin hasn’t posted plus defensive metrics at any position in the Majors, but he’s played all four infield slots in the big leagues in addition to spending 23 games in left field in the minors.
The Phillies already have a deep infield mix, with defensive standout Edmundo Sosa likely ticketed as their primary infield option off the bench. Newly acquired infielder/outfielder Kody Clemens gives them another reserve option as well. However, the vast majority of Phillies players who are on the 40-man roster but ticketed to open the season in the minors are pitchers and outfielders. The organization is fairly thin on infield options in the upper minors, so bringing in a productive Triple-A veteran who can handle multiple infield spots makes some sense.
Cubs, Vinny Nittoli Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cubs and free agent right-hander Vinny Nittoli are in agreement on a minor league deal with an invite to big league Spring Training, tweets USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The Gaeta Sports Management client would earn a $775K salary in the big leagues. The Phillies designated Nittoli for assignment last week and released him a couple days ago, but he’ll only have a brief stay on the free-agent market.
The 32-year-old Nittoli made his big league debut in 2021 when he tossed an inning for the Mariners, capping off an eight-year grind to the big leagues. The former 25th-rounder spent the 2022 season with three different organizations, logging time with the Triple-A affiliates for the Yankees, Blue Jays and Phillies. He reached the Majors with Philadelphia in September, tossing a pair of scoreless innings out of their bullpen in the season’s final month.
In 52 innings between those three Triple-A clubs, Nittoli turned in a 3.81 ERA with a stout 30.8% strikeout rate and a similarly impressive 6.7% walk rate. He’s not a flamethrower, as his average 93 mph heater in the big leagues has been about a half mile per hour slower than the leaguewide average. That said, Nittoli still has plus strikeout and walk rates throughout his minor league career, including parts of three Triple-A seasons. He also has a minor league option year remaining, so if the Cubs select him to the 40-man roster at any point, he can be shuttled between Iowa and Chicago in 2023 without needing to first clear waivers.
The Cubs have had a quiet offseason on the bullpen front, which is line with recent trends for them. The front office has generally eschewed large-scale, costly additions since the ill-fated signing of Craig Kimbrel. Thus far, Chicago’s lone big league addition has been a one-year, $2.8MM deal for veteran Brad Boxberger. Nittoli, meanwhile, will join a growing list of non-roster invitees hoping to win a spot in a generally inexperienced Cubs ‘pen; Chicago has also added right-hander Nick Neidert and southpaws Ryan Borucki, Roenis Elias and Eric Stout on non-roster deals this winter.
Rangers, Sandy Leon Agree To Minor League Deal
The Rangers and veteran catcher Sandy Leon have agreed to a minor league contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). Leon, a client of the MAS+ Agency, will be in Major League camp this spring.
Leon, 33, split the 2022 season between the Guardians and Twins, batting a combined .169/.298/.211 in 86 plate appearances. It’s a small sample of playing time, but that’s generally representative of the level of offense the switch-hitter has provided over the course of his career. Outside of an anomalous 2016 season that saw Leon post a brilliant .310/.369/.476 batting line (124 wRC+) in 283 plate appearances, he’s generally been a well below-average hitter. Since the conclusion of that career-best 2016 campaign, he’s turned in a .190/.260/.292 line (48 wRC+) in 1167 trips to the plate.
Offense, clearly, isn’t the reason Leon continually draws interest from big league clubs. He’s regarded as an excellent defender and game-caller, generally posting above-average to plus framing marks while doing a good job controlling the running game. Leon has thrown out 30.3% of runners who’ve attempted to steal against him in his big league career, piling up 34 Defensive Runs Saved along the way and regularly stealing a healthy share of extra strikes for his pitchers.
The Rangers don’t have a dire need for catching help — far from it, in fact. On the big league roster, it’s likely that Jonah Heim and Mitch Garver will split the lion’s share of catching duties, and Texas has former top prospect Sam Huff as another alternative on the 40-man roster. Huff hasn’t yet carved out an everyday role for himself, but he’s just 24 years old and carries a .263/.321/.447 line in 165 big league plate appearances. Heim’s defensive prowess, Garver’s power and Huff’s penchant for strikeouts might all combine to push Huff to Triple-A to begin the season, but Garver is a free agent next winter, so Huff could play a more prominent role before long. If Leon heads to Triple-A Round Rock to serve as a backup catcher, he’ll provide a nice veteran mentor to work with Huff throughout the minor league season.
Red Sox Notes: Middle Infield, Rotation
The Red Sox were dealt a brutal blow this week with the news that infielder Trevor Story, who’d been preparing for a move from second base to shortstop in the wake of Xander Bogaerts‘ free-agent departure, required an internal brace procedure to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Story felt discomfort late last month when ramping up his throwing program, and subsequent testing revealed enough damage that surgery was required.
Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom met with reporters following the announcement yesterday, ominously declining to put a timeline on the injury while noting that a return in 2023, while not something that can be ruled out, is “not something, at this stage, that we want to bank on” (link via Julian McWilliams and Alex Speier of the Boston Globe). The prospect of losing Story for the entire 2023 season only further serves to create urgency for the Red Sox to strengthen their up-the-middle core.
Bloom acknowledged that even before Story’s injury, he’d been in the market for at least one up-the-middle player. The versatility afforded by both Story (who can play either middle infield position) and Enrique Hernandez (who can play second base and center field) left Bloom free to explore a variety of options. Now, likely needing a pair of external additions, it’d seem likely the Sox can cast an even wider net. Bloom, in fact, suggested that the search for up-the-middle additions “doesn’t even need to be limited to two” players, Speier tweets.
The center field market has been thin all offseason, which at least on paper would make a pair of infield additions an easier course to chart. The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey points out that Bloom implied that the preference may be for right-handed bats, given the glut of lefties already on the roster (e.g. Rafael Devers, Masataka Yoshida, Alex Verdugo, Triston Casas, Reese McGuire). That said, the free-agent market has already been largely picked over, so Boston won’t necessarily be able to be as selective as the front office might prefer.
There are still some right-handed-hitting middle infield options available in free agency, with Elvis Andrus, Josh Harrison, Donovan Solano and Jose Iglesias topping the list. On the trade front both Miami’s Miguel Rojas and Colorado’s Brendan Rodgers have at least been mentioned on the rumor circuit this offseason, though Rodgers only in connection with the Marlins’ bevy of MLB-ready young pitching.
Things are more sparse in center field, where the options are generally limited to veterans who could be available on minor league deals (e.g. Kevin Pillar, old friend Jackie Bradley Jr.). Bryan Reynolds, of course, headlines a thin trade market for outfielders. It should be further noted that the Sox aren’t likely to exclusively focus on righty bats, any such preferences notwithstanding. They’ve previously been linked to Marlins infielder Joey Wendle, for instance, and given the diminished state of the trade and free-agent markets, an openness to adding at least one other lefty bat gives them more flexibility.
Middle infield and center field aren’t the lone areas of focus for the Sox, either, as Bloom voiced a continued desire to acquire “impact” starting pitching — particularly arms who can be controlled for several years (Twitter link via Speier). That’s sensible, given that the current rotation — Chris Sale, James Paxton, Nick Pivetta, Corey Kluber and Garrett Whitlock — is teeming with uncertainty, even with a touted arm like Brayan Bello waiting in the wings.
The slate of middle-infield and controllable pitching needs does make the Marlins a natural fit in trade talks, though all indications have been that the Sox are reluctant to part with top prospects like Casas, Bello and Marcelo Mayer. That doesn’t close the door on a trade entirely, of course, but it certainly complicates matters. Other speculative trade partners with ample infield and/or rotation depth include the Brewers, Royals and Guardians.
Whatever path the Red Sox explore, they’re in a difficult situation. Needing a pair of up-the-middle position players at this stage of the offseason, with a thin set of options in both free agency and trade, is challenging enough. But the organization’s best trade chips are young, near-MLB-ready talents they’d prefer not to move, and payroll projections from Roster Resource put them only about $22MM shy of reaching the luxury threshold for a second straight season. Add in an ongoing search for controllable rotation help, and it’ll be challenging, to say the least, for the Sox to check all of their preferred boxes (controllable starter, multiple infield/center field options, hang onto top prospects, avoid repeat offense of luxury tax). Even if they’re able to do so, it’ll be a tough battle for them in a competitive AL East.
White Sox, Hanser Alberto Agree To Minor League Deal
The White Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent infielder Hanser Alberto, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The CAA client will be in Major League camp as a non-roster player this spring.
Alberto, 30, spent the 2022 season with the Dodgers and batted .244/.256/.365 with a pair of homers, nine doubles and a pair of triples in 159 trips to the plate. The Dodgers declined a $2MM club option on the well-traveled veteran, instead choosing a $250K buyout and sending Alberto back to the free-agent market.
The 2022 season was the least productive of Alberto’s career, but he’s not far removed from a more respectable .292/.315/.411 showing in 1036 plate appearances split between the Orioles and Royals from 2019-21. Thanks to plus bat-to-ball skills (career 12.2% strikeout rate) but also one of the freest-swinging approaches (career 2.3% walk rate) of any hitter in baseball, Alberto can regularly be counted on for respectable batting averages with middling OBP marks. He’s lacking in terms of extra-base pop, which has also contributed to negating some of the value derived from his penchant for putting the ball in play.
Still, as far as bench infielders go, a career .272/.294/.380 is decent — and it should be pointed out that Alberto carries a much stronger .323/.341/.449 slash in his career against left-handed pitching. He’s able to play second base, shortstop and third base, and Defensive Runs Saved pegs him as above-average at all three spots. (Statcast’s Outs Above Average likes his left-side defense but has panned his work at second base.)
The White Sox are still in search of a clear everyday second baseman, with current in-house options including Leury Garcia, Romy Gonzalez and Lenyn Sosa. Alberto will add some depth and could win a spot on the bench to help out against left-handed pitching. It’s unlikely he’d slide into a strict platoon with the switch-hitting Garcia, though, as Garcia’s career numbers are better against left-handed pitching than against right-handed pitching himself. Both Gonzalez and Sosa, meanwhile, are right-handed hitters as well. That arguably creates some redundancy, but a quality, versatile defender who can put the ball in play isn’t a bad depth option to stash on the bench or in the upper minors.
Orioles Acquire Darwinzon Hernandez, Designate Lewin Diaz
The Orioles announced Wednesday that they’ve acquired lefty Darwinzon Hernandez from the Red Sox in exchange for cash. First baseman Lewin Diaz was designated for assignment yet again in order to create a spot on the 40-man roster.
The 26-year-old Hernandez will give the O’s an arm capable of missing bats at an elite level, but he’s also been plagued by jarring command issues throughout his career. Hernandez has punched out a hefty 32.3% of his opponents in 85 1/3 Major league innings, but that’s accompanied by a disastrous 17.7% walk rate. He still managed a sharp-looking 3.17 ERA in 2020-21, but opponents shelled him for 16 runs in only 6 2/3 innings this past season, bringing his career ERA to an unsightly 5.06. Hernandez has a pair of minor league options remaining and averages better than 95 mph on his heater, however, so the Orioles will hope they can tame some of those command woes and unearth a quality bullpen arm.
For Diaz, this is incredibly his fifth DFA of the offseason. He first went from the Marlins to the Pirates by way of waivers, and the Orioles claimed him (for the first time) from the Buccos shortly thereafter. Baltimore traded Diaz to Atlanta, who designated him for assignment five days later. The O’s claimed him again on Jan. 5, but his latest stint on the Orioles’ 40-man roster will apparently last just five days.
It’s a dizzying whirlwind of transactions that have surely made for a chaotic and unsettling winter for Diaz — a 26-year-old former top prospect who’s yet to have much big league experience at the plate but is regarded as one of the sport’s best defensive first basemen. Diaz is just a .181/.227/.340 hitter in 343 trips to the plate as a big leaguer, but he’s .250/.325/.504 hitter in parts of two Triple-A seasons.
The Orioles have spent the winter trying to add some lefty-swinging depth at first base, hence their two claims of Diaz and their trade for former Royals slugger Ryan O’Hearn, whom they almost immediately designated for assignment. The goal, surely, is to be able to successfully pass players like Diaz and O’Hearn through waivers and retain them as non-roster depth options in the upper minors.
To this point, however, no team has succeeded in getting Diaz through waivers. The allure of his glove and decent power production in the upper minors has continually piqued the interest of other clubs around the league. The Orioles hold the No. 17 waiver priority in the game (determined by last year’s standings), and Diaz has yet to make it past them on the waiver wire (he landed with Atlanta by way of trade, not waiver claim). Time will tell whether the O’s can finally succeed this time around, but it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Diaz again landed with another club via waivers or a small trade. His DFA will be resolved within a week’s time.
Tigers Claim Edwin Uceta
The Tigers have claimed right-hander Edwin Uceta off waivers from the Diamondbacks, per a team announcement. Uceta was designated for assignment by Arizona as a corresponding move for the D-backs’ signing of veteran Evan Longoria.
Uceta, who turned 25 just two days ago, has spent time in the Majors in each of the past two seasons, tossing 20 1/3 innings for the Dodgers in 2021 and 17 innings for the D-backs in 2022. He’s struggled to a combined 6.27 ERA in that time, fanning 23% of his opponents against a more troublesome 11.5% walk rate. He’s generally done a decent job limiting hard contact — 88.4 mph average exit velocity, 37.4% hard-hit rate — but Uceta has struggles considerably with runners on base, as evidenced by a dismal 50% left-on-base percentage (roughly 23% lower than league average).
Indeed, when Uceta has had the benefit of pitching with the bases empty, he’s yielded an awful .189/.268/.216 to his opponents. With men on base, those numbers skyrocket to .288/.383/.591. Those glaring splits come in near-identical samples — 82 batters faced with the bases empty, 83 with men on base.
Uceta has roughly average velocity on his fastball (93.4 mph average), though he spins it at a well above-average clip. He complements that offering with a changeup and more seldom-used slider — the latter of which generated above-average spin this past season as well. He has a minor league option year remaining, and while his bottom-line results in Triple-A haven’t been particularly impressive (4.81 ERA in 78 2/3 innings), he’s fanned more than 30% of his opponents at that level. Walks have again been an issue in the upper minors, which is obviously a concern for a pitcher who’s struggled with runners on base.
That said, Uceta’s knack for avoiding hard contact, quality spin profile and ability to miss bats are all surely sources of intrigue for the Tigers. Detroit has thinned out its bullpen this winter, trading Gregory Soto to the Phillies and Joe Jimenez to the Braves while watching Andrew Chafin and Wily Peralta depart as free agents (though both Chafin and Peralta remain unsigned). That should create ample opportunity for Uceta to earn a look at some point, perhaps as early as Opening Day if he impresses during Spring Training.
Twins Re-Sign Carlos Correa
Jan. 11: The Twins have formally announced Correa’s return. A press conference is set for 11:30am CT.
Jan. 10: Carlos Correa‘s unprecedented free-agent saga looks to finally be drawing to a close, and it turns out he won’t even have to look for a new place to live. The former Rookie of the Year and Platinum Glove winner has reportedly agreed to a new six-year, $200MM contract with the Twins, which comes with four additional vesting options that can take the value of the contract to $270MM over a decade-long term. The Boras Corporation client does not have any opt-outs in the contract, though he will receive a full no-trade clause. The deal is expected to be finalized on Wednesday.
Correa will receive an $8MM signing bonus (paid out between 2023 and 2024) and annual salaries of $32MM in 2023-24, $36MM in 2025, $31.5MM in 2026, $30.5MM in 2027 and $30MM in 2028. The vesting options are valued at $25MM (2029), $20MM (2030), $15MM (2031) and $10MM (2032). Correa would vest his 2029 option by reaching 575 plate appearances the previous season; that number drops to 550 in 2029 (in order to vest his 2030 option), 525 in 2030 (to vest his 2031 option) and 502 in 2031 (to vest his 2032 option). The options would also vest if Correa finishes top five in MVP balloting, wins a Silver Slugger or claims an LCS or World Series MVP in the prior season. The Twins can still choose to pick up any of the options if Correa doesn’t meet the prior year’s vesting threshold.
The new deal between the Twins and Correa marks the latest and likely final twist in perhaps the wildest free-agent saga that’s ever played out. Correa, a two-time All-Star, agreed to terms with three different teams on three contracts of $200MM or more this winter — the first two of which were scuttled by concerns over the aforementioned right leg/ankle. Originally, Correa came to terms with the Giants on a 13-year, $350MM deal that blew the runner-up Twins out of the water. However, the Giants postponed Correa’s introductory press conference after raising some eleventh-hour concerns regarding his physical. The Mets, who hadn’t previously been involved in the Correa bidding, swooped in and agreed to a new 12-year, $315MM deal with Correa just days later, but New York raised similar concerns on Dec. 24, following their own physical.
At issue has been concern regarding the stability of Correa’s right leg and how well it will hold up over the life of a long-term deal. Correa sustained a significant fracture when sliding into third base as a 19-year-old prospect in the Astros’ system, which required surgery and the installation of a plate that is still in place to this day. While Correa has never been on the injured list due to the leg in the nine years since that injury, he did at least have a brief scare with it late in the 2022 season.
Correa was thrown out on a hard slide into second base and remained down on the field for several moments before leaving under his own power. After the game, he told reporters that he’d been hit on the plate in his leg and experienced brief numbness and vibration. Correa didn’t miss any time following that incident, however, and he went on to bat .346/.393/.481 with a homer and four doubles in 56 plate appearances from the day of that scare through season’s end.
The manner in which Correa’s leg and its hardware would hold up gave the Mets enough pause that they’re reported to have halved both the length and total guarantee of their original offer. The Mets still offered Correa the ability to match the original 12 years and $315MM they put on the table, but the back half of the contract was conditional and the team ostensibly would not budge from its stance on the matter. Unsurprisingly, Correa took the larger guarantee and considerably larger average annual value presented by the Twins on what is now the largest deal in franchise history.
The offseason leg drama surrounding Correa won’t do him any favors when it comes to shedding the “injury-prone” label that followed him early in his career, but it’s worth pointing out that over the past three seasons, Correa has appeared in 89.1% of his teams’ possible games. Eight of the missed contests in that time came early in the 2022 season with the Twins, when he spent a bit more than a week on the Covid-related injured list.
Nevertheless, all eyes will be on Correa’s leg for the foreseeable future. The uncertainty surrounding it was enough to drop Correa — a player the Twins adamantly maintained they never wanted to lose — back in Minnesota’s lap at a lesser rate than the ten-year, $285MM offer they put forth just one month ago, before he agreed to terms in San Francisco. It’s a stunning turn of events and a major narrative change for a Twins club that had been so focused on Correa in the offseason’s early stages that the majority of impact players were already off the board by the time it looked as though they’d been outbid by San Francisco.
With Correa now likely installed not only for the 2023 season but for the next six years, at the very least, the Twins’ short- and long-term outlooks are radically altered. Correa, who batted .291/.366/.467 with 22 home runs as a Twin this past season will be slotted back into the top third of a lineup that suddenly looks substantially deeper than it did just hours ago. He’ll follow leadoff man and reigning AL batting champ Luis Arraez, with Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco, Jose Miranda and offseason signee Joey Gallo among the names behind him in the order.
With Correa back in Minnesota, trade acquisition Kyle Farmer will shift back from starting shortstop to the utility role the Twins initially envisioned when acquiring him. Acquired from Cincinnati in November, Farmer is a former catcher who has seen time all over the infield in recent years. He can back up each of Correa, Polanco and Miranda while providing Minnesota with a potent bat against left-handed pitching. Correa’s return allows Farmer to be utilized in more advantageous platoon matchups, one year after the former Red slashed .309/.380/.568 against lefties (but just .235/.291/.320 against righties).
The return of Correa on a long-term arrangement also calls into question just where fellow shortstop and former No. 1 overall pick Royce Lewis might fit into the equation once he’s back to full health. Lewis has been plagued by miserable luck on the health front, tearing the ACL in his right knee two times in just over one calendar year. He recovered from that first ACL tear and burst onto the scene in 2022 with a .300/.317/.550 batting line in his first dozen MLB games — only to suffer that ligament tear while playing in the outfield. The outfield could well end up Lewis’ long-term home, but he could also be considered an option at third base (with Miranda perhaps moving across the diamond) or at second base as an heir to Polanco, who is entering the final guaranteed season of his contract. (The Twins hold a pair of affordable club options on Polanco, however.)
Correa’s $36MM salary (and half the payout on his $8MM signing bonus) bump the Twins’ payroll to roughly $157MM — a franchise record. The Twins have also added Gallo (one year, $11MM) and catcher Christian Vazquez (three years, $30MM) thus far in the offseason — a trio of moves that should upgrade the team’s defense at various key positions. While Correa didn’t match his 2021 Platinum Glove numbers in his first season with the Twins, he’s still generally regarded as a plus defender and ought to stabilize the position with quality glovework for years to come. If a move to another position is ultimately deemed necessary, he has the arm strength for a move to the hot corner, ranking 14th among all Major League infielders (min. 100 throws) in terms of arm strength in 2022, per Statcast.
The addition of Gallo has only made it seem likelier that Minnesota will eventually find a trade partner for Max Kepler, as the Twins are now flush with left-handed-hitting corner outfielders (Kepler, Gallo, Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, Matt Wallner). Kirilloff could see most of his time at first base, but even still, the Twins have as many as four viable corner outfielders for two spots — and that’s not even factoring in right-handed-hitting bench options like Kyle Garlick and Gilberto Celestino.
It all falls under the “good problem to have” cliche, as the Twins now have a bevy of options in the outfield corners and around the infield, freeing up the possibility to explore trades designed to augment the starting rotation and/or bullpen that might not otherwise have appeared quite so palatable.
Put more simply, while the jarring reunion with Correa will no doubt be regarded as the most substantial move of the offseason, it’s not likely to be the last. While the Twins might have erred toward gearing up for a transitional year in the wake of missing out on Correa, suddenly retaining him on the largest contract in franchise history figures to spur the front office into further activity.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the agreement and the terms (Twitter link). Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the vesting options and details surrounding the Mets’ reduced offer and surrounding Correa’s physical with the Twins (all Twitter links). USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweeted that the contract did not contain opt-outs. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter links) and Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reported details on the vesting options and salary structure. Heyman reported the vesting thresholds and the no-trade clause (Twitter links), while Dan Hayes of the Athletic reported the Twins’ ability to trigger the options even if Correa doesn’t meet the vesting mark (on Twitter). Nightengale tweeted the contract was likely to be announced on Wednesday.