Assessing the Twins' Signing of Carlos Correa

What I think got it done, (but remember none of this would have happened if SFG/NYM hadn't balked at the physical), is the FO's ability to be flexible.  It helps having a ton of salary space.

But they basically took a $35M "date" last year and found it that a long-term relationship had potential.

I like this signing for many reasons I have already espoused on this site before.
 

• Leadership
• Defense
• Hitting
• Solidifying our long running SS problem.
• Sliding Farmer into a super utility role.
• RH bat

Now if the Baseball Gods, (and they are fickler than Loki himself), smile upon the health of the Twins we should be a fun team to watch.

I am not penciling us in to Win the division, yet, but the Central Division maybe the easiest division to win.

TC Bear: "Skol"

I think Correa is going to have a chip on his shoulder for a while. Prove them all wrong, Carlos.

It's a pretty great deal for the Twins. The shorter term works for them and they have the payroll space now to front-load this contract for his prime years. 4 years on the back end if it vests at an AAV of less than $20M should look pretty reasonable assuming Correa continues to hit and stay reasonably healthy. There's still real risk with this deal, but they've mitigated it pretty reasonably considering the caliber of the player they are getting. But there's always going to be risk with any long-term deal, and sometimes you have to roll the dice. Correa is worth it, especially right now.

So nice not to have to worry about SS for a while. Correa checks every box; literally the only issue is whether or not he can stay healthy for the duration of the deal. You know what? That issue exists for every other SS who signed this offseason. I wish no ill on Dansby Swanson, but if he tears his ACL in year 2 of his deal...yikes.

Correa is a leader, a complete player who adds plus offense at the plate and elite defense in the field. I'm thrilled to have him back and glad the Twins stuck it out, accepted the risk, and made it happen.

Once the contract is officially signed, reports are we are much closer physical wise than other teams were, there will be domino of trades I am thinking.  We will clear up our OF, someone will get dealt I think, and someone on right side of IF will get moved I think as well. 

5 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Reports are that it's a frontloaded deal. Love that. Looks like it's 36, 36, 36, 31.5, 30.5, 30 then the vesting options kick in (basically has to be a full time player the season before) at 25, 20, 15, and 10.

This doesn't make them instant contenders as the key is still health and production from the young guys. Buxton and Correa signed for less than 50 million a year combined with a whole bunch of young position players around them on pre-arb and arb deals is a great situation in my eyes. Young guys need to stay healthy and produce. Same with pitchers. This team's future was always going to be dependant on the young guys stepping up. Correa and Buxton (talent-wise) are awfully nice supplements to the new, young core.

If the vesting option on the last 4 years doesn't kick in unless CC plays essentially a full season in year 6 of this deal then the Twins have done an excellent job of mitigating the risk.

Teams frequently prefer to defer money to later in a deal, and from a pure finance standpoint that makes sense (a dollar now is generally "worth" more than a dollar in 5 years), but in terms of roster and payroll management, front-loading can really help you out. I like this structure quite a bit.

This is great news. If I were a pitcher, I would want to pitch on a team which has a Platinum Glove CF and a Platinum Glove SS. And an experienced catcher who has a reputation for being good with the pitching staff. And a young super stud closer. 

I don't care what anyone...or anything...or any stats say.  It's Carlos Correa.  And he'll be with the Twins for the next 6 years.  Mic drop......

I like the adjustment in years - this is what makes sense.  Good luck to Correa to stay in top shape.  When you look at the impacts I have to say I prefer Gordon to so who do we off load one of these to.  

I am stuck with Gallo so some of my desires will be circumvented since I want Arraez, Kiriloff, and Larnach all in the lineup.  Of course the question mark is Kepler. 

56 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Reports are that it's a frontloaded deal. Love that. Looks like it's 36, 36, 36, 31.5, 30.5, 30 then the vesting options kick in (basically has to be a full time player the season before) at 25, 20, 15, and 10.

This doesn't make them instant contenders as the key is still health and production from the young guys. Buxton and Correa signed for less than 50 million a year combined with a whole bunch of young position players around them on pre-arb and arb deals is a great situation in my eyes. Young guys need to stay healthy and produce. Same with pitchers. This team's future was always going to be dependant on the young guys stepping up. Correa and Buxton (talent-wise) are awfully nice supplements to the new, young core.

Do we know that these are simple vesting options or is it a vesting player option?

If he ends up proving to be pretty healthy and productive through his age 33 season I could still see him getting much more than $70 million in the FA market.  I'd be a little surprised if Correa and Boras wouldn't at least want the option to potentially leverage that later on.

With an apparent abundance of middle infield talent now....is it now time to  consider a trade to strengthen the pitching staff.?

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

I think Correa is going to have a chip on his shoulder for a while. Prove them all wrong, Carlos.

I hope he keeps the chip on his shoulder for 10 years. 

12 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Everything I've seen is that they're all vesting options based on him getting 502 PAs the season before. No options or opt outs in the deal. It's certainly early so reports may be wrong, but multiple reports are saying they're straight up vesting options based on PAs the season before.

If that's correct, it's an excellent stipulation for the team that really does protect them pretty nicely. And considering how much lower the dollars are in those last 4 years...it's a very good structure for the Twins. And to be very honest, front-loading money is very good for Correa too, unless he gets ripped off by his money managers.

19 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I had to edit that comment. I was behind on my twitter checking. Dan Hayes is reporting they're vesting options at 575, 550, 525, and 502 PAs. If he doesn't hit those marks they become team options. So Correa has no outs, but Twins can keep him if he only gets to 574 in 2029, etc. Looks absolutely wonderful for Twins. Full no trade for Correa.

That's pretty great for the Twins. I don't worry about no-trade clauses like this; they can always get waived. But the structure makes so much sense for the Twins. They're not locked into a bunch of years after Correa turns 40 (there are so few players that have hit well at that age, let alone be effective defensively at any position), they've got outs if he can't stay on the field, they don't have to worry about him opting out if he has an MVP-type year in year 2, and the bulk of the money is located in his prime years.

And I really really like Correa as a player. There aren't that many players at SS who can hit like Correa does. Heck, there aren't that many 3Bs that hit like he does. He's a player you can build around.

I bashed the FO pretty hard for appearing to whiff on Correa and seeming to settle for Vazquez and Gallo. But in the end, they got it done on Correa (pending physical, lol) and this offseason has gone from poor to great in a hurry. I'm still not sold on Gallo (and the plethora of LH corner OFs) but if they can make another move to bolster things from the right side and solidify the bullpen, then I feel awfully good about this offseason.

I haven't seen it reported, but the obvious thing here is that Correa will have an option each year to accept the vesting guarantee or opt for free agency.  He's not going to kick butt for 9 years, say, and accept $10 million that 10th season, which is what the vesting guarantees.

And that's totally fine.  If the Twins get five mostly healthy seasons out of the next six, they made a good deal.  If they get three or less, it could be a blocker to adding other talent.  The fact that the Mets were willing to go six years makes me feel better.

Move farmer to 2nd, and let Gordon be super utility(both IF & OF).  Work out a trade using Polanco and whoever else to get more pitching.  Even if this team has league average health, they will win at least 85 games.  Possibly more if some of the prospects develop.  Let's hope for better health this season.  The way things are now, I full expect some sort of trade.

It is a solid gamble at the correct time for the Twins because of the number of young players and health risks.

37 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

There have been reports that there's no opt outs included for Correa. The vesting options turn to team options if he doesn't hit the needed PAs the season before. Based on everything out there Correa is with the Twins for 6 seasons no matter what, and he has no control over the 4 after that.

I still doubt that Correa will have no choice but to accept a bad salary.  Why even put that in the contract, if you're Boras?  I can see the first year or two, maybe, because that's just making up for paying so much up front,  Maybe you're right, but I have to believe Correa won't be playing for $10 million then.  He'd probably retire.

2 minutes ago, twinstalker said:

Correa won't be playing for $10 million then.  He'd probably retire.

Baseball players work extremely hard to excel at their jobs and as shown years ago they would play for nearly nothing to stay in the game. Free agency changed the money but these athletes still had to earn their way up through the system. In ten years Correa would most certainly be thrilled to still be playing baseball and bringing home $10 million would just be an added bonus/treat. 

Through it all the Twins FO got lucky two years in a row. No way did they seriously try to sign Correa until he fell into their lap a 2nd time. The fact that they got it done with really only a 6 year commitment shows that Correa and Boras were both getting desperate. Now the FO has to hope that the ankle issue does not make them look like fools. One thing is for sure, Falvine does not view injuries as a problem, which bit them in the backside bigtime in 2022. Only time will tell if it does again.

Good move. I am happy. Unless something very significant has happened to his ankle, I am really not worried about $36M/yr for his age 28, 29, and 30 seasons. The backend of the contract now covers his ages 31 thru 33. Bad things can take place, but I like the odds a lot better than the other 3 SS being anything but a financial drain for the last half of their contracts in their upper 30’s. 
I know. $25/M/ year can sooth a lot of hurt feelings, but I wonder how much thought they give to playing out the last 4 or 5 years of their careers like Miguel Cabrera; a financial drain with no way to contribute. Albert Pujols was the same story, but will be remembered for his storybook final month. 
Overall, I think it is the rare win/win in MLB contracts. Much like Buxton. Maybe it is time to give this FO some credit. 

Happy household here! Exploring “shared season ticket” options….

7 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I think Correa is going to have a chip on his shoulder for a while. Prove them all wrong, Carlos.

If anyone should have a chip, it's the Twins, the fans.  He dumped us twice for coastal elites.  We're not even the maid of honor; we're the second bridesmaid!  But I hope nobody has a chip.  I hope we follow the words of the Bard: All's well that ends well.

5 hours ago, twinstalker said:

I still doubt that Correa will have no choice but to accept a bad salary.  Why even put that in the contract, if you're Boras?  I can see the first year or two, maybe, because that's just making up for paying so much up front,  Maybe you're right, but I have to believe Correa won't be playing for $10 million then.  He'd probably retire.

5 hours ago, twinstalker said:

I still doubt that Correa will have no choice but to accept a bad salary.  Why even put that in the contract, if you're Boras?  I can see the first year or two, maybe, because that's just making up for paying so much up front,  Maybe you're right, but I have to believe Correa won't be playing for $10 million then.  He'd probably retire.

They are front loading so he must have been willing to give up any out because he is getting paid early for those back end years.  If he gets crippled up, Hire him as a coach.