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  • Twins To Sign Carlos Correa

    Seth Stohs

    By Seth Stohs

    No, this is not a RandBalls Stu article. No satire here! According to Mark Berman, the Twins and All Star shortstop Carlos Correa have agreed to a three-year deal worth $103.5 million. The deal is believed to have opt-outs after the first two years. Also, Holy Wow! 

    Image courtesy of Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

    Mark Berman is the sports director at Fox 26 in Houston is the one breaking the news after contact from an "MLB source."  Carlos Correa will be the Minnesota Twins shortstop in 2022. 

    There were never any rumors about the Twins having interest in the former Astros' All Star shortstop. Then as the clock passed 12:30 am in Minnesota, news broke that the Twins were the team. It is a three-year deal for $105.3 million, which is just over $35 million per year. However, he will be able to opt out of his contract following the 2022 and 2023 seasons. 

    The agreement has now been placed on twitter by Jeff Passan from ESPN. Yes, we needed to see the rumors from a second source, and then a third. 

     Carlos Correa was the first overall pick in the 2012 draft by the Houston Astros. He made his big league debut in 2015 with the Astros and was named the American League Rookie of the Year. 

    Over his seven seasons with the Astros, he played in 752 games. He has hit .277/.356/.481 (.837) with 162 doubles, 133 home runs and 489 RBI. He has twice been an All Star. 

    In 2021, he finished fifth in the American League in MVP voting after hitting .279/.366/.485 (.850) with 34 doubles and a career-high 26 homers and 92 RBI. In addition, he won the Gold Glove, his first. 

    Over his seven seasons, the Astros have made the playoffs six times including winning the (now-controversial) 2017 World Series championship. Correa has played in 79 post-season games and hit .272/.344/.505 (.849) with 16 doubles and 18 home runs. 

    It has been a great year for players taken in that 2012 MLB draft: 

    • #1 pick Carlos Correa received a three-year, $105.3 million contract from the Twins with two opt-outs. 
    • #2 pick Byron Buxton signed a seven-year, $100 million contract to remain with the Twins. 
    • #4 pick Kevin Gausman signed a five-year, $110 million contract with the Blue Jays. 
    • #18 pick Corey Seager signed a ten-year, $325 million contract with the Rangers. 
    • #32 pick Jose Berrios signed a seven-year, $131 million contract with the Blue Jays. 

    Correa was the #1 ranked free agent this offseason, just ahead of Seager. Maybe following the lockout, he wasn't getting ten-year offers (like Seager) and the Twins gave him a shorter deal for a higher Average Annual salary (at $35.1 million). He will not turn 28 until September, so he could enter the free agent market next year, still very young for a free agent, and get a ten year contract, or more. Same if he plays for the Twins in 2023. And, if he plays all three seasons with the Twins, he becomes a free agent at 30 years old, still young for a free agent. 

    In addition, the Twins may only be locked into this contract for one year. If Correa is great, the Twins likely do well, and he opts out. If he does well and the Twins struggle, they could trade him (unless we hear of a no-trade clause) and get quite the haul. 

    That means that the team doesn't have to feel rushed to push Royce Lewis to the big leagues. After missing the last two seasons, Lewis simply needs a lot of at-bats. He can get those in Wichita and St. Paul this year, and he can get himself ready if he is needed. 

    The Twins were believed to be in on Trevor Story, who may also accept a short-term deal after expecting a nine-digit deal. On Friday, news broke that the Red Sox and Giants, and other teams were starting to contact him too. 

    The Twins quickly turned their intention to the top guy. Even if this is a one-year deal, it is great for the Twins. The shortstop position is covered for 2022 (and likely just the one year) by Correa. They added Sonny Gray. They are still believed to be in on the A's top starting pitchers (Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea). 

    Earlier on Friday night, many Twins fans were disappointed to have heard that Michael Pineda had signed with the Detroit Tigers. Twins Twitter got a little heated. Hopefully when Twins fans wake up on Saturday morning, they are very happy! 

    Finally, can we stop worrying about the Twins not spending available funds? Each year, this has been a concern, but they use up the budget. In addition, can the #CheapPohlads narrative finally go away!? 

    What are your thoughts, Twins fans?! 

    Seth Stohs has been blogging about the Minnesota Twins since May 2003. A founder and owner of Twins Daily, Seth has been a Twins fan for 40 years and has a passion for covering the minor leagues and prospects.
    Follow Seth Stohs on Twitter: sethtweets

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    Featured Comments

    Vanimal46

    Vanimal46 28,724

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

    7 minutes ago, ashbury said:

    He might not.  Think through the worst case.  There's no such thing as a bad one-year contract.  This isn't one year.

    Even the worst case possible, he is injured for the 2021 season and opts in for 2022… Why wouldn’t we want to take another $35 million chance on a 28 year old SS? 

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    Otto von Ballpark

    Otto von Ballpark 20,320

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

    10 minutes ago, ashbury said:

    He might not.  Think through the worst case.  There's no such thing as a bad one-year contract.  This isn't one year.

    Correa is elite enough, and young enough, that years 2 and 3 shouldn't hurt the Twins much under most circumstances.

    If Correa gets hurt this year and has a mostly lost season, he'd probably still be command at least $25 mil on a one-year deal for 2023, just like Verlander did for 2022 coming off surgery.

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    Riverbrian

    Riverbrian 32,096

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

    10 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

    Except it really is.  If Correa opts in his old agent gets paid and not Boras.  That isn't happening. 

    But I'm totally fine with the one year.  It's hard for this to be an utter failure unless Correa gets a massive injury.

    I agree with you. This is likely a 1 year deal and it will leave the Twins with a nice piggy bank to reinvest next year. 

    But... Yeah... Massive Injury is the nightmare scenario. 

     

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    a-wan

    a-wan 855

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    27 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

    Except it really is.  If Correa opts in his old agent gets paid and not Boras.  That isn't happening. 

    But I'm totally fine with the one year.  It's hard for this to be an utter failure unless Correa gets a massive injury.

    This scenario reminds me of a scene from the seminal movie of the 90's, American Pie. "Oh my God, she used me. I was used. I was used. Cool"

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    Nine of twelve

    Nine of twelve 7,163

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    I've decided to try to convince myself that Correa wasn't directly involved in the cheating in Houston, that he only stayed quiet because he was contractually obligated to stay there and didn't want to make waves until he left, that he has completely rehabilitated himself, and that everything he does while in Minnesota will be totally clean and great.

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    Danchat

    Danchat 11,131

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    I am 100% on board this move. They had money to spend, and $35M a year is something they could afford. I usually detest long, big money deals in most sports, especially baseball, so having it be a short term deal makes me feel better about it. The opt-outs aren't ideal, but if that's what they had to do to keep him, then so be it.

    I still don't like trading Garver and getting Sanchez, but this does make dumping Donaldson far more understandable. I'd be really happy if they moved prospects for IKF and then dump Donaldson.

    Not sure why the Yankees would be super disappointed - they badly wanted IKF and they got him and Donaldson and Rortvedt for a very small price. They can sign Correa in 2023 or 2024 if they want, they'll likely be able to afford him.

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    bean5302

    bean5302 3,310

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Honestly, this was an enormous discount for the Twins. Correa was projected at 10 years and $345MM so to see him sign at $103.5MM is a no brainer. It's actually quite shocking, but it may be a sign for the future in general. The owners shifted a lot of money to the younger players and that will have an impact on the veteran long term, top free agents.

    Had Correa been willing to accept this deal last fall, he wouldn't have been on the market for a single day and there are a lot of front office's in baseball who are stunned by this move. 

    The Twins have tended to be relatively competitive in average annual dollars for free agents before, but they've always been short on years. I would have never expected Correa to sign a contract this short at under $40MM per year.

    A lot of comments about how the Twins are big spenders now... but just about any team in baseball will take a player at 1/3 of their contract value.

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    AlwaysinModeration

    AlwaysinModeration 4,343

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    3 hours ago, ashbury said:

    He might not.  Think through the worst case.  There's no such thing as a bad one-year contract.  This isn't one year.

    He might not opt out, it’s true, but I think it is highly likely that he does, not only for the Boras angle but also because he’ll want to go into next offseason as the top option and have more buyers driving his market.

    That does lead me to the ONE quibble I can think of with this deal.  I think that a deal of 35/37/39 (or 40) might have been more likely to get him for more than one year.

    Minor, minor quibble, though.

     

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    stringer bell

    stringer bell 12,723

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

    10 hours ago, Nine of twelve said:

    There are two catchers here. Remove one of them and insert Arraez as DH.

    1. Arraez

    2. Buxton

    3. Polanco

    4. Correa

    5. Kiriloff

    6. Sano

    7. Kepler

    8. Urshela

    9. Sanchez/Jeffers

    Sanó at DH for 100 games. Arraez at third, Kirilloff at first. Left field? Sometimes Kirilloff, but Larnach and maybe someone like Garlick against lefties. 

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    PseudoSABR

    PseudoSABR 4,815

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    1 hour ago, h2oface said:

    Best article I have found/read about the deal. Some new no trade clause info, too.....

    https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/twins-sign-carlos-correa.html

    Mlbtraderumors always puts out quality work and they even continually update their articles; it's a testament to what could have been a click-hole site given the subject matter.  

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    Nashvilletwin

    Nashvilletwin 2,097

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    1 hour ago, h2oface said:

    Best article I have found/read about the deal. Some new no trade clause info, too.....

    https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/twins-sign-carlos-correa.html

    Let’s say the Twins move Correa at the deadline. If so, they would have a good chance to add at least a couple of solid players - most likely young, controllable and potentially big contributors as our new young core matures.

    So for about $20MM and the possible upside for Correa we could acquire several good young players. That’s a good deal if such a situation transpires. 

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    ashbury

    ashbury 48,546

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

    (Reposting from a thread where it didn't really belong...)

    Warning, I'm going full-geek mode on this.  I've said before that I like to play the Out Of The Park computer baseball game.  After a slow start, this Twins offseason has become an OOTP offseason.  Namely: before making any moves, examine your roster carefully and among other things identify the salary you consider an impediment; then pay what it costs to get that salary off the books, even with lopsided trades in terms of talent.  Then, redeploy the freed up money to acquire something really good.

    I'm sure every FO has a plan to guide their offseason.  I held a lot of doubt that our FO was going to be able to execute theirs.  For a long while it wasn't evident that their plan was aggressive at all.  Then for the better part of a week, it looked very much like a half-completed plan had run into a serious snag.  (Indeed, my guess is that it did, and they pivoted from Story to Correa with an offer that carries a steeper risk-to-reward ratio than is appreciated.)  But the plan now looks clear.  Several steps remain to be completed.

    Next, if they can pull a OOTP style of trade involving several prospects whose Rule-5 eligibility has arrived, in return for one stud pitcher with years of team control, I'll REALLY be impressed. :)

     

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    Otto von Ballpark

    Otto von Ballpark 20,320

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

    2 hours ago, Danchat said:

    Not sure why the Yankees would be super disappointed - they badly wanted IKF and they got him and Donaldson and Rortvedt for a very small price. They can sign Correa in 2023 or 2024 if they want, they'll likely be able to afford him.

    The Yankees may not be disappointed, but their fans are another story. And I don’t blame them — IKF is coming off a 85 wRC+, and that might be Rortvedt’s upside (ZiPS 70). Donaldson is good but also old and perhaps a little brittle — at best, it seems like he could clog up their DH spot a bit.

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    Steve71

    Steve71 448

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Very stunned with this move.  Was gone out-state all day, and came home to learn of this signing.

    I surmised, like many of us, that they were shifting the Donaladson money to Story.  Never dreamed that they would get Correa.

    Is it likely a one year rental?  Sure.  Is it still going to make them a much stronger team this year?  Absolutely.

    Me, I would have preferred spending money on FA pitching help, but they have shown a strong reluctance to get tied into long term big money deals for pitchers.

    The cheating scandal stuff is tough.  I hate that they cheated and tainted their accomplishments that season.  I also can't stand the steroid era, either.  It has been 5 years, so keep him away from trash cans and we should be good.  

    Interesting piece of news to be sure!

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    TheLeviathan

    TheLeviathan 17,473

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

    3 hours ago, Nashvilletwin said:

    Let’s say the Twins move Correa at the deadline. If so, they would have a good chance to add at least a couple of solid players - most likely young, controllable and potentially big contributors as our new young core matures.

    So for about $20MM and the possible upside for Correa we could acquire several good young players. That’s a good deal if such a situation transpires. 

    And that's if things go poorly this year!  It's a move with very little downside and a ton of upside.

    It's pretty rare to pull of a trade that leaves little long term risk, lots of short term upside, improves your team, and pisses off the Yankees using them as dupes.

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    Nine of twelve

    Nine of twelve 7,163

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    I do not believe that the Correa signing came out of the blue. That just doesn't happen when this much money is involved. My guess is that Falvey and Levine (and, of course, Pohlad), and Boras (and, of course, Correa) have been working on this for some time, possibly since before the lockout ended. The preceding transactions the Twins made were almost bizarre unless the FO knew that they had something solid in the works. That they were able to get this done with no one catching wind of it is practically miraculous.

    Edited to add:

    And if this season turns out to be a successful one for our favorite team Falvine will have guaranteed themselves tenure for a long, long time.

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