Carlos Correa, the star shortstop who helped lead the Houston Astros to a now tainted 2017 World Collection title, has discovered an sudden house: the Minnesota Twins.
As a substitute of touchdown the large long-term deal that was as soon as predicted for him, Correa agreed to affix the quickly rebuilding Twins on a three-year $105.3 million contract. The small print of the contract had been confirmed by a private conversant in the negotiations who was not licensed to debate it publicly as a result of it was pending a bodily examination.
Whereas the deal is much smaller in size and complete worth than some handed out earlier than the lockout, the advantages to Correa are clear: It has opt-outs after every of the primary two years, permitting Correa to re-enter the market as quickly as subsequent season, and it has a mean annual worth of $35.1 million, which supplants the deal Anthony Rendon of the Los Angeles Angels signed two years in the past, which was beforehand the best mark for an infielder.
Solely pitchers Max Scherzer ($43.3 million) and Gerrit Cole ($36 million), and outfielder Mike Trout ($35.5 million), have larger common annual values of their contracts than Correa, in line with Cot’s Baseball Contracts.
Whereas Correa’s new group had not formally introduced his arrival as of Saturday morning, Correa modified the photograph on his Twitter profile to one in every of Goal Discipline, the Twins’ house stadium in Minneapolis.
Correa, 27, joins a group that has been overhauled this low season. After an 89-loss 2021 season, the Twins entrance workplace remade the group’s infield by buying and selling away Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the Yankees for catcher Gary Sánchez and third baseman Gio Urshela. In addition they traded for beginning pitcher Sonny Grey.
And now the Twins went far bigger, including the top-ranked free agent of this low season and probably the greatest general gamers in baseball. A cornerstone of an Astros infield that led the group to 3 American League pennants in 5 years, Correa had maybe his finest season in 2021.
He hit .279 with 26 house runs and an .850 on-base plus slugging proportion, whereas additionally main the key leagues in defensive wins above substitute, in line with Baseball Reference. He gained the A.L. Platinum Glove, an annual award given to one of the best defender in every league, no matter place.
Whereas accidents slowed Correa at instances all through his seven years in Houston, he hit .277 with an .837 O.P.S. and smashed at the least 20 house runs in 5 seasons. He was a vocal group chief, residing as much as his hype as the primary general choose within the 2012 draft.
Correa’s quick and versatile contract in Minnesota stands in sharp distinction to the one Corey Seager received when he agreed to depart the Los Angeles Dodgers this winter. Seager, a extra polished hitter than Correa who’s a far much less completed defensive participant, landed a 10-year $325 million cope with the Texas Rangers.
The information of Correa’s departure reverberated via the Astros’ spring coaching facility on Saturday morning. First baseman Yuli Gurriel, who was Correa’s teammate for six years, mentioned Correa was “very energetic” sending messages to Astros gamers on Friday night time and that Correa was having bother sleeping given the massive choice on his plate.
Gurriel mentioned Astros gamers had been stunned they usually had hoped that Correa would return. He mentioned he by no means imagined Correa would find yourself in Minnesota however he understood the enterprise facet of the game.
“We’re going to overlook him,” Gurriel mentioned. “He helped me quite a bit right here, not solely on protection however with loads of elements that I wanted to get higher at, like sabermetrics.”
Astros Supervisor Dusty Baker mentioned he heard the information from his spouse on Saturday morning. He didn’t need to discuss it a lot till Correa’s deal was formally introduced, however he mentioned, “It’s not very nice information if it’s true.”