MLB
Carlos Correa makes MLB history with Twins signing
The crowning jewel of this MLB free agent class, Carlos Correa has reportedly signed the biggest contract in history with the Minnesota Twins
The most coveted free agent of this MLB offseason is now off the market. Carlos Correa is an Astro no longer. But in a twist worthy of Hollywood, it wasn’t the giant mega-teams with the bottomless billfold who signed him. He wasn’t vacuumed up by New York or Boston, but instead will sign a three-year, $105.3 million deal with the Minnesota Twins. You read that right. The Minnesota Twins.
As reported by Fox 26 Houston’s Mark Berman and ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Correa’s deal will have opt-outs after each of the first two seasons. But this deal now makes Correa the highest-paid infielder on average annual salary in MLB history.
Hitting .279 with 26 home runs and 92 RBIs in 2021, the superstar Astros shortstop finished fifth in the American League MVP voting. The 27-year-old has spent seven years with Houston, where he was 2015’s AL Rookie of the Year and helped the Astros appear in three World Series, winning one in 2017.
Correa starting the off season with a war of words with Yankees legend Derek Jeter and then dumping his agent for Scott Boras in January.
Now, after a tumultuous free agency, which saw Correa sell his Houston home as a statement of intent, then be courted by Boston, the Yankees, and Toronto, before Houston stepping back in to up their original offer, Carlos will take his considerable talents to the Twin Cities.
What does this signal about those teams, that they have taken one of the top shortstops in the Major Leagues and so undervalued him that he has chosen to go to Minnesota? Or does this signal something else: that the Twins are over-paying for the middle infielder. I would personally err toward the first of those suppositions, that he was under-valued by the big names. As proof, I would suggest that since Correa had an offer of 10 years at $300 million from the Orioles, his value is well represented by his actual pay.
Surely, his insulting a Yankee legend didn’t help his cause in the Big Apple. But at the end of the day, they are in the business of baseball. As in all business, if it makes money, then it makes sense.
Signing Correa alone is not enough to take the Twins from a mid-table team to the World Series in one leap, but it can be a first step. Players may sign with them to have the opportunity to play with Carlos, and the more steps they make in that direction, the better they will be. And of course, winning in Minnesota will confirm to the Yankees, Red Sox, and Astros that he was indeed worth all that money after all.