The MLB offseason has been moving at a fast and furious pace this year. Top players are coming off the board early and often, and big deals are constantly being handed out. As a result, we saw the top remaining free agent on the board in Carlos Correa come off the board late on Tuesday night when he signed a massive 13-year, $350 million deal with the San Francisco Giants.
After narrowly missing out on Aaron Judge, the Giants knew that they were going to have to make a big move to make up for losing out on him. They quickly turned their attention to Correa, and it looks like they handed him a deal that he simply couldn't refuse. Now San Francisco has locked up arguably the best shortstop in the game for the next 13 years.
Long-term contracts like this are simply the name of the game in the MLB nowadays, and this is what the Giants had to do to land Correa. But is this deal worth it, and did they overpay for Correa after missing out on Judge? Let's cover all of that and more as we hand out a final grade for this deal.
Grading the Giants signing of Carlos Correa
While the Giants needed help on the left side of their infield, they needed a big bat in the middle of their lineup even more, hence their pursuit of Judge. Considering the money they were willing to pay Judge, it made sense that San Francisco would turn their attention to another pricey free agent, and ended up zeroing in on Correa.
By now, Correa has established himself as one of the top players in baseball, and for good reason. He is incredibly consistent at the plate, as he's hit at least .270 with 20+ home runs in six of his eight seasons, and one of the seasons he didn't reach that feat was in the shortened 2020 season. Correa is also known as one of the better defensive shortstops in the game as well, making him all the more valuable.
Correa was set to cash in again this offseason after signing with the Minnesota Twins last offseason before opting out prior to free agency this year, and boy did he ever. The oversaturated shortstop market in free agency, which saw Correa hit free agency alongside Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, and Dansby Swanson, threatened to limit his potential deal, but that didn't end up being the case.
After both Turner and Bogaerts earned deals that will see them be under contract past the age of 40, Correa managed to attain the same long-term security that they received as well. Correa is only 28, so he's a bit younger than both guys, but he will be 41 by the time this deal reaches its conclusion.
In the short-term, you have to be thrilled with this deal if you are the Giants. Correa is the textbook definition of consistency in this league, and he can help shore up a starting lineup that didn't really have a true middle-of-the-order slugger. Correa isn't going to hit 30 home runs every year, but he always finds a way to produce.
Of course, Correa is going to regress towards the end of this deal, but that's a problem that can be dealt with in the future. In the MLB, where there isn't a true cap on what you can spend, it's not nearly as big of a worry as it is in other leagues. Correa's signing was done with the intent for San Francisco to win now, and that's what it accomplishes.
There are obviously concerns with this deal. Correa is making an absurd amount of money over a very long period of time. If he regresses earlier than expected, this deal could end up finding itself in the gutter quite soon. It's fairly similar to the other deals we have seen for Turner and Bogaerts, which makes sense, but it will be tough to justify paying Correa when he's 41 years old.
Correa also is going to have to lead a lineup, which is something he isn't familiar with. Correa's past stops with the Twins and Houston Astros see him be a key cog in strong lineups. But now with the Giants, Carlos Correa is the key cog, because San Francisco doesn't really have another top-tier hitter like him in their lineup. Will that limit his production?
Final Grade: C+
Compared to Turner and Bogaerts' deal, I like this deal a little bit more than Bogaerts' but a lot less than Turner's. Bogaerts deal felt like a pretty sizeble overpay in both money and years, and while Turner's has the highest annual average value, the Phillies are truly built to contend now, which makes taking that financial risk in the future much more worth it.
The Giants feel like they are stuck in the middle. Adding Correa is nice, but there are other issues in their lineup that are likely going to be glossed over with this addition. Whereas a guy like Judge could help make up for those issues over the next few years, it's really unknown if Correa can carry a lineup in the way San Francisco is paying him to do now.
Correa could be the key to unlocking the Giants lineup, but we saw last season with the Twins that their similar hopes didn't exactly pan out. San Francisco has handed out quite a large contract to Carlos Correa in hopes that he can be their savior, and while he will likely be a solid contributor for the majority of this deal, those lofty expectations could end up causing this deal to backfire on the Giants.
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