The Minnesota Twins acquired one of the biggest stars in March 2022 as Carlos Correa signed a three-year contract with an opt-out clause after the first season. True enough, Correa opted out of the contract, and he signed two separate deals with the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets before both organizations pulled out of the negotiations because of some issues with his physical exam.
Both the Giants and Mets have not revealed the full details of the issues they spotted, but Carlos Correa ended up returning to the Twins on a six-year, $200 million deal, which was at $285 million before he accepted the initial offer of the Giants. Decreasing the total money in the deal by $85 million shows that Minnesota saw something glaring as well, but they decided to pounce on this chance and have Correa in the fold until 2028 at the very least.
Twins' biggest offseason risk: Carlos Correa
The introduction was straight to the point as the Twins committing $200 million to a player who was turned down by two prominent franchises is already a glaring sign. The talent and skill level of Carlos Correa are unquestioned as he was fifth in the AL MVP race in 2021, his final season with the Houston Astors. The Astros did not decide to sign him to a long-term extension because Houston GM James Click wanted to form a sustainable model for his squad.
It turned out to be an outstanding move as the Astros won the World Series in the first season of Peña as the primary SS of the Astros. Moreover, Houston was able to drift away from the shenanigans of Correa's free-agent signing situation. From 2017-2019, there were several games missed by Carlos Correa as well because of numerous injuries, so these issues were already present early in his career.
Correa and his agent Scott Boras were prioritizing security over a higher average annual salary, so they were pleased to still receive a six-year deal despite the persisting problems. Correa has not been at a superstar level in the regular season at any juncture of his career except in 2021, but it is his numbers in the postseason that has separated him from the rest of the pack.
In Carlos Correa's first World Series run, he contributed 21 hits and 14 RBI across all three matchups. That was only in his third full season in the majors, so it shows that he is not afraid of the bright lights. That kind of production is necessary for a young squad like the Twins.
However, Correa does not have a similar supporting cast that he had in Houston. The addition of Pablo Lopez will be phenomenal for the Twins' rotation, but they are still far from a guaranteed NL Central crown. Byron Buxton was being hyped up as one of the next franchise cornerstones of the Twins, but injuries have also been a lingering hurdle in his career. The Twins have two injury-prone individuals as their best players, which seems unideal, but let's see how it goes.
The Correa free-agent saga is finally over, but now all the eyeballs will be on him as he suits up with the Twins. It is likely going to be an awkward situation because he opted out of his contract with the Twins to search for a bigger contract, but he still ended up with them on a smaller deal. All the offseason stories must be put behind them and focus on baseball and propel Minnesota to the postseason once again.
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