The baseball Winter Meetings have concluded, and many anticipated the MLB hot stove to only continue heating up from there, but it just hasn’t happened quite yet. Many of the top free agents have already signed, but Carlos Correa, one very elite All-Star shortstop, still remains.
Like the others who signed before him, Correa has had several suitors hoping to add the Platinum Glove-winning fielder to their clubhouse. It’s not hard to see why.
The 28-year-old Puerto Rico native has shown he is a locker room leader wherever he goes, and he also brings a sweet stick, with a career average of .279 while averaging 19 home runs per season. These are fantastic numbers for a shortstop, especially considering how consistent he is with his glove.
There’s a reason why Correa has become so valued around baseball where he’s likely to earn a contract nearing nine or ten years in the range of $30 million annually. But many organizations have tried to garner the 2015 AL Rookie of the Year’s interest in joining their team, it just hasn’t happened yet.
One MLB insider notes the Correa free agency sweepstakes may be down to just two teams.
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Carlos Correa may be deciding between Giants and Twins
It started with big-spending teams such as the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, and many more. But it appears Correa and his agent, Scott Boras, have narrowed down the landing spots to just two teams, or at least two who are showing the most interest thus far.
According to Steve Phillips of Bleacher Report, the two current favorites to sign Correa are the San Francisco Giants and, once again, the Minnesota Twins. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t still see a sleeper candidate re-emerge, as we’ve seen so many times before.
The Giants come as no surprise, as once they lost out on spending $300M+ on Aaron Judge, they had to focus their attention on improving their lineup elsewhere, hence the heavy interest in landing another star in Correa.
Only Correa also seems to have some draw to landing back in the Twin Cities in Minnesota, where he appeared to enjoy his lone season of playoff-less baseball in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Despite being a small-market club, the Twins are showing they don’t intend to avoid a big payday if it means getting their guy.
For Minnesota, signing Correa would be monumental, as it would be the largest contract the organization has ever paid out. But there’s also a lot of internal pressure to improve a roster that features a budding, yet oft-injured superstar with Byron Buxton, a middling pitching staff with no ace, who has missed the postseason two years in a row.
In the end, it likely comes down to money but also a bit of the fit. Who knows what Correa prioritizes most, but being that the Twins are involved as well as the Giants, it’s probably a bit of both. We should find out soon enough.
