Update (Jan. 10): Carlos Correa and the Twins have agreed to a six-year deal.
The possibility of a stunning reunion between Carlos Correa and the Twins is increasing, team sources said Monday night.
With the status of the mega-deal he agreed to with the New York Mets last month unresolved, the Twins are suddenly back in the mix for the free agent shortstop. Two club sources said Monday that talks between the Twins and Correa began to accelerate. A separate major league source also confirmed the development.
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Carlos Correa’s free agency saga: Everything you need to know
Talks are fluid, and the Mets aren’t necessarily out of offers. But it’s been 19 days since the Mets reached an agreement with Correa on a 12-year, $315 million contract, pending a physical. The Mets, like the San Francisco Giants before them, grew concerned about the condition of Correa’s right ankle during their medical review. As the parties continue to negotiate contract language, Correa’s agent, Scott Boras, has reached out to other teams, including the Twins.
In November, Correa opted out of the three-year, $105.3 million contract he signed with the Twins through March 2022. Still, the club wasn’t afraid to keep Correa, who batted .291/.366. /.467 with 22 home runs, 64 RBIs and produced 4.9 Wins Above Replacement last season.
- Carlos Correa being inducted by the Twins along with president of baseball operations Derek Falvey in March 2022. (Brace Hemmelgarn / Getty Images)
Minnesota’s original efforts, which included a 10-year, $285 million offer, fell through when Correa agreed to a 13-year, $350 million contract with the Giants on Dec. 14. difference of opinion regarding Correa’s physical examination. The Mets deal stalled quickly for the same reason.
Despite those concerns, Boras and the Mets tried to find a way to get the two-time All-Star shortstop to New York. Correa was originally so happy to hear the Mets signed him last month that he tackled Boras on a hotel bed in celebration.
The Twins, however, have remained in constant contact with Boras, the sources said, creating a potential landing spot if Correa’s deal with the Mets falls apart.
Along with everything, the Twins waited for Correa and the Mets to finalize their agreement, but the president of baseball operations of the Twins Derek Falvey kept his club prepared in case.
While sources said the Twins always knew a big-market club could “blow them out of the water” on a bigger deal, the team made it clear it was very interested in bringing Correa back and was open to being creative with potential for opt outs. and other protections in an agreement.
Last March, Boras praised the Twins’ front office for its creativity when the two sides worked out the original contract for Correa in a 14-hour span. The Twins also gained experience putting together incentive-laden deals after completing a seven-year, $100 million extension for oft-injured center fielder Byron Buxton in December 2021, a contract that includes up to $10 million in bonuses of annual performance based on remaining on the field.
While the Twins will certainly want to run their own physical with Correa, the team already has a sense of his overall condition after conducting a thorough examination last March.
Even though the Twins conducted an exit exam on Correa in October, those are often limited to areas of concern that arose during a player’s regular-season visits to the trainer’s room. Aside from an incident in May when Correa thought he broke his finger, team sources indicated that the shortstop never set foot in the trainer’s room, not even after writhing in pain on the floor after a hard slide at second base in contest of the 20th of September. in Kansas City.
After that game, Correa acknowledged that he had a metal plate inserted in his right leg, the result of an injury that occurred when he was in the minor leagues in 2014.
“He just hit my plate,” Correa said, referring to the hardware in his leg. “I had surgery and it hit her. Just kind of felt numb. It vibrates. So I was waiting for her to calm down. It was a little scary, but when I left I knew I was good.”
Aside from the finger, which cost him 12 games, and a fight in late May with COVID-19, which resulted in eight missed games, Correa has been pretty long for the Twins. He appeared in 136 of the remaining 142 games and was something of a fixture in the lineup for a Twins team that suffered injury after injury during the season.
The Twins loved what Correa brought them in their one season together, a combination of swagger and baseball savvy. And now, in another stunning twist, they are in a position to bring the Correa saga full circle, back to Minnesota.
(Top photo: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)
