Carlos Correa to the Twins - 3 Years, $105 Million

I’m just more interested in the explanation. It helps understand the direction the team is heading in and their philosophy on roster construction. Given what they have said and done in the past it’s confusing why they wouldn’t make a comparable offer.

That they’ve said nothing is an indication the answer is something along the lines of “winning is less important than profit”. That’s a perfectly reasonable way to run a business, but not something you’d like to advertise to fans.

Peña’s production vs Correa’s compared to their salaries will always favor Peña. That doesn’t mean that having Correa on the team on a short term contract wouldn’t make it more likely they win.

 

I don't think the two are that comparable given that, even in view of Correa's injury history, there is still substantially more risk for JV being hurt/ineffective than for Correa being hurt/ineffective. There's a significant risk that JV may be healthy enough to pitch 130 innings but at a 4.0-4.5 FIP because the stuff just isn't there anymore. Good enough to pitch, and there will be a lot of pressure to pitch him as long as he's healthy,

 

But they would have done a 5 year deal at that same price, so this still doesn’t make sense. That 1 is even worse if there is an injury.

 

It'd interesting because my take is not why the Astros would not match the offer (probably not given a chance); but why anyone WOULD make that kind of offer.

 

Because they all have concerns about 10 year deals and they're not necessarily in a position (competing wise) to offer short term deals?

As a fan, I also selfishly like rooting for players for the bulk of their careers.

 

I'm just more concerned about the mindset/decision making calculus vs. just losing the one guy. Not optimistic they'll get others to bite on Bregman like extensions.

Some say they were unwilling to budge because ego was at play (on both sides)... not really a pragmatic business decision. Others say its an organizational philosophy (that gets contradicted with the JV example). Others say its because they know what they have in Pena (which also gets contradicted by them willing to keep CC for 5 years).

It is a good point that other teams also balked... but its a bit different when he's already an established star here. Undeniably, he's a risk long term for any team... but short term, could/should have been a risk this team was willing to absorb.

 

good luck making it back to WS again this season.... it's gonna catch up to a great team if you keep losing part of your nucleus.

 

We were willing to give him $160M for 5 years. If he injured his back we would have had a $160M obligation.

So you'll risk $160M, but not $105M? Interesting financial decision.

 

I recall when we loss Springer and didn’t make any significant free agent signings other than Brantley. A whole bunch of postures were screaming Click sucks and the window is closed. Where did we end up? In the World Series as the favorite. It wasn’t Click’s fault that McCullers got hurt and the bats went silent (including Correa’s). I have a great deal of trust in this organization to keep us competing for the next decade. If ya’ll remember, when Luhow was hired, we were trying to follow the Cardinal model of consistently fielding a competing team not just for 3 or 4 years but for decades. My guess is that Pena is going to pan out as at least a good defensive SS with a decent if not great bat. Myers, McCormick or Siri might also breakout as plus hitters this year. Correa was incredible last year, the best of his career, but he has not been an offensive superstar in the regular season. It’s not absurd to think the lineup could still be 8 deep again this year and nine deep if Lee is the real deal.

 

Yeah, but we won't offer the most money. Only way he is back in the near term is via trade.

 

But Correa isn’t walking if he has a Monster year on a 5 year contract.
Correa is walking the minute he has a great year in Minnesota but if he has a terrible year, he will stay.
We can try to sign him next year if Peña doesn’t work. If Peña does, Correa is a memory

 

We are always going to offer 5 maybe 6 year deals. True. We aren’t doing a 10 year deal.

 

FWIW, that Springer bat probably would have come in handy in the WS, but that was easier to accept. If Correa had received a deal like Lindor or Seager, I would have understood.

 

We also aren't doing a 1-2 year deal... unless its JV.

We will also extend players after they've outperformed (dramatically) a deal that was very team friendly (Altuve). We will also extend college graduates who perform at an MVP level early... but also didn't get fully service time manipulated to create ill-will (Bregman).

I think we've got Crane's formula down... somewhat, lol. I also don't see Tucker or Alvarez being advised to sign early extensions based on their projected age when they hit FA. Make more sense for guys like Springer/Bregman to do so.

 

Just caught a little of MN Sports Talk about Correa and whether fans would welcome him. The conversation was between the KFAN midday host and the Twins beat writer from the Minneapolis Startribune. The beat writer said that it would be like AJ Pierzynski. You hate him when he's playing for someone else but love him when he's on your team. The host though started blaming Altuve bringing up that Altuve wouldn't let his jersey get ripped off after the walk off in the 2019 ALCS and that he didn't come out to the post game press conference until he changed shirts.

 

The Twins weren't the only MN team to make a big player move. The MN Wild just got Goalie Marc Andre Fleury from the Chicago Blackhawks.
https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id...altender-marc-andre-fleury-chicago-blackhawks

 

I heard on the radio the other day the Astros were at 160 currently.... haven't checked spotrac lately though...

 

Tucker and Yordan are under control past 2025. I wouldn't be shocked if Crane is already planning the rebuild in that time frame, and they'll either walk in FA or be traded to start the reboot.

 

I think others have mentioned it, but the opt-outs are a huge negative for an organization. You have a $35m swing in payroll that you can't plan around for the next 3 years. If you can get 50%-75% of Correa in Pena, cost-controlled for 6 years, no injury history its extremely valuable. This team is too good to randomly go "all-in" on a salary that high, when you can step back and assess until the trade deadline and see where the true deficiencies lie.

I think the Astros view pitching as a different animal. The injury potential is higher, the difference between true aces and good starters is larger and are much more likely to swing 2 games in a short series than a single position player.

 

It wasn't 5 years with an opt out every year.