[ESPN] Carlos Correa open to long-term contract with Houston Astros, if done before season starts

Cool. You just lost the leader in your clubhouse, one of the best SS in baseball and now have to replace two of the best Astros in history within a year while your farm system is ****.

 

Positional versatility is an asset and letting teams know he's willing to fit a different role puts him in play for teams that might otherwise not need a SS. It's a smart move on his part.

Also, you typically need more range to cover SS, and players get slower as they age. Guys like Ripkin, A Rod, and Tejada made the successful move from All-Star caliber SS to 3B in the latter half of their careers.

 

Correa's arm is among the best in the game. Moving him to 3rd is based primarily on his size.

Both 3B & SS need incredibly strong arms. SS fields a lot of balls very deep in the hole, so they actually make longer throws, and those are taking them away from 1B, so they lose the momentum advantage. 3B has fewer of those plays because they usually play shallower due to bunts and a lot of balls to the left of them (their right) end up being foul balls so they don't make as many of those deep throws going the wrong way, but it is still a long damn way from 3B to 1B regardless. You don't appreciate it until you try making that throw for the 1st time.

 

Yet again another shitty title. He just said he would prefer to get it done before the season. He never said it had to be or he's not open to a long-term deal.

 

I am sorry but Carlos Correa right now isn't worth 35-40 million a year.

 

Bottom line is that for $30M+/yr you can get pretty much any player you want and in many cases multiple players that make less than that combined. Would you rather have Correa, or Verlander AND Semien?

 

THIS!

Carlos is clutch and he has "IT!" whatever IT is.

 

He's worth what the Yankees are willing to pay him. Some of you think Houston is an attractive franchise for big name free agents.

 

The Yankees aren't in the business of giving away money for big names.

This isn't the NBA, players play wherever pays them the most.

 

Houston as a destination is fine for baseball free agents, especially in the sport of baseball where players are more concerned with money than location.

If the Yankees want to pay Correa 350 million, then so be it.

The Astros can use that salary far better on multiple players on short term contracts.

 

Why would they move on from Gleyber who is cheap to overpay Correa?

 

Even if you think Correa will stay completely healthy for 10 years AND not suffer any meaningful age-related decline, he is not worth $300M. He has been worth ~4.5 fWAR/600 PA over his career. So even when he has played he has been just really good, not MVP caliber. Put that metric up against any other player making $300M and he’s just not on that level unless you somehow think he will improve over what he has been in his mid 20s, which I think would be very foolish.

If you want to gamble on his healthy and put stock in his playoff performances, then I could reason paying him $200M. But I just don’t see any team going much higher than that regardless of how he plays this season.

If I’m projecting the rest of Correa’s career, I’d say he will be a star level SS for another 3-4 years, then be an oft-injured average SS or above average 3B for a few years, then a playable DH for a few years. All of that with the downside of injuries completely derailing him at any moment and the upside of him being an mvp candidate for those 4-5 years instead of just really good. To me that caps him at about $240M/8yr, and I still don’t think that would be a smart contract for the Astros to give him.

I have long thought that Correa compares well with Troy Tulowitzki. Both bigger guys who played SS and dealt with injuries. Tulo put up about 17 fWAR total from his age 27 season to his retirement.

 

Carlos needs to get on the A-Rod nutrition plan if we pay him big money.

 

Yankees have Torres. And a loaded infield. Not signing Correa.

 

Not sure about Correa, but I'm pretty sure if Torres has another year like last year defensively, he won't be a SS in 2022.

 

I know we are all high on and love CC. We also know the value he provides. But let's be completely honest.

He has played more than 110 games in the regular season only once. Yes, his rookie year he didn't get called up until June ,and last year was a sprint. But that is still only 1 out of 4 162-game seasons, and was all the way back in 2016. Also, he only has 1 AS appearance and no SS or GG.

True, has performed in the playoffs as his main selling point, but is trustworthy enough to lead a team to the playoffs to perform there? That makes him the piece to put you over the top, not the cornerstone.

Plus if anything the average MLB fan only knows CC because of the cheating scandal and the comments he made last year regarding it. He would probably not sell a bunch of tickets for another fan base and would not excite the non-diehard fans of that team.

How many teams would be willing to sign him to a contract of $23+ million/year with that track record of uncertainty? Especially after losing a bunch of money in 2020, and still with questions on number of games/attendance in 2021 that will affect profits?

Everyone talking about him having a MVP-level and healthy season is nice and all, but that would be an extreme outlier. That is his ceiling, and more than likely will not happen.

 

Just curious, what are the odds that Correa becomes the career postseason home run leader for SS's this postseason (3rd best regardless of position depending on Springer and Altuve)?

 

The entire statement is based on health... because when he's been healthy, he's produced.

To me, if the back issues are truly behind him, he's not as risky as some of the cumulative games played numbers make it out to be. Springer had his fair share of random injuries till he didn't (and then he still got hurt from time to time). Altuve, while he hasn't missed the huge chunks of the season, has often played hurt or rehabbed his way back while playing, resulting in some major cold (then hot) streaks. Bregman has been durable enough... but also needs a bounce-back season both in terms of production and staying healthy.

 

Obviously.

The problem is someone in their mid 20's having chronic back problems in a big problem. There have been periods where he has played with back issues and he cannot generate any power or catch up on fastballs inside.

What is sad, is had Correa not had back issues his overall performance would have been a lot better.... He is certainly capable of some years where he hits 315-330 with 45 homers and 130 RBI.... he does have all time great ability..... the problem is that he is just as likely to hurt his back, play injured and have a 740 OPS.

 

He was healthy during the 2020 regular season and posted the 17th best OPS among SS......

He was healthy in 2016 and was a solid player with .274 AVG, .361 OBP, and a .811 OPS. That's not elite SS territory in today's game and would have been 10th among SS in OPS last season and 11th in 2019. The bar has been raised among SS as he was 3rd in OPS in 2016. He's no longer a top 5 SS so he shouldn't be paid like one.