Oh Boy: The Minnesota Twins Are Listening to Trade Calls on Carlos Correa

Have to. Since the pohlads are so cheap, they never should have signed the contract in the first place. 

Don't expect much in return either. There's very little surplus value in that deal. 

There are around a dozen clubs, including all of the AL Central, that will have a lower payroll than the Twins. Yes, the ownership is not especially committed and open for abuse. However, there are opportunities for changes to improve the roster and have a lower payroll. It seems like Falvey & Sons are frozen at this time. Waiting out the market may make the return on a couple of players expected to be dealt slightly better but other opportunities will be gone. 

Life after Carlos Correa will occur at some point. The problem is securing a replacement. I would guess that Arizona has very little interest in trading a prospect like Jordan Lawler and Twins fans may be opposed to gambling on an oft-injured young player who has not proven anything yet. Lawler can play shortstop though and thus is worth a call. Correa is important to the Twins if they are to be respectable.

The front office seems very content with the roster and shedding a few players will put their budget at ease. That is the easy part. Finding a way to actually repeat an 82 win season will be a challenge without some trades IMHO. F & S, along with many on TD, seem reticent to step into a world of change. 

Sure, Correa can be traded but there better be a plan or the Twins will fall further than anyone might guess. 

3 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Correa can be traded but there better be a plan

Presumably Brooks Lee. Could bring in someone like Jose Iglesias too. 

Well, I can't think of any better way for the Twins to wave the white flag of surrender and guarantee even worse attendance than to trade Correa.

Highly doubt the Twins would be taking on anywhere near the same cost in contracts in return, and I would expect Vazquez and Paddack to go in salary dumps shortly thereafter, with ownership pocketing the savings in one last cash grab as they sell the team, should this occur.

I hope this isn't serious, and it's just the "well, we'll always listen, I guess" sort of move because losing our SS while this team is still competitive, without a clear replacement in place (I like Lee a lot, but I'd much rather have him at 3B) and knowing that our ownership will not spend would be a disaster.

Hope Correa tells them "I'm not interested in going anywhere this year" and ends this.

Of course you listen...it doesn't mean anything actually happens. 

If traded, whether that is good or bad will depend on the player(s) returned, not the $$$ savings.  Yes, the dollars saved will help fill out the rest of the team.  But they have to get value in return, preferably at least one player ready, or nearly ready, to play.

But they shouldn't stop there.  The Twins have lots of depth at starting pitching and middle infielders.  Yet, they don't have a top defensive shortstop, if Correa is traded, anybody you want to see at first base or a good left handed reliever.  So trading Paddack and one of those excess infielders seems to me to be additional moves that need to be made.  The excess infielders in my book are Julien and MIranda as I want to see them keep Lewis, Lee and Keaschall.

I have no problem considering a trade for ANY player on the Twins as long as I'm happy with what we get back.  I wasn't especially happy what we got back for Johan Santana.  I was O.K. with what we got back for Frank Viola even though I was sorry to see him go. 

BOTH Santana and Viola had a 20 win season for the Mets after those trades were made and you could agree with any Twins fan who wondered how much better the Twins could have been if they had their star lefty winning 20 games for them.  But the Viola trade brought back Kevin Tapani and Rick Aguilara (and lefty David West) so when you look at how integral Tapani and Aggie were to the Twins 1991 World Series Championship team, it made it a lot easier to accept that Viola threw an N.L. best 250 innings, struck out 182 and won 20 games with a 2.67 ERA in 1990 for the Mets.

Correa is the most expensive player on the Twins, and it's not even close.  He's a very good player at a premium position (SS) that could leave a huge hole for the Twins if he was dealt.  Right now, the best option the Twins have on their roster to replace Correa would be Brooks Lee.  Many of us on TD think of Lee as more of a 2B/3B option going forward than a SS.  So a key to a Correa trade would be who is coming back in the deal to become the Twins SS going forward.

Let's just speculate that the team that wants Correa is the Boston Red Sox.  The Red Sox want to compete for the A.L. East Division crown and at least be a playoff contender.  They look at the Yankees losing Soto and see a weakened Yankee ballclub.  They look at Baltimore and see young talent but a team that is losing their Ace in Corbin Burnes and a 44 HR outfielder in Anthony Santandar.  The Red Sox see an opportunity.   The Red Sox are also thinking of moving Rafael Devers off of 3B.  Correa and Trevor Story could lock down the left side of their IF.

What if the Twins traded Carlos Correa, Christian Vasquez and SWR to the Red Sox for young catcher Kyle Teel and SS/CF Ceddane Rafaela. The Red Sox are big market.  They can absorb Correa's $35 million and Vasquez's $10 million.  They have a history with Vasquez that was very successful and he would make a great backup for Connor Wong.  They are also desperate for SP so a young, affordable and controllable SP like SWR would be very temping to them.

The Twins get a young catcher with tremendous potential who can split time with Jeffers.  Rafaela becomes the starting SS.  He's quite good with the glove at both SS and CF.  He has 20 HR-20 SB potential for years to come.  He's already signed thru the 2031 season for $50 million.  He's just completed the first year of that extension for the Red Sox.  His average annual salary is $6.25 million per year.  That's a perfect contract by Twins standards.  He's only 24 years old.  He would be part of the Twins for at least the next 7 years of his contract.  He doesn't walk enough but he's got room to grow.  And his defensive skill either in the infield or CF is elite.

The other thing this does is open up about $39 million in salary relief/opportunity.  How would the Twins utilize this?  Would they sign Profar to play LF?  Would they bring in a Kirby Yates to help anchor the back end of the BP?  Would this allow the Twins the ability to be more aggressive in signing Ryan and Ober to contract extensions keeping the top 3 SP's in our rotation together for the next 5 seasons or so?  If you throw in the additional $7.5 million the Twins could save with a Paddack trade (for whatever you could get if cutting the salary is the primary objective) that would give the Twins over $45 million to re-work the roster.  

I'm not advocating that the Twins trade Correa.  But if the trade scenario I laid out with the Red Sox were to be a reality I'd be thrilled with a trade like this.  Correa's durability has been suspect these last couple years.  Coupled with the Russian Roulette the Twins play with Buxton this puts the Twins in a continuous loop of uncertainty for each of their big stars.  Rafaela is NOT Carlos Correa.  But he's much younger, probably as good or better than him defensively and about $30 million per season cheaper than Correa.  The Twins would emerge a younger, more athletic team with some serious money to burn to re-order the roster.  It would also ultimately make the Twins a more attractive franchise for a buyer.

Under these conditions, I could see myself fully on board with a Correa trade.  I don't want to trade him.  But what exactly do you get back and what do you eventually do with the significant payroll reduction to improve the Twins for the 2025 season and beyond?  

19 minutes ago, TopGunn#22 said:

I have no problem considering a trade for ANY player on the Twins as long as I'm happy with what we get back.  I wasn't especially happy what we got back for Johan Santana.  I was O.K. with what we got back for Frank Viola even though I was sorry to see him go. 

BOTH Santana and Viola had a 20 win season for the Mets after those trades were made and you could agree with any Twins fan who wondered how much better the Twins could have been if they had their star lefty winning 20 games for them.  But the Viola trade brought back Kevin Tapani and Rick Aguilara (and lefty David West) so when you look at how integral Tapani and Aggie were to the Twins 1991 World Series Championship team, it made it a lot easier to accept that Viola threw an N.L. best 250 innings, struck out 182 and won 20 games with a 2.67 ERA in 1990 for the Mets.

Correa is the most expensive player on the Twins, and it's not even close.  He's a very good player at a premium position (SS) that could leave a huge hole for the Twins if he was dealt.  Right now, the best option the Twins have on their roster to replace Correa would be Brooks Lee.  Many of us on TD think of Lee as more of a 2B/3B option going forward than a SS.  So a key to a Correa trade would be who is coming back in the deal to become the Twins SS going forward.

Let's just speculate that the team that wants Correa is the Boston Red Sox.  The Red Sox want to compete for the A.L. East Division crown and at least be a playoff contender.  They look at the Yankees losing Soto and see a weakened Yankee ballclub.  They look at Baltimore and see young talent but a team that is losing their Ace in Corbin Burnes and a 44 HR outfielder in Anthony Santandar.  The Red Sox see an opportunity.   The Red Sox are also thinking of moving Rafael Devers off of 3B.  Correa and Trevor Story could lock down the left side of their IF.

What if the Twins traded Carlos Correa, Christian Vasquez and SWR to the Red Sox for young catcher Kyle Teel and SS/CF Ceddane Rafaela. The Red Sox are big market.  They can absorb Correa's $35 million and Vasquez's $10 million.  They have a history with Vasquez that was very successful and he would make a great backup for Connor Wong.  They are also desperate for SP so a young, affordable and controllable SP like SWR would be very temping to them.

The Twins get a young catcher with tremendous potential who can split time with Jeffers.  Rafaela becomes the starting SS.  He's quite good with the glove at both SS and CF.  He has 20 HR-20 SB potential for years to come.  He's already signed thru the 2031 season for $50 million.  He's just completed the first year of that extension for the Red Sox.  His average annual salary is $6.25 million per year.  That's a perfect contract by Twins standards.  He's only 24 years old.  He would be part of the Twins for at least the next 7 years of his contract.  He doesn't walk enough but he's got room to grow.  And his defensive skill either in the infield or CF is elite.

The other thing this does is open up about $39 million in salary relief/opportunity.  How would the Twins utilize this?  Would they sign Profar to play LF?  Would they bring in a Kirby Yates to help anchor the back end of the BP?  Would this allow the Twins the ability to be more aggressive in signing Ryan and Ober to contract extensions keeping the top 3 SP's in our rotation together for the next 5 seasons or so?  If you throw in the additional $7.5 million the Twins could save with a Paddack trade (for whatever you could get if cutting the salary is the primary objective) that would give the Twins over $45 million to re-work the roster.  

I'm not advocating that the Twins trade Correa.  But if the trade scenario I laid out with the Red Sox were to be a reality I'd be thrilled with a trade like this.  Correa's durability has been suspect these last couple years.  Coupled with the Russian Roulette the Twins play with Buxton this puts the Twins in a continuous loop of uncertainty for each of their big stars.  Rafaela is NOT Carlos Correa.  But he's much younger, probably as good or better than him defensively and about $30 million per season cheaper than Correa.  The Twins would emerge a younger, more athletic team with some serious money to burn to re-order the roster.  It would also ultimately make the Twins a more attractive franchise for a buyer.

Under these conditions, I could see myself fully on board with a Correa trade.  I don't want to trade him.  But what exactly do you get back and what do you eventually do with the significant payroll reduction to improve the Twins for the 2025 season and beyond?  

This post, more than anything else, serves as a statement to the Twins front office  that there are options. 

I would think the "Big Market" teams would have interest in Correa.  In other words..."the usual suspects."  Correa is a winner so I can see the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers (if Edman would be primarily in CF) and others having interest.

Tony&rodney has mentioned Arizona as a possible trade partner, but I can't see Jordan Lawler being a part of a trade and Arizona would probably be less likely to take on ALL of Correa's contract which mitigates the savings the trade would bring back.  I don't see a bloated contract that would have value talent wise to the Twins coming back from the D-Backs either.

The players the Twins would probably be focused on from Arizona would be starting catcher Gabe Moreno, who they acquired from the Blue Jays in the Varsho trade a couple years ago, and starting SS Geraldo Perdomo.  Moreno is 24 years old.  Perdomo is a switch hitting 25 year old with a slick glove at SS.  Those 2 would take over starting catcher and SS duties for the Twins and allow for a trade of either Vaquez or Jeffers.  The D-Backs would need a catcher to replace Moreno but would they be interested in Vasquez or Jeffers?  

I still like my previously stated trade with the Red Sox better, but this could work.  Perdomo gets the Twins younger and at least as good defensively at SS but he's quite a drop offensively from Correa.  Perdomo would bat 9th in the lineup but could probably be counted on for being in the lineup more consistently than Correa.  

47 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Presumably Brooks Lee. Could bring in someone like Jose Iglesias too. 

Yes, Jose Iglesias would be a good addition for the Twins. Better sign him soon before the prices rise. Brooks Lee would be just ok, which is not that ok. He fits better at 2B/3B or used in a trade to improve the roster.

He's not going anywhere. Correa is one of the few reasons people will watch the twins this year. If he goes, this team is completely waiving the white flag which would be the final straw for long suffering fans.

1 minute ago, LambchoP said:

If he goes, this team is completely waiving the white flag which would be the final straw for long suffering fans.

Standing pat is waving the white flag. This team is currently bad and the ownership's refusal to invest in the team means it can't get better without creativity. 

9 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

Only Twins Daily would take the most benign managerial speak and confirmation bias their way into this slop of an article.  Doing the sensational social posts is chef kiss as well. Stop it. 

You guys are broken. Like, what the hell else would he say? 

10 minutes ago, Hollywood42 said:

Every year the Twins say "we're not really looking to move our best players, but we'll move anyone if the trade is good enough", and every year that gets turned into clickbait articles for people to lose their crap over

Or maybe you might think about just not opening the browser or reading the articles; it is an option. There are plenty of other sites to visit on the internet to avoid raising your ire. Be happy. Have a good day.

44 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

That would be a dream offseason for the Pohlads. Cleaning up the books so they can pocket MLB cash one more time before the sale. 

I’m operating under the assumption that any major trade this winter won’t benefit the 2025 Twins. Trades will only benefit the balance sheet. 

When Pohlad bought the Twins there was an article about depreciating the players. You could depreciate the contracts you have when you purchase, but not the new ones. For a new owner there is more money to be made by keeping the player than having a bare cupboard for the new player 

1 minute ago, NYCTK said:

Standing pat is waving the white flag. This team is currently bad and the ownership's refusal to invest in the team means it can't get better without creativity. 

The point of standing pat is where there is disagreement among folks on Twins Daily. Disagreement is actually not a bad thing and the answer doesn't come until next October in any event. I'm not a fan of standing pat but the current roster is competitive in the sense that another 82 win season is certainly reasonable. Of course, everything could fall in line perfectly for an 88-90 win season as well. I don't believe the Twins are a 90-100 loses team though. I guess the frustration for some (me) is the lack of proactive movement. The job of F & S is to find the transactions to improve the team. If they cannot do their jobs, the team needs new people in those positions. Then again (circular) there is the idea that the roster is just fine for 2025. So it goes.

Just now, nicksaviking said:

You think the path to a better record in 2025 lies in trading their best offensive player? 

Do you think the path to a better record is losing their RF, 1B, and then running it back? 

Sorry, but Carlos Correa doesn't fit into a cheap ass organization. 

Just now, tony&rodney said:

the current roster is competitive in the sense that another 82 win season is certainly reasonable.

Cool. The Twins look like a 76-82 win team that can't actually compete and with no real chance to add pieces to improve. 

2 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

everything could fall in line perfectly for an 88-90 win season as well

I mean...even the White Sox fans can say this. You don't build a mediocre team and then cross your fingers that you get every single lucky break. 

With the rapid improvement of the teams in the A.L. Central and the Twins current ownership not allowing any additional expenses to try to keep pace it's fair to question if the Twins indeed ARE in a competitive window for 2025.  How can you really be considered in a competitive window if ownership, and by extension the FO isn't in a position to add to the talent but only hope that the talent on hand simply improves??

I do believe the Twins have enough talent to compete.  But to get there you have to hit on a LOT of question marks:

Correa & Buxton are both healthy and play in over 130 games each AND produce at the expected level offensively.  Royce Lewis has a major bounce back and performs at 2023 and early 2024 levels for a minimum of 130 games in 2025.  That Wallner, Larnach, Lee, Jeffers, and Julien are ALL more 2023 versions of themselves than 2024...and that you get the 2024 version of Miranda.  Do the Twins have full, injury free seasons from Lopez, Ryan and Ober?  Does Duran perform at 2023 levels instead of 2024?  

There are far too many questions about each of these variables.  This is where having the financial ability to go out and sign a Profar to play LF and secure a solid vet #4 SP so that Jax remains in his current role.  Absent that kind of mindset or ability I think it's fair to ask "are we really in a competitive window??"  

If I trade Correa to the Red Sox for the package I laid out and the Twins use the $40-$45 million saved properly, I'm excited about our ability to compete in 2025 and beyond.  If the plan is just to run it back and HOPE that all the variables I listed come true, well, that's just hoping for too much.  

Just now, NYCTK said:

Cool. The Twins look like a 76-82 win team that can't actually compete and with no real chance to add pieces to improve. 

I mean...even the White Sox fans can say this. You don't build a mediocre team and then cross your fingers that you get every single lucky break. 

Hey, don't shoot. I have been agitating for the Twins to make numerous changes to their roster in an attempt to improve for a couple of months. I do think one must at least acknowledge that there are differing viewpoints and that the end result of this offseason will not be known until next season is complete. I'm not at all content with the current roster. I do understand that moves will be a challenge.