What with the injury and the trade rumors and the gut-wrenching slow-motion trainwreck that was the final quarter of the Twins’ season, this article is here just to serve as a simple reminder: Carlos Correa had an absolutely bonkers 2024. According to FanGraphs, Correa put up 4.3 WAR in 2024 despite playing in just 83 games. That was the fourth-highest total of what has at least an outside chance of being a Hall of Fame career. This century, 153 shortstops have had seasons in which they put up at least 3.9 fWAR. Would you like to guess how many of them played fewer games than Correa? If you guessed zero, then you were right.
In half a season, Correa was the 26th-most valuable position player in baseball. When he went down with plantar fasciitis on Jul. 12, his 3.6 fWAR ranked 10th among all position players. To be sure, having a great first half is never a guarantee that you’re going to have a great second half, but that’s still extraordinary. As much of a bummer as it is, staying healthy is a skill, and players who can do it deserve recognition. I’m not trying to say that Correa should be viewed as the best player in baseball this season, or even the best player on the Twins. What I am saying is that his absence made it too easy to ignore just how special this (half-)season was. Let’s not fall into that trap.
Before we dig into just how Correa amassed all that WAR, I’ll just say quickly that this is why I’m not too worried about the trade speculation. Don’t get me wrong; I would be straight-up devastated if the Twins were to trade Correa. However, while it might be easy for Twins fans to miss this particular silver lining after a very cloudy season, I assure you that teams around baseball have not. They get just how valuable Correa is, especially considering his contract situation. He’s signed through the 2028 season, with another four years of club options at progressively smaller dollar amounts, which means that exercising them would reduce the contract’s average annual value against the competitive balance tax.
You can bet that for Correa to accede to a deal, he would want at least one of those options exercised. Stop for a moment and try to imagine the prospect haul that would be required to acquire Correa on (say) an eight-year deal with a lower AAV than Nathan Eovaldi's. So while the Twins might listen to offers, it would take a monster offer for them to even consider it. Okay, let’s talk about how Correa did it.
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