Was Carlos Correa the Right Big-Ticket Shortstop to Pay?

I think you can throw Baez, Story, and Swanson out of the equation immediately. Turner and Seager are the cream of this crop, but I don't think the Twins would pay for those two. CC is damn good and I think we're extremely fortunate to end up with him. I'd hate to think where we'd be without him. He's as valuable off the field as he is on. 

10 minutes ago, CRF said:

I think you can throw Baez, Story, and Swanson out of the equation immediately. Turner and Seager are the cream of this crop, but I don't think the Twins would pay for those two. CC is damn good and I think we're extremely fortunate to end up with him. I'd hate to think where we'd be without him. He's as valuable off the field as he is on. 

I agree, I think we got the right one. And yes, we are lucky to have ended up getting Correa the second time around, almost by default. I good player to have on the team, especially when he is playing as well as he has been lately. I wasn't a big fan of him in Houston, but now I like him a lot!

So glad to have C4 in the red, white, & blue of the Minnesota Twins.   We choose wisely.

The signing looks great right now.  They lucked out big time getting him at a discount.

He led the Twins to a “playoff series” win (3 gamer).  He’s playing the best baseball of his career right now.  He’s the clear clubhouse leader.

I said it in the Buxton thread also.  It’s the best the Twins can do.  If anyone is expecting more than what he’s providing on his contract, they need to realign their expectations.

Is the sky blue...

After going a generation since we had Gagne as our last competent SS.  It’s nice to have an all star caliber player for the foreseeable future there.  I think Correa was the best because he will age out of his contract so much better than the others.  

Don't think you could ask for a better left side of the infield of Correa and Lewis. Correa is a gamer. Now let's get Lee up to anchor 2nd. 

Correa has been good for the Twins.  Is he worth 35 million per year?  In my view no.  Not at this point.  But after much early consternation I admit he's been very steady.  Well, his salary and with the ownership tightening up payroll may make it difficult to add to the team.  But his salary is very palatable when you consider the NBA is now paying it's top players in the 50-65 million per year while only playing half the number of games as major league baseball.  I bet the next negotiating session between owners and players in MLB will be very difficult.

I wrote a forum on this exact thing the other week.  Glad Ted took it and ran with it. I think CC was the right one for us.  We were not going to get Seager and Turner contract was too long. Why did you not include Xander Bogaerts, he signed as a SS for Padres in 2023 on an 11 year deal.  It has not worked out well this year so far, last year was ehh. 

He's the leader of our team. We got a good deal on the contract because of the giants and Mets opting out. Plus, we're not stuck with him for like ten eleven years. Six years with four team options, so if he declined horribly we can just opt out. A lot less risk. And msn he's fun to watch when he's playing like this:)

Like the Buxton contract this is a creative deal by the front office. Yes it is only 6 years, but if he keeps playing it can be up to 10 years with the added bonus of rapidly declining salaries in the last 4 years. Great deal for the Twins.

We had to watch a less than stellar 2023, because of C4 foot pain.  This year, he is playing at an all-star level.       I like Corey Seager too.  

It's working out well and was worth the risk. Even with the down year last season as Correa battle through plantar fasciitis, he's very likely to finish his 3rd year with the Twins having put up a ton of value for us. And while I know the idea of 1 WAR = $9M in value is just shorthand, I do think it's important to realize that it's a lot easier to find a player with 1 or 2 bWAR than it is to get one who puts up 5 or 6 bWAR, so the value really shouldn't be treated as linear.

We dodged a bullet on Story, who I admittedly wanted and thought might be a viable option for the Twins, since I didn't think Correa was ever coming here.

we're paying Correa big money, but we're paying it in the years where he's the most likely to produce at these kinds of levels. I love the fact that the contract declines in the out years and if it vests the team should be pretty thrilled to pay the next season. It's a fantastic structure to keep a team leader on for a long time without punishing the budget with our self-imposed payroll limits. And Correa's skill set should age fairly well, since he's not reliant on speed to begin with and a move to 3B in a few years still takes advantage of his superior arm and smart positioning.

I think they bet on the right guy.

For an article that is using a lot of metrics and contract comparisons to not include the same information on Correa is a real miss. 

The contract itself is the big key.  If Correa is bad, they can opt out comparatively early.  If he continues to be good, he stays.

The clubhouse effect and leadership qualities can't be understated.

Correa was never in the Twins' sights. They liked Story's bat & he was playing other teams, & it looked like BOS was about to sign Story. When it looked like the Twins struck out again, Correa dropped from the sky & Boras placed him in the Twins' lap.  IMO because of the steep & long contract he was asking for & many teams were leery about his "garbage can scandal" so he couldn't sign with other teams, the Twins overlooked this. Maybe because they were desperate.

IMO Minnesota wasn't on Correa's target list either but when they came together it was a perfect match. The other SSs IMO never really considered MN (MN had a terrible '21 record, plus big FAs usually don't want to come here) as a possibility w/o an over-pay. Not only did the Twins get lucky in '22 but also in '23 when Correa's offseason was even messier.

Not only does Correa like it here, he adds leadership, mentorship, a feel for the game, valuable postseason experience, and club-house presence to go along with his on-field abilities. He's a key to the success of the Twins. So yes the Twins came out on top by coming up with Correa instead of the others.

It’s a legit miracle we got Correa. Now we gonna ponder whether we could’ve been blesses with a better miracle?

C4 💥