Hunter McCall

There's plenty of unknowns, but in my opinion, Boras and Correa used Minnesota as a pitstop to get him a long term contract with a big market team. It's not a knock on him, he was great for the Twins when he was here. It hurts a little bit, but that's the name of the game. I just think doubling down on blaming the front office for not inking Correa is rather redundant. This contract he signed, in my opinion, just screams that he never intended on being in Minnesota long-term like he claimed he wanted to be.

At the beginning of the offseason, Carlos Correa and Scott Boras publicly expressed Correa's interest in staying in Minnesota on a long-term deal. Correa went as far as to say that he was there and all the Twins had to do was pay up. There were soundbites of Byron Buxton and Rocco Baldelli pleading with the front office to keep Correa around. Of course, this was all before Correa signed a 13-year $350M contract with the San Francisco Giants. Upon Correa's signing with the Giants, many people in the Twins community were rather upset, and not without reason. It's frustrating to hear a top tier free agent say he wants to play for your team and all they have to do is pay up only to see him sign a massive deal with one of the biggest market teams in the league. Over the course of the next week, that sadness and anger slowly subsided for many fans, as the focus shifted back to the Twins and how they were going to construct the roster going forward. Who in their right mind wants to sign a 28-year-old short stop with an extensive injury history to a 13-year deal anyway? The grieving process had seemingly reached the "acceptance" stage. The signing of Joey Gallo gave Twins fans something new to argue about, and it appeared everyone had moved on. That was of course until the Giants canceled their introductory press conference with Correa yesterday morning. The speculation and conspiracy theories began to run wild on Twitter and across the internet, but it still seemed a little silly and far fetched. How can it be a full week later, on the day of the press conference, that the deal between Correa and the Giants had fallen through? Then the Associated Press dropped a bombshell story detailing the reasoning for the cancellation as an injury that popped up during Correa's physical with Giant's team doctors. Wow! What a change of events! The Twins might really have a shot to land Correa again! Nope. They would see a second opportunity fall by the wayside as the New York Mets would slide in and swipe Correa for $315M over the next 12 years. What a bummer. Fire Derek Falvey right!? Relax. Let's take the blinders off and think about this for a minute. Carlos Correa chose to take a 12-year $315M deal with the New York Mets. The Mets have a shortstop in Francisco Lindor, so by signing with the Mets, Correa has agreed that he will move to 3rd base. It is commonly known that position players, especially all-star short stops who have won a platinum glove just two years ago, don't usually enjoy being asked to change positions. Players as good at the position as Correa normally see this as a slap in the face, and will laugh at any deal that requires them to give up their position. Playing short stop is the alpha male position. He's the dude of the infield. It's rare to see as willing a shift off the keystone as we've seen with Correa signing with the Mets less than 24 hours after the deal with the Giants fell through. After all, the Twins offered a 10-year $285M contract for him to play short stop for the team he claimed to love and want to remain a part of. So why would he take less money per year to play for the Mets? He didn't want to play for the Twins. There it is. I said it. Maybe it's time to at least consider this thought as a possibility. Maybe Correa and his agent, who is among the best negotiators in sports, used the Minnesota Twins. Maybe there was only one team last year willing to give him what he wanted in his prove it deal last year, so he decided he would head up north for one summer and play in Minnesota. Maybe him and Boras constantly sang their praise of the Minnesota Twins as a technique to get other teams to raise their offers and start a bidding war. Maybe all of this worked. Think about it, the two teams he decided to sign with are two of the biggest market teams in sports. They constantly shell out as much, if not more money than any team in the league. They're almost always competitive. If he was to eat up almost $30M per year with the Twins, would they be able to field a consistently competitive team over the course of a 10-13 year contract when their payroll sits at around $160M? Maybe, but aren't the odds of success better with a team who's payroll is approaching half a billion dollars? This isn't even to mention the sketchiness of the mystery injury that ultimately led to the Giant's deal falling through. Correa came into Minnesota with a history of injuries and IL stints. This was the reason for the 3-year deal with all the opt outs. If he got hurt, he could just try again the next year, all on the Twin's dollar. What could the Giant's doctors have found that would have caused them to back out? It must have been severe in their eyes to cause them to let go of one of the biggest free agents on the market. This mysterious injury should be a major red flag that would cause pause to anyone, except Mets owner Steve Cohen apparently, until they got their hands on him for their own extensive medical evaluation. As the dust settles on what was a shocking and unique change of events, Twins fans again find themselves angry. But I ask, are we aiming our displeasure at the right people? Correa chose two huge market teams over the Twins, and the one he ultimately ended up with won't even allow him to play the position he won a platinum glove at just two years ago. In my opinion, they used the Twins as leverage to get what Correa ultimately wanted, a long-term deal on a big market team. We shouldn't fault the front office for not raising their offer from 10-years $285M after Correa had a foggy medical evaluation. If the events that transpired yesterday resulted in the Twins raising their original offer, I would find that quite concerning. Raising their offer would have been negligent and down right bad business. Correa had his chance to come back to the Twins and play short stop, and at the end of the day he chose to take less money per year to play 3rd base for the New York Mets. Maybe we should stop pointing the blame at the front office for their inability to convince Correa to stay, and redirect it at Correa and Scott Boras for just flat out not wanting to be in Minnesota long-term. Maybe I'm way off here, but I agree with the front office for not going 12 or 13 years, especially after the shady medical evaluation done by the Giants. Let me know what you think, and as always, Go Twins!

Couldn't agree more! The Twins aren't in a bad spot at the moment. They were on their way to having a solid season last year until injuries derailed them. A lot of positive takeaways, and as you said, the team needs to get healthy! They have a star in Byron Buxton and a solid lineup to pair with him. They could use another bat to add to the mix. Maybe Brandon Drury, Trey Mancini, or Jurickson Profar can be targets who would be very similar to the Marwin Gonzalez signing back in early 2019. The pitching is fine as is, but could become a real asset with either a trade for a top level starter or the bolstering of the bullpen. If we're lucky, maybe the Twins do all these things, and the Twins become competitors! I like where your head's at!

The signing of Gallo won't have any affect on whether or not they extend players next year. Gallo's deal is a one year deal, which is why I say it's low risk. $11M is a fair price to pay for someone with as much upside as Gallo. The reason I called it no harm no foul is because his contract is off the books in a year and will have no impact on whether or not they sign free agents or extend their own players in the future.

You make some nice points! The only way for Minnesota to win bidding wars is to overpay unfortunately. It isn't a glamorous location for most free agents, especially those who aren't used to the cold. It is always tough to rapidly promote young players without allowing them to develop in the minors. Jeter Downs is a great example of this, as he was accelerated a bit too rapidly, and it eventually led to his downfall in Boston. Poor guy went from being the center piece in a trade for Mookie Betts to being waived last week. He was excellent in AA, but I think he was rushed to AAA where he struggled mightily. That said, when a player is ready to play in the Majors, by all means, call them up! The roster construction model you posted is an interesting one. I wonder how easy or difficult it would be to follow. I wonder if there may be cases when you have too many guys who fall into one category or not enough guys who fall into another category. Take the Braves for example shelling out extensions to almost all of their players (besides Dansby Swanson). In that case, the limit of 5 extended guys may be pushed. But it's a great model to follow! I like the way you're thinking!

Where else would you rather the money go? Even after the Gallo deal, the Twins have plenty of money to spend. Why not spend a rather pedestrian amount on a player like Gallo who has massive upside? His track record outside of last year is very good. On top of that, the banning of the shift should cause his batting average to improve immediately. He's going to strike out a ton yes, but he will also supply 40 home run upside and excellent defense. I think an $11M contract is very low risk when you consider the upside.

Some good thoughts here. While the AL central wasn’t great in 2019, it was historically bad in 2022. One can’t discredit the quality of season the Twins put together in 2019 simply because their division was on the weaker side. the main point I was trying to make is it seems as though the Twins have been trending toward signing big free agents to big contracts with the Donaldson and Correa signings. While the Twins haven’t paid money through free agency for pitching, they have aggressively navigated the trade market to bring in Kenya Maeda, Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Chris Paddack, and Tyler Mahle, all have and will continues to contribute to the Twins success. You could argue the 2023 rotation is as good a rotation as they’ve had in quite some time. There’s a real argument to be made, and I tried to make above, that the Twins should stick to fishing in their lakes. They’ve pulled a lot of quality free agents. Thank you for your thoughts!

Carlos Correa's "super agent" Scott Boras described the Minnesota Twins as "fishing in the ocean" just a week before Correa signed a 13-year $350M deal with the San Francisco Giants. At the time, the Twins were in the middle of a heated bidding war for the superstar short stop. that saw them offer a franchise record 10-year $280M contract. As we know, the Twins were unwilling to get to the 13 year threshold that the Giants offered, and he will now assumingly play out the remainder of his career in the The Golden City. Some Twins fans immediately took to bashing the front office for their inability to give Correa whatever he wanted because he said he wanted to remain in Minnesota. Other fans were just excited that the Twins had seemingly taken a step up by offering such a lucrative contract, and were now big players in the free agent game. Fishing in the ocean. Fast forward just a few short days, and the Twins have finally began spending the surplus of money they had sitting unoccupied on the payroll. They started by signing Christian Vasquez, an elite defensive catcher who holds his own at the plate, to a 3-year $30M deal. They followed the Vasquez signing up by landing Joey Gallo, a former superstar with as much raw power as anyone in the league, to a 1-year $11M contract. This is clearly just the start of a Twins plan that is starting to formulate and fall into place, however, many Twins fans have voiced their displeasure with the team's lack of ability to reel in the big fish. Do these fans have a real gripe? Should the Twins be throwing around $200M contracts more frequently? The fun answer would be yes. It would be awesome to navigate an offseason and trade deadline with the same aggressiveness as the New York Yankees or Los Angeles Dodgers, but is that the blueprint that the Twins should follow when their payroll sits right around $160M? I think the last five years have taught us that when it comes to winning a championship, there are many was to skin a cat, and maybe the Twins should shift their approach. 2020-2022 Offseasons The years 2020-2022 brought us some of the most exciting offseason moments we could have ever hoped for as Twins fans. Prior to the 2020 season, the Twins signed Josh Donaldson to a 4-year $92M contract, which was the richest contract they had ever given to a free agent to date. The Donaldson signing was one of the most exciting offseason moments of my Twins fandom. The Donaldson era on the field was one chock-full with injuries and disappointment. He was eventually dumped off on the Yankees in a trade for Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez in order to get Donaldson's contract off the books. His former Twins teammates were rather vocal about how they felt about Donaldson in his time in Minnesota, and it wasn't good. The Twins avoided the disaster of living out his 4-year deal by giving him away to the Yankees, who have also had their fair share of issues with Donaldson. Donaldson's two year stint with the Twins could've left a bad taste in the Twins mouth when it came to signing big free agents, but it didn't, as made evident by excitement displayed by fans when the Twins made the biggest move in franchise history following the Donaldson trade. I remember waking up groggy eyed and looking at my phone when I saw the Minnesota Twins had signed Carlos Correa. Despite it being 6 a.m., I danced around my room screaming like an idiot until I lost my voice, got light headed, and decided to sit down. The Correa signing came out of no where, as there was never any reported interest between either party until the news broke that he was coming to Minnesota on a 3-year $105M deal that included opt out options after each of the first two seasons. Correa's time in Minnesota could not have been more different than Donaldson's. He was a fantastic leader and player, and left a very positive impact on the Twins. This is the reason they decided the 28-year-old was worth a 10-year $280M contract. Correa remained healthy and performed for much of the season, but he alone wasn't enough to make the Twins successful. As the players around Correa fell one by one to injury throughout the season, the Twins were forced to play a handful of players who were not Major League quality players. The season winded down to a disastrous end came and Correa opted out, leaving fans wondering what the Twins would do. In most Twins fans minds, after the last few offseasons, the only way to become a championship caliber team was to throw around as much cash as humanly possible and sign as many big named free agents as there were on the market. This is the exciting way to operate, but is it the best way for a mid-market team to go about their business? 2019 Offseason In 2018 the Twins went 78-84 and fired their manager Paul Moliter. They went into the 2018-2019 offseason with plenty of young talent on the roster, but also plenty of holes to fill. The Twins followed a different model in this particular winter than they have in the offseasons since. In this offseason, the Twins started by signing low to mid level free agents like CJ Cron, Jonathan Schoop, Ehire Adrianza, and Martin Perez. The Twins made their first big move of the winter when they signed the 38-year-old home run slugging DH Nelson Cruz to a 1-year $12M contract. They followed it up by signing the former World Series Champion Marwin Gonzalez to a 2-year $21M deal. This offseason saw them sign mid level free agents to short term, low risk, high reward contracts. The result of this plan just so happened to be one of the most memorable seasons in Twins history. The 2019 "Bomba Squad" won 101 games and won the AL Central. The team was fun, exciting, and very deep. It was built with a strong emphasis on depth, developing their own young players, and bringing in veteran players who provided good leadership on short term deals. What's This Mean? Maybe nothing. It's a small sample size, but I can't help but feel that this offseason is shaping up very much like the one that led the Twins to an all-too-fun 101 win season. The 2023 Twins team already has a lot of talent, and most of that talent is rather youthful. They have pivoted from the large, flashy contracts, and have focused on short term deals that could end up paying off big time if they hit. Take Joey Gallo for example. If he reverts the the 2021 version of himself that contributed 4.7 Wins Above Replacement, they could have themselves a massive asset for a very manageable price. If he sucks, the Twins will wash their hands of him, and it's essentially no harm, no foul. The Twins front office has received a ton of criticism for the lack of moves so far this winter, but I refuse to overreact to an unfinished product. The moves are coming, and I believe the Twins will compete in 2023, pushing to win a very weak AL Central. The flashy moves the Twins have made the last few seasons have been fun. I will always get excited when I see a big name connected with the Twins. I will continue to lose my mind any time the Twins manage to bring one of those big fish to Minnesota. I'm not saying the Twins can't win by making these moves. My main point here is that the Twins have yet to find any success from signing star free agents to lucrative contracts. Instead of screaming at the top of our lungs to fire the whole front office, maybe we can take a step back and let the entirety of the offseason fall into place before we start criticizing. Let Falvey cook. Deep breaths. We've been here before. What are your thoughts on the offseason this far? What are your hopes for the future? Let me know, and as always, Go Twins!