When I heard of the quote about Correa wanting to transition to 3rd base, it made a lot of sense since we can see that his range has been declining and it probably doesn't put as much stress on his feet as short would. The FO had an entire offseason to work it out and shift Lewis to 2nd base or 1st base and have Lee play short. Whatever issues you would have had with Lee at short, working with Correa on footwork, mechanics, and ball placement would have done Lee wonders. In the end, we still have Lee at short, just without the training or insight from Correa while he was still with the team.
I honestly do believe that Correa wanted to build a winner in Minnesota. I think he, like the rest of us, got a slap in the face in learning what "competing" means to the Pohlads in late 2023 and has likely been looking for a way out ever since. I do think we will see a Correa resurgence back in Houston and that if they were going to go full rebuild, then Correa had to go somehow and I'm fine with Correa leaving.
I'm curious what your opinion was on the Rafael Devers situation. Devers was originally told he would be a permanent DH, then told he needs a 1B glove and to get out there and play. In today's age of advanced metrics where WAR, OAA, and DRS are being used to value a player as well as SDI, which is used to help determine Gold Glove winners (and potential bonuses). I too would be concerned that switching positions so quickly would hurt my value, especially in a player like Lewis, who will be going through the arbitration years and everything that can be used to hurt a player's chances at arbitration can and will be used against them. Very few people are like Cuddyer, Punto, or Astudillo that just says "F it, give me a glove and I'll figure it out".