Giants, Carlos Correa agree to 13-year, $350M deal, sources say

Shortstop Carlos Correa and the San Francisco Giants have agreed to a 13-year, $350 million deal, a record deal that’s the richest ever for the position and gives the team a franchise player to build around want. Sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.

28-year-old Correa’s path as a free agent was far less tortuous than last year, when he entered the market hoping for a $300 million deal but ended up signing a shorter-term contract with the Minnesota Twins, which included an option. out after the first season. That off-season, Correa found a market that dumped Trea Turner with $300 million and Xander Bogaerts with $280 million, and he ended up with the second-biggest deal behind Aaron Judge’s nine-year, $360 million contract with the New York Yankees .

The 13 years link Bryce Harper’s $330 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies in March 2019, and like Harper, Correa received a full no-trade clause and a no-opt-outs contract, sources said.

The $350 million exceeds the $341 million received by Francisco Lindor as shortstop from the New York Mets and the $340 million received by shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. with the San Diego Padres. And in baseball history, it’s only surpassed in value by Mike Trout’s $426.5 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels, Mookie Betts’ $365 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Judges.

About a year after turning down a five-year, $160 million contract with the Houston Astros, with whom Correa blossomed into a star, he landed more than double on the heels of a single season with the Twins, with whom he earned 35.1 Dollar made millions before stepping out of the last two years of his deal. In his only season with Minnesota, Correa looked like his old self, hitting .291/.366/.467 with 22 homers and 64 RBIs in 136 games. Though he didn’t make his 2021 Platinum Glove winning campaign, Correa is considered one of the best defensive shortstops in the game and is recording his fourth season with a 5.0+ wins over reserve, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

The Giants paid him like a superstar as the combination of Correa’s position, age and productivity – regular season and postseason – convinced them to make him one of the highest-earning players in baseball. Prior to Correa, the last player the Giants signed to a $100 million contract was pitcher Johnny Cueto, who received a six-year, $130 million contract in December 2015.

At baseball’s winter meetings, the Giants had hoped to strike a deal for Judge, the reigning American League MVP. But the Yankees upped their offer to $40 million a year, and Judge agreed to stay in New York. With Turner and Bogaerts also off the board, the opportunity to sign a fundamental player had dwindled to Correa and former Atlanta Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson.

Ever since catcher Buster Posey retired after the 2021 season, the Giants had been searching for a star who would be the start of something new, looking past the glory years of the early 2010s, when San Francisco won three World Series, and before that , as Barry Bonds dazzled sold-out crowds every night. Correa has the poise and ability to be just that.

Excellence was a given after he went to the Astros as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft. He shot through the organization and debuted in 2015 at the age of 20 and won AL Rookie of the Year. In his sophomore season, Correa was one of the best players in baseball. And in 2017, he helped the Astros win their first World Series title by hitting five homers and driving 14 runs in 18 postseason games.

The Astros reached the AL Championship Series in 2018 and the World Series in 2019, with Correa being a fundamental player in their success. But the November 2019 revelation that Houston had employed a sign-stealing system during his championship season sullied the title and landed particularly hard on Correa, who defended the team outright.

Correa’s excellence continued unabated. He was among the top players in the 2020 postseason and continued to play well in 2021, increasing his career postseason streak to .272/.344/.505 with 18 homers and 59 RBIs in 79 games. However, with shortstop prospect Jeremy Pena poised to reach the big leagues, Houston made the move from Correa, whose free-agent market never materialized after an early game with the Detroit Tigers and resulted in him signing a three-year contract signed with the Twins for $105.3 million.

With Minnesota, Correa quickly became a clubhouse leader, hitting .307/.381/.496 with 21 home runs in his last 120 games. The twins hoped he would return but realized his market probably wouldn’t collapse like it did after 2021.

In his eight-year career, Correa has compiled nearly 40 rWARs — only Trout, Betts, Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Manny Machado have more at the same stretch — and a career streak of .279/.357/.479 with 155 home runs and 553 RBIs in 888 games. His 12.6 defensive WAR sits fourth behind Andrelton Simmons, Kevin Kiermaier and Arenado.

How long Correa will stay with shortstop is a question several executives have asked during his free agency. The above-average outs metric placed him in the bottom 20% of shortstops last season, while defensive runs saves ranked him slightly above average. At 6ft 4 and 220 pounds, Correa is among the tallest players in the game at shortstop, where he has played all 881 of his career games on the field.

Regardless of where Correa’s gauntlet appears, it’s his racquet that decides the success of the mega deal. And in the short term, it will help determine whether Correa hits the postseason again – this time with a Giants team that won the National League West in 2021 but finished 81-81 this year – or for the first time in his career she misses in consecutive seasons.