This offseason, it looked like Carlos Correa was going to be one of the biggest free agent signings of the entire winter. He agreed to a 13-year, $350 million deal with the San Francisco Giants. Less than 12 hours later, the New York Mets offered Correa a $315 million contract over 12 seasons. Correa accepted that offer instead.
What happened? The Giants were reviewing Correa's medical history and were hesitant to offer such a huge deal to a player who previously had a surgically repaired right leg, specifically an ankle injury when he was 19. As it turns out, the Mets also were reluctant to sign Correa.
After testing the free agent market and having two teams back off, Correa returned to the Minnesota Twins on a six-year, $200 million deal. The contract also includes a vesting option for four years and $70 million. While that could be a nice bonus, it's also possibkle Correa lost out on $150 million because of those concerns over his medical history.
Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images
It's not all bad news, though. Despite the massive decline in total salary, Correa will ultimately have a higher average annual salary in Minnesota. He'll also get to be more present in his kids' lives. Both of Correa's children are under two years old now; if he played in San Francisco for 13 years, he'd miss a lot of key moments.
And the shortstop — or perhaps more specifically, his wife, Daniella — understands they're still set for life in the grand scheme of things.
"This might be better for our family in the long run," Correa told The Wall Street Journal. "I can be a father and raise my kids. My wife told me she thinks this works better for our family and asked me, 'What can we do with $350 million that we cannot do with $200 million?'"
There's another silver lining for Correa. When this contract ends, he'll be 34 years old, as opposed to the 40 or 41 he would have been with one of the longer contracts. He could potentially sign another deal in 2029. Who knows what the market will look like then? Correa may have another chance at another big contract.
For now, Correa will get to be closer to his family while still making hundreds of millions of dollars to play a game he loves. That's a solid deal no matter how you slice it.
