Northern California lands Carlos Correa as ESPN reports he reached an agreement with the Giants:
Shortstop Carlos Correa and the San Francisco Giants are in agreement on a 13-year, $350 million contract, a record-long deal that is the richest ever for the position and gives the team a franchise-type player around which it plans to build, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.
The free-agent path of Correa, 28, was far less circuitous than last year, when he entered the market in hopes of landing a $300 million-plus deal but wound up signing a shorter-term contract with the Minnesota Twins that included an opt-out after the first season. This offseason, Correa found a market that lavished $300 million on Trea Turner and $280 million on Xander Bogaerts far more to his liking, and he wound up with the second-biggest deal, behind Aaron Judge‘s nine-year, $360 million contract with the New York Yankees.
ESPN.com
Correa does indeed play 2023 at seasonal age 28, so the Giants get the end of his prime years. Like Trea Turner’s deal there is the stealth deferment of money. Correa projects to about 40 WAR over the life of the contract, meaning the Giants are paying about $8.5 million per WAR while the going rate for free agents is more like $10 million to $11 million per war. San Francisco could have paid him the same amount of money for ten years and have the contract be worth it. By spreading the money out over thirteen years, they save on average value which helps keep them under the luxury tax threshold and gives them more room to maneuver with other players.
Correa is a star both offensively and defensively. He seems to have gotten over the injury bug that limited his playing time pre-COVID. He is the Buster Posey replacement, the great hitter at a primarily defensive position that makes the whole team better. It’s an excellent contract for both sides.
Correa’s strategy of signing short term with the Twins paid off handsomely. He posted a very good season, and with the CBA and the competitive balance tax threshold raised, money is flowing to free agents once again.