Shortstop Carlos Correa lands 13-year, $350 million deal with the Giants

The Padres’ A.J. Preller and the art of all-in talent acquisition

Correa’s deal does not include opt outs, according to a person familiar with the situation. Last year, his first in free agency, Correa signed an opt-out heavy deal with the Minnesota Twins that would allow him to hit the free agent market again at 28 — earlier than fellow elite shortstops such as newly minted Philadelphia Phillies star Trea Turner. That deal averaged just more than $35.1 million annually to serve as a centerpiece for the Twins while potentially adding to his value after what amounted to a disappointing 2021 season in Houston. That plan, it seemed, worked perfectly.

Because while Correa will make less annually (just less than $27 million) now than Turner will (just more than $27 million), the long-term guarantee is one of the largest in baseball history, trailing only Aaron Judge’s $360 million with the New York Yankees, Mookie Betts’s $365 million guaranteed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Mike Trout’s nearly $427 million guaranteed from the Los Angeles Angels. It gives the Giants their most prominent star since Buster Posey — and perhaps, one could argue, their most prominent free agent position player signing since Barry Bonds. And it matches natural leader and big-stage savant Correa with a team that hopes to contend in a free-spending division that is now home to three high-priced titans.

And while the San Diego Padres may have had the most talked-about offseason of NL West contenders, the Giants may emerge with the award for most improved. They added outfielder Mitch Haniger and brought back outfielder Joc Pederson. They reportedly agreed to relatively low-cost deals with starters Ross Stripling and Sean Manea, adding flexibility to a rotation that already included one of the best young pitchers in baseball, Logan Webb. Interestingly, the one thing they already had was a deeply entrenched shortstop in veteran Brandon Crawford. At 35, he is still a valuable defensive shortstop and earned two FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement last season — the same number as Detroit Tigers shortstop Javy Baez.

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But he is not Correa, who earned more than double that WAR in a somewhat ordinary season in Minnesota last year. Exactly how the Giants will navigate that shortstop logjam remains to be seen. Crawford is under contract through the 2023 season. Correa is under contract into eternity, and he may just prove to be the most productive shortstop of this era when all is said and done. Since Correa debuted for the Houston Astros in 2015, only three shortstops have accumulated more fWAR — Francisco Lindor, Turner, and newly signed San Diego Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts. All of them are at least two years older than Correa. None of them has a comparable October résumé.

And none of them has the face-of-the-franchise presence quite like Correa, who has been one of the sport’s more polarizing players in the years since the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal, but who was a central figure of recent Astros teams until his departure. Other than Jose Altuve, no player has borne the brunt of fan ire for that scandal quite like Correa, who is booed vociferously at nearly every stop he makes — particularly, it should be noted now that he plays in San Francisco, during trips to Dodger Stadium. But Correa is the type of player to meet boos with big swings, a .279 career regular season hitter with an .836 career on-base-plus-slugging percentage that ranks 12th all-time among major league shortstops.

That he is off the market bodes will for former Atlanta Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson, who compiled a career-best offensive year in 2022 but was considered the least offensively potent member of a loaded shortstop free agent class. Now that Correa is off the board, Swanson may find himself buoyed by his rarity: the Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, Twins, Braves and others all have some degree of need for a shortstop. With Turner and Correa and Bogaerts off the market, Swanson will probably find himself highly coveted — and potentially highly compensated as a result.

And that Correa’s deal doesn’t have opt-outs is significant for next year’s shortstop market, too. If Manny Machado opts out of his deal with the Padres after next season, he would be the most high-profile shortstop available in free agency next winter despite playing third base for the Padres for the past few seasons. Baez has an opt-out of his deal with the Detroit Tigers, meaning he could also join the free agent fray. But if both stay put, or if no one considers Machado a viable shortstop option, the most productive shortstop available via free agency next winter would be … Amed Rosario of the Cleveland Guardians. Correa could have bet on another opt-out, hit free agency again at 29, and been the prize of the market. But $350 million to star for a well-regarded franchise through the 2035 season was a pretty good deal, too.