Carlos Correa bet on himself at the beginning of this year. He cashed in at the end of it.
The superstar shortstop signed a 13-year, $350 million deal with the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday, per multiple outlets. It’s the most money ever promised to an infielder and the club’s biggest free-agent acquisition since Barry Bonds 30 years ago.
Correa, 28, has been one of the best shortstops in baseball since breaking into the big leagues. The 2015 Rookie of the Year has a career OPS+ of 129, earning a Gold Glove, two All-Star nods and helping the Houston Astros become a perennial contender in the process.
He spent the 2022 campaign with the Minnesota Twins and produced a .291/.366/.467 batting line while tallying 22 home runs and 64 RBIs across 136 games.
His move to the Bay is just the latest in what has been a busy offseason for the Giants. After retaining outfielder Joc Pederson with a qualifying offer, San Francisco has inked outfielder Mitch Haniger and starting pitchers Ross Stripling and Sean Manaea to multiyear deals.
Though a decline in his defensive metrics sapped his WAR totals somewhat, his 140 wRC+ (making him 40% better than the average MLB hitter) was still best among all shortstops — most notably ahead of fellow free-agent shortstops Xander Bogaerts (second), Trea Turner (fourth) and Dansby Swanson (ninth).
Include his monster 2021, and he’s still tops among all shortstops in wRC+, still edging out Turner and Bogaerts, and another name relevant to this conversation: Seager.
Having just turned 28 in September, Correa is still the youngest big-name free agent available just as he was a year ago. He’s five months younger now than Seager was when he signed his 10-year, $325-million deal with Texas last winter. Age is on Correa’s side once again, and that should serve him well as he seeks to secure a long-term deal this time around.
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