Giants Go Big on Correa: 13 Years and $350M

December 13, 2022

The baseball world has been expecting to see the San Francisco Giants go big this offseason. They have been in the mix on almost every major name in the market, yet they have continuously missed out on the biggest names. This, in spite of Giants President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi saying things like, “It’s going to be a big offseason,” and “We do have the flexibility to be involved in every possible option on the table.” They have certainly been trying to make things happen. The Giants were one of the finalists to land superstar Aaron Judge. Unfortunately, he clearly wanted to stay with the New York Yankees–even refusing a “much larger offer” to do so. Judge signed when the Yankees matched the Giants’ offer.

The Giants were also among the favorites to sign All-Star shortstop Trea Turner. Eventually, Turner would also take a lesser offer to head East to the Philadelphia Phillies. The Giants kept trying, and kept failing to land the big names. To their credit, it is hard for a team to land the biggest players when those players are turning down the highest offers to play elsewhere. However, the Giants were determined to improve their team heading into the 2023 season.

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Key Players San Francisco Did Sign

Joc Pederson accepted the Qualifying Offer of one year and $19.65M to stay in San Francisco for another year. San Francisco also avoided arbitration with Scott Alexander and Mike Yastrzemski. This was their November–not exactly swinging for the fences. Once the winter meetings started, they were able to land coveted outfielder Mitch Haniger to a three-year deal. After that, it was swings and misses over and over. Finally, Sean Manaea agreed to a two-year deal the day before they bolstered their rotation even further by adding Ross Stripling. These are all good players, but none are really worthy of the quoted “big offseason” that Zaidi promised. They still had a big hole at short, and after missing out on turner and Xander Bogaerts, there was only one big name left–arguably the biggest. They would leave nothing to chance.

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The Giants Go Big on Correa

Carlos Correa has been one of the biggest, if not the biggest name at shortstop. There were many teams looking to sign the 28-year-old star. The Giants would not be outbid this time, however, and they did not hold back. Correa signed the 4th largest contract in MLB history — just inching ahead of fellow shortstops Francisco Lindor ($341M) and Fernando Tatis Jr. ($341M) for the highest-paid shortstop in history. Correa signed a whopping 13-year deal for $350M as ESPN’s Jeff Passan was first to report. The deal has no opt-outs and a full no-trade clause.

After the Houston Astros picked him with the first overall pick in the 2012 draft, Correa wasted no time in shooting through the minors and debuting in 2015. After playing in 99 games, he was selected as the 2015 Rookie of the Year at age 20. As an Astro, Correa slashed .277/.356/.481 with 133 homers. 18 of those homers were in the postseason in which he thrives. He parlayed his ROY, two All-Star appearances, and his 2021 Gold Glove award into a one-year deal worth $35.1M with the Minnesota Twins in 2022 in his first trip through free agency. He bet on himself in free agency, and he won big.