Just two years after he signed a $200 million contract to remain in Minnesota, three-time All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa is being dangled in trade talks, according to a new report.
Thursday, Jeff Passan of ESPN wrote that pitcher "Luis Castillo has been dangled by Seattle in multiple scenarios but wields a no-trade clause. Same with Carlos Correa, owed $128 million over the last four years of his deal with Minnesota."
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While the Mariners' surplus of starting pitching — and dearth of dangerous bats — makes Castillo a sensible player to offer in a trade, the Twins' motivation for dealing Correa is less straightforward.
Minnesota was a slightly above average American League team by OPS+ in 2024. Correa was the best hitter in the lineup when healthy, slashing .310/.388/.517 in a season limited to 86 games because of an oblique strain and planter fasciitis.
Correa, 30, is a career .275/.354/.517 hitter in 10 seasons with the Houston Astros and Twins. In three seasons with the Twins, Correa has a .804 OPS (124 OPS+) and made his third American League All-Star team earlier this year.
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Correa's agent, Scott Boras, recently attempted to squelch the theory that Correa might be traded because he is discontent in Minneapolis.
"The last time I talked to him, he told me the fishing was good," Boras told reporters at the Winter Meetings in Dallas. "So, yeah, he's happy there."
The Carlos Correa trade speculation was overblown this week.
Scott Boras on whether Correa is content with the Twins and their direction: “The last time I talked to him, he told me the fishing was good. So, yeah, he’s happy there.” https://t.co/TzPedYb82H
The Twins' motivations could be financial. Correa's 2025 salary is $36 million, the highest in any season over the life of his contract. The most the Twins have ever paid an individual player in franchise history is the $35.1 million they paid Correa in 2022; prior to that Joe Mauer's $23 million salary from 2011-18 took the cake.
But the Twins knew what they were getting into when they signed Correa to a six-year contract in Jan. 2023 at the end of one of the wildest free agent sagas in recent memory.
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Correa reportedly had deals in place with the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants that winter, only to see both contracts collapse over concerns around Correa's medicals. The Giants even scheduled a press conference in San Francisco to introduce Correa before nixing the deal.
The first overall pick in the 2012 draft, Correa has played 357 of a possible 486 games over the last three seasons since signing with the Twins. In theory, that validates some of the physical concerns already known to teams when Correa was a free agent.
In practice, perhaps there is still room for the Twins to convince teams hungry for a shortstop that the risk of taking on Correa's contract is worth the upside.
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