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Jeff PassanESPN
Shortstop Carlos Correa and the San Francisco Giants have agreed on a 13-year, $350 million contract, a source familiar with the deal told ESPN.
The deal features a comprehensive no-trade clause but does not include any waivers, the source said. It gives the Giants their franchise player in Correa, who turned down $160 million from Houston last year, got $35.1 million in his year at Minnesota and is now getting more money than ever for an infielder.
It is the fourth-largest contract by total value in MLB history, trailing only Mike Trout’s $426.5 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels, Mookie Betts’ $365 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Aaron Judge’s $360 million deal with the New York Yankees. The 13 years match the longest contract ever for a free agent, tying Bryce Harper’s 13-year, $330 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies.
The free agent journey of Correa, 28, has been much less tortuous than last year, when he entered the transfer market in hopes of landing a $300 million-plus deal, but ended up signing a short-term deal with the Minnesota Twins which included an opt-out after the first season. This winter, Correa found a market that handed $300 million to Trea Turner and $280 million to Xander Bogaerts far more to his liking and ended up with the second-biggest deal after the $360 million nine-year deal Aaron Judge with the New York Yankees.
In his one season with the Twins, Correa looked like his vintage self, hitting .291/.366/.467 with 22 home runs and 64 RBI in 136 games. Though he hasn’t matched his Platinum Glove win in 2021, Correa is considered among the best defensive shortstops in the game and posted his fourth season with more than five hits over a replacement.
The Giants paid him like a superstar, as Correa’s combination of position, age, and productivity — regular season and postseason — convinced them to make him one of baseball’s highest-earning players. Before Correa, the last player the Giants signed to a $100 million deal was pitcher Johnny Cueto, who got a six-year, $130 million deal in December 2015.
Excellence was predestined for Correa after going to the Houston Astros with the first overall pick in the 2012 draft. He went through the Astros organization and made his debut as a 20-year-old in 2015, winning Rookie of the Year. In his sophomore season, Correa was one of baseball’s best players and, in 2017, helped the Astros win their first World Series title, hitting five home runs and driving in 14 rushes in 18 postseason games.
The Astros reached the American League Championship Series in 2018 and the World Series in 2019, with Correa a key player in their success. But the revelation in November 2019 that Houston had employed a mark-stealing scheme during their league season tainted the title and landed particularly hard on Correa, who has been forthright in his defense of the team.
Correa’s excellence continued unabated. He was a standout in the 2020 postseason and played well again in 2021, pushing his career postseason line to .272 / .344 / .505 with 18 home runs and 59 RBI in 79 games. With shortstop prospect Jeremy Pena poised to make the major leagues, however, Houston moved on from Correa, whose free agent market never materialized after an early flirtation with Detroit led him to a three-year $ 105.3 million with the Twins, for which he was paid $35.1 million in 2022.
At Minnesota, Correa quickly became a clubhouse leader and in his last 120 games he hit .307/.381/.496 with 21 home runs. The twins hoped he would return, but acknowledged the market for him was unlikely to break down in the same way it has after 2021.
Over his eight-year career, Correa compiled nearly 40 WARs — only Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Manny Machado have more in the same stretch — and a career line of .279/.357 /. 479 with 155 home runs and 553 RBI in 888 games. His 12.6 Defensive WAR ranks fourth, behind Andrelton Simmons, Kevin Kiermaier and Arenado.
How long Correa stays at shortstop is a question asked by multiple executives during his free agency. The Outs Above Average metric placed him in the bottom 20% of shortstops this season, while Defensive Runs Saved ranked him as slightly above average. At 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, Correa is among the greatest shortstops in the game, where he played in all 881 games of his career in the field.
Regardless of where Correa’s gauntlet lands, his mace will determine whether the mega deal is successful. And in the near term, it will help determine whether Correa will make the postseason again or, for the first time in his career, miss it in consecutive seasons.
