The Carlos Correa Frenzy: The Astros Dodged a Bullet

The Astros were wise to move on from Carlos Correa

A young shortstop from Puerto Rico began his MLB career back in 2015 with the Houston Astros and won Rookie of the Year that season. Everyone knew he would shine, and that's precisely what he did while wearing an Astros jersey for seven seasons.

That shortstop is Carlos Correa, known for his great defense in the infield and his infamous clutch moments in the postseason.

The Houston Astros had to make a decision last offseason, either keep Correa or move on from the All-Star shortstop and have youngster Jeremy Pena fill his shoes. It was clear that Correa and his agent Scott Boras were seeking a multi-year deal with a ton of guaranteed money, a contract that Correa definitely deserves. In his seven years with Houston, Carlos Correa won the 2015 AL Rookie of the Year, 2021 AL Platinum Glove (SS), 2017 World Series, and two AL Pennants in 2019 and 2021. As for his slash line, Correa posted .277/ .356/.481, along with 133 HR and 489 RBI as a Houston Astro.

The numbers clearly don't lie, Correa deserved a big contract, but the one thing that would keep teams away from offering that was his injury history. Everything really started back in 2018 when Correa was placed on the 10-day IL for a back ailment which led him to missing a month and getting surgery later that offseason. Then in 2019, he wasn't available to start at the beginning of the season and then had a severe rib injury later on in May. Due to all of those injuries, Correa only played 75 games that season but managed to play the entire postseason.

It was rumored that the Houston Astros offered Correa a 6-year, $120 million deal during the 2021 season, but he rejected it and decided to test the market. Once Fernando Tatis Jr. accepted a 14-year, $340 million deal, that shifted the entire SS market for the upcoming offseason which possibly led Correa and his agent Scott Boras to believe he could receive an offer in that range. Well, that wasn't the case because Correa ended up signing a 3-year, $105 million deal with the Minnesota Twins that included an opt-out in the first season.

In his first season with the Twins, Correa showed that he still could be considered the best shortstop in all of baseball. In 136 games, he had a slash line of .291/.366/.467 along with 22 HR and 64 RBI. He ended up opting out of his contract with the Twins to test the market once again. After a couple of days into Winter Meetings, Carlos Correa had agreed to a 13-year, $350 million deal. Everything seemed to be going well until the Giants had crossed something they saw and didn't like after Correa's physical examination. This led to San Francisco backing out of the deal, putting Carlos Correa back on the market.

With some suitors having all eyes on Correa after this shocking fallout, the New York Mets swooped in and had Correa agree to a 12-year, $315 million deal that would have a left side infield of Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa. Now, there would be no way something wrong happened with this contract, especially with Mets' owner Steve Cohen publicly saying "We needed one more thing, and this was it. This puts us over the top." Well, that's not the case because the Mets also saw something they didn't like after looking at Correa's physical examination.

This frenzy led to the Minnesota Twins and Correa getting back together once again and agreeing to a 6-year, $200 million contract. With 2 teams backing out of a deal involving a superstar, it surely has to mean something right? The Astros should be ecstatic that Carlos Correa and his team did not agree to the deal they offered back in the 2021 season. Instead, they resorted to the young shortstop Jeremy Pena who was just the 2022 ALCS and WS MVP, along with receiving a Gold Glove (SS) in his rookie season.