The Minnesota Twins’ Front Office Played Themselves

Since day one of many offseason, the Minnesota Twins made it abundantly clear that priorities one, two and three have been bringing again Carlos Correa. With loads of payroll room to spend, and a pre-existing relationship with Correa, this appeared just like the distinctive scenario the place the Twins might spend with the large boys and signal a franchise cornerstone for a very long time.

Sadly for the Twins, it was reported late Tuesday evening that Correa was signing with the San Francisco Giants for a 13-year, $350M contract. A contract that the Twins weren’t prepared to match.

In response to our pal Dan Hayes, the Twins’ greatest supply for Correa was a 10-year, $285M supply.

Whereas lacking out on Correa was a giant bummer for everybody, it was additionally considerably comprehensible. The San Francisco Giants play in one of many largest markets in America and are used to routinely throwing round this sort of cash. The difficulty for the Twins wasn’t lacking out on Correa, it was that they put all of their eggs within the Carlos Correa basket.

By zeroing in on Carlos Correa and ready for him to decide, they missed out on practically each different influence free agent. Shortstops like Xander Bogaerts and Trea Turner, influence pitchers like Chris Bassitt and Tyler Anderson, and massive bats like Willson Contreras and José Abreu all signed elsewhere whereas the Twins have been ready on a choice from Correa.

By ready on Carlos Correa the Twins entrance workplace wanted to be extraordinarily assured within the energy of the supply that they held. They wanted to be so certain that the sum of money that they have been prepared to present to the Gold Glover was so nice that he couldn’t probably flip down his former staff.

As soon as Dan Hayes’s report got here out that the Twins’ most supply was $285M, although, it made the entrance workplace’s dealing with of this offseason all of the extra troubling.

$285M was by no means going to get a deal achieved for Carlos Correa. In 2021 Francisco Lindor signed for $341M. Being youthful and extra adorned than Lindor, and with Scott Boras as his agent, there was no means that Correa can be signing for any lower than $300M and there was a great likelihood that he would exceed Lindor’s quantity. Then when Trea Turner signed for $300M (and being supplied $342 by the Padres), that notion was solely cemented extra.

Now that Carlos Correa has made his choice to signal with the Giants, the Twins are observing a severely depleted free company market with few influence gamers remaining. After Dansby Swanson and Carlos Rodón, no different free brokers are projected to amass greater than three wins above alternative in 2022. Exterior of signing a kind of two, the Twins can solely purchase an influence participant through commerce. Dealing from a depleted farm system to enhance a 78-win staff that’s worse than that 78-win staff was on the final day of the 2022 season does not sound sensible both.

The Twins are actually in an extremely robust scenario due to the entrance places of work misreading of the Carlos Correa scenario and so they have no one responsible however themselves.