The San Francisco Giants have been one of the biggest stories of this MLB offseason, primarily due to them being considerable players in the Aaron Judge sweepstakes. Unfortunately for the Giants, Judge ended up going back to the New York Yankees on a nine-year 360-million-dollar deal, and the Giants knew they had to make some big free agent signing.
The Giants went out this offseason and signed some good players in outfielder Mitch Haniger and pitchers Sean Manaea and Ross Stripling, but the Giants still needed to look for a huge star player to help compete in a loaded N.L West and N.L.
We saw their division rivals, the San Diego Padres, go out and sign one of the best shortstops on the market in Xander Bogaerts, and the Los Angeles Dodgers have been the best team in baseball for over a decade.
One of the other best shortstops on the market, Carlos Correa, was still available, and the Giants turned their attention towards him.
Who is Carlos Correa
Rumors were floating around the MLB world that the Giants would go hard toward Correa after missing out on Judge, and there is an argument to be made that Correa is the best player left on the free-agent market.
A report came out late Tuesday night that the San Francisco Giants and Carlos Correa reached a deal that would pay him 350 million dollars over 13 years.
Correa is still young, only 28 years old, and won’t even turn 29 until late next season. However, Correa is a two-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year, Gold Glove, and Platinum Glove winner and 2017 World Series Champion with the Houston Astros.
Correa was part of the Houston Astros cheating scandal, and many MLB fans are still not very happy with him around the league; that seemed to be a reason why the Dodgers would not pursue him since they were the team that lost to the Astros in the 2017 World Series during the cheating scandal. They wouldn’t know how fans would react.
Correa spent his first seven seasons in Houston, and then last season, he signed a contract with the Minnesota Twins and opted out of the deal this offseason. The Twins still were players to resign him this free agency, but Correa wanted to play in the bay area.
Correa has had some injury history in the past with ankle, back, thumb, and ribs, but if you can look past that, he is a phenomenal player, and the Giants should be pleased they were able to sign him.
The Big Four Shortstops
Correa is the third shortstop to sign from the big four that hit the market this offseason, with Trea Turner and Xander Bogaerts signing with the Phillies and Padres.
That leaves Atlanta Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson, who will be very highly looked at now by many teams. Swanson is the fourth-best shortstop in this group, but the market looks great for him now with the other three already signing, and many teams who struck out on those guys will be knocking down his door.
It’s going to be fun to see how Correa and the Giants do this season and can this team get back to dominating like they did when they won 2010, 2012, and 2014 World Series.
