Perhaps the third team this offseason will be the charm for Carlos Correa.
Well, except if he signs with the third team, he won't have ended up going anywhere in his second free-agent stint in as many winters.
But Dan Hayes and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported Monday evening that negotiations between Correa and the Minnesota Twins "have begun to accelerate," the latest twist in what's becoming the most bizarre trip to free agency in the history of the sport.
On Dec. 14, Correa reportedly reached an agreement on a 13-year/$350 million deal to join the San Francisco Giants. That deal fell apart, only for Correa and the New York Mets to work out a 12-year/$350 million deal on Dec. 21, which owner Steve Cohen even spoke on the record about to Audacy Sports MLB Insider Jon Heyman before said pact was actually finalized. That's the most recent comment anyone connected with the Mets has made about Correa publicly.
And now, there appears to be a distinct possibility that Correa never plays for the Giants or Mets, but rather returns to the Twins, where he played in 2022 following parts of seven seasons with the Houston Astros.
We don't know the exact issue nature of the issue that has turned both the Giants and Mets off to one of the game's best overall players, other than that it has to do with his right ankle. While Correa has never gone on the injured list at the Major League level for anything related to the fractured right fibula that he sustained back in 2014, the two-time All-Star did have a scare last September when he felt temporary numbness and vibration after the plate in his lower right leg was hit attempting to steal a base:
Correa, 28, slashed .291/.366/.467 with 22 home runs and an .834 OPS in 2022, leading him to opt out of the final two years of a three-year/$105.3 million deal with the Twins. Little did he know what was waiting for him in free agency.
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