“We’ve been through a few rounds with this one.”
Minnesota Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey opened the press conference welcoming Carlos Correa back to the Minnesota Twins with the obvious: It’s been quite the offseason journey for Carlos Correa.
“Ultimately what’s transpired from here is well documented, but sometimes in baseball and in life and everywhere else, fate and destiny come back together and there’s an opportunity that you don’t always expect,” said Falvey. “The journeys are not always linear, they’re circuitous sometimes. But they’re here and they bring us back together to the place we knew was always right for Carlos. Minnesota was always right for Carlos.”
Despite signing with two other teams, San Francisco and the New York Mets, Correa said he always felt at home with the Twins.
“I want to thank the Minnesota Twins organization, I want to thank the Pohlad family for making this possible," Correa said at a Wednesday press conference. "Last year when I came in I felt welcome from the get-go. It felt like family. Like you said, my heart was always here. I’m happy we got this done and I want to thank you guys for that.”
Correa ultimately failed physicals with the Giants and Mets, but passed via the Twins’ doctors without an issue. The problem has been with Correa’s lower leg, which was initially hurt years ago, but was enough of an issue to raise red flags for both New York and San Francisco where there was agreement on a 10-year deal.
“What I learned throughout the whole process is a lot of doctors have different opinions,” says Correa. “I had a lot of doctors tell me I was fine. I have some doctors that said it wasn’t so fine. It was shocking to me because since I had the surgery, I’ve never missed a game. I never had treatment for the ankle. It’s never hurt. In my mind, with the expertise of some doctors, I’m even better than last year. That mentally going to next season, for the rest of my career, I’m going to treat it like I always treat it.”
Falvey says the process ended up being very emotional.
“It was a heartfelt conversation on both sides,” Falvey says. “The thing I took away from that conversation was how much of his heart was here. How much he invested in this organization. How much he cared about us.”
The Twins deal is shorter, six years with options for four more. MLB insider Ken Rosenthal says the Twins agreement with Correa is for $36M, $36M, $36M, $31.5M, $30.5M, and $30M. Numbers the first two years include an $8M signing bonus, half to be paid in ‘23, and the other half in ‘24.
“I think what we ultimately achieved, was a conversation in a change in parameters,” Falvey said about Correa coming back to the Twins offer. “I don’t want to talk about what other teams did. There were other teams interested but there were a limited number of teams Carlos was interested in.”
As for Twins fans who feel they were the third choice for Correa, he says the organization was always part of what is a small group of teams he was interested in and that free agency is a complicated process.
"All that matters is I'm here and this is where I want to be," said Correa.
Correa’s agent Scott Boras explained that issues arose with other teams over the length of the contract, with those teams attempting to balance that length with injury concerns.
“I think teams were trying to reduce their competitive balance tax the best they can,” Boras said during Wednesday’s press conference. “However, in the fairness to the player, you have to look at the fact he has to execute a contract. In one term they want length. In other terms they don’t.
That’s where it comes back to medical opinion.”
Boras says that there were too many medical opinions that didn’t understand Correa’s full situation.
“There’s a dramatic chasm between how some doctors feel about a player’s long-term performance,” according to Boras.
Falvey also credited new Twins Executive Chair Joe Pohlad for helping close the deal with Correa. Pohlad said getting Correa back was an offseason priority for the team as he oversaw the biggest free agent deal in team history. Is this a sign of things to come for the team?
“We’ll take that on a case-by-case basis,” Pohlad said.
Falvey added that they are focused on other free agents and are hoping to continue to improve the team, whether through the open market, trades and what they have for depth in their system.
"We're open to being creative and improving the roster in other ways," says Falvey.
Despite Correa saying he is happy returning to the Twins, he still takes issue with the height of the right-centerfield wall. Now that he’s back in the Twin Cities, should they lower it?
“We’re talking about it,” joked Correa. “There’s work to be done. I want to bring a championship back to this city.”
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