The San Francisco Giants have been trying to land a prized free agent all offseason, and they finally got their guy in shortstop Carlos Correa late on Tuesday night.
According to Jeff Passan, the Giants and Correa agreed to a 13-year, $350 million contract. Francisco Lindor's 10-year, $341 million deal had a higher AAV, but Correa's contract is the largest in total money for a shortstop in MLB history.
BREAKING: Shortstop Carlos Correa and the San Francisco Giants are in agreement on a 13-year, $350 million contract, a source familiar with the deal tells ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 14, 2022
The deal contains no opt out and a full no trade clause.
Correa opted for a long-term contract this time around after taking a three-year deal with the Twins last season that he opted out of after the year was done. He'll be making $26.9 million per season this year, far less than his $35.3 million per year on the Twins deal, but he'll have a long-term home with the Giants.
Farhan Zaidi has been extremely aggressive in his pursuit of big names this offseason for the Giants, but when Aaron Judge stayed with the Yankees and Xander Bogaerts signed to the Padres, Correa became the key name on the market. If the Giants had missed on Correa, this offseason would have been hard to argue against being an abject failure, so although this deal is ambitious it's big for a Giants team that is just a year removed from winning the NL West with 107 wins before going 81-81 last year.
MORE: The Mets have spent freely this offseason, but have they actually gotten better?
With that in mind, here's what to know about Correa's contract as a new chapter begins in San Francisco.
Carlos Correa contract details
Correa and the Giants reportedly agreed to a 13-year, $350 million deal, making him the highest-paid shortstop in MLB history.
The contract comes on the heels of Bogaerts' 11-year, $280 million market-setting contract. With Bogaerts making $25.5 million per year, Correa slightly upped him at $26.9 million per season.
Correa, 28, will next be a free agent in his aged-41 season. As Sarah Langs notes, this is the third contract this offseason that will exceed 10 years. Heading into this offseason, Bryce Harper was the only free agent to get more than 10 years in free agency (i.e. not an extension).
entering this offseason, there had been 1 free-agent contract of MORE than 10 years:
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) December 14, 2022
Bryce Harper’s 13 years with PHI entering '19
now, there have been 3 this offseason:
Trea Turner’s 11 years with PHI
Xander Bogaerts' 11 years with SD
Carlos Correa's reported 13 years with SF
Notably, all three players who have gotten the greater-than-10-year treatment have been shortstops.
MORE: Boston's bungling of Xander Bogaerts situation doesn't bode well for Red Sox
Carlos Correa 2022 stats
The Giants are getting a rare bat in Correa, in that he's a middle infielder with some real pop in his swing.
Correa has hit 20-plus home runs in his past three full seasons, including 22 last year. His 2022 stats with the Twins were solid, and may have been a catalyst for his opt-out despite a busy shortstop market this year.
| Player | AVG | OBP | SLG% | OPS+ | HR | bWAR |
| Carlos Correa | .291 | .353 | .449 | 140 | 22 | 5.4 |
With Correa being under 30 and a solid two-way player, it's easy to see why the Giants were comfortable penning him to a long-term deal. Of course, the other question to address is what this means for Brandon Crawford. It's hard to imagine the Giants signed Correa to this deal to play him out of position, but anything is possible.
Adding Correa is a centerpiece for a Giants offseason that, with this as the missing piece, is finally taking shape. They had already signed veterans Mitch Haninger and Ross Stripling, and Sean Manea. Signing Correa is a win for a team that really needed one to go with those smaller victories.
