Baseball executives will be cringing after listening to MLB insider Buster Olney tell a San Francisco radio station that it might take $400 million to sign superstar shortstop Carlos Correa.
Correa, 28, spent the 2022 season with the Twins and Minnesota wants him back. Correa’s agent, Scott Boras, said earlier this week that the Twins are fishing with baseball’s big boys, but the seeing Correa’s name attached to $400 million – $40 million more than Aaron Judge got from the Yankees – is a new level of deep sea free-agent fishing.
Speaking on 95.7 The Game on Friday, Olney said the Twins “want him back” while saying the Giants, Cubs, Red Sox (in theory because they need a shortstop) and Yankees are giving off the most Correa vibes.
“The team I’m watching at the moment: the Yankees, because I’m definitely picking up a lot of vibes there that, yeah they signed Aaron Judge to that $360 million deal, but they’re working on something big. And I wish I could tell you exactly what that was, but Carlos Correa, let’s face it, among the available free agents, that would be the biggest way to go,” Olney said. “This is total speculation on my part. I don’t have that confirmed, but I just know they’re working on something big and maybe it’s Carlos.”
Olney believes it’s going to take an astronomical number to get Correa.
“If your’e going to sign one of those face-of-the-franchise guys, you’re going to have to make a deal that’s really, really uncomfortable. You’re going to have to give them a number that you wouldn’t have imagined six months ago giving him. Because guess what? That’s who’s getting those guys. You’re not getting these guys with a deal where it feels like it’s market friendly,” Olney said.
“You have to go to a place that probably makes you lose sleep at night,” he continued. “I mean think about this, the Padres, before they signed [Xander] Bogaerts, they offered Trea Turner the biggest contract for any shortstop in the history fo the game: $342 million. And this is someone who’s not considered to be a good defender. If you’re Scott Boras, you’re seeing the trends in the market, you represent Correa, you’re thinking you’ve got a shot at $400 million.”
You can listen to the interview with Olney here.
