Carlos Correa (28), a big-fish shortstop who remained in the free agent (FA) market of the American Professional Baseball Major League (MLB), wears a San Francisco Giants uniform.
ESPN, an American sports media, announced on the 14th (Korean time), “Corea has agreed to a large contract with San Francisco for 13 years and 350 million dollars (approximately 452.2 billion won).” With this, Correa became the seventh player in MLB history to exceed $300 million in free agent contracts.
The contract signed by Correa is the second largest contract in the free agent market in terms of total amount following the nine-year total of 360 million dollars (approximately 613.8 billion won) recorded by Aaron Judge when he re-signed with the New York Yankees earlier this month.
In addition, in terms of all-time contracts, it ranks fourth after Mike Trout (LA Angels, $426.5 million in 12 years), Mookie Betts (LA Dodgers, $365 million in 12 years), and Judge. Among shortstops, he surpassed Francisco Lindor (New York Mets, 341 million dollars in 10 years) and rose to the top.
Correa, who was selected by the Houston Astros with the first overall pick in the 2012 MLB draft, recorded a batting average of .279 in the first year of his big league debut in 2015, with 22 home runs and 14 stolen bases, becoming the American League Rookie of the Year.
Correa, a 193cm tall shortstop, shone. He was recognized as a top-notch shortstop with offensive power. He had 933 hits, 155 home runs and 553 RBIs for a career batting average of .279 over eight big league seasons.
In particular, Corea showed a particularly strong appearance in fall baseball. He appeared in 79 games in the all-time postseason, posting 18 homers and 59 RBIs for a career batting average of .272. His career OPS is .849. He had 5 homers and 14 RBIs as the Houston Astros won the World Series in 2017.
Originally, Correa obtained FA status last year. However, when other shortstops such as Corey Seager (Texas) won huge contracts, Correa was ignored. At the time of the Houston championship in 2017, he did not apologize for the sign-stealing controversy, but rather responded that he was proud, and his image was damaged.
In particular, he publicly mocked right-handed pitcher Mike Fiers for revealing that Houston’s World Series victory in 2017 was the result of sign stealing, and he responded to the player who criticized him, bringing criticism from fans.
Due to this situation, Correa, who was shunned by the market, signed a short-term contract worth 105.3 million dollars for 3 years with the Minnesota Twins, crying and eating mustard. Instead, he included an option to opt-out every year (the contract can be terminated according to the player’s will).
As a result, this opt-out became a godsend. Correa showed off his strength by hitting .291 with 22 home runs in a Minnesota uniform this year. Then he opted out and returned to the free agency market, even though he had two years left on his contract with Minnesota.
The atmosphere was different from his one year ago. Each club competitively recruited free agent players. In line with this, Corea’s stock price, which is not inferior in skill, soared without knowing how high it was. The World Series sign-stealing controversy was no longer an obstacle.
The team most active in recruiting Correa was the San Francisco Giants. After the retirement of main catcher Buster Posey, San Francisco, realizing the absence of a star to represent the team, began actively recruiting big players.
At first, he showed interest in Judge. In order to bring Judge, he presented an exceptional condition of 9 years and 36 million dollars. Jersey, home of San Francisco, was also shaken. However, Judge chose to stay when the Yankees, who had been active since his debut, offered the same conditions.
San Francisco reached out to Correa. Correa, who was looking for a team to play for a long time, had no reason to reject San Francisco, who offered a 13-year contract. 메이저놀이터
Correa, who was born in 1994 and is 28 years old, is guaranteed a contract from next year when he turns 29 to 2035 when he turns 41. It is known that the contents of his contract also included the right to refuse trades with former clubs, and there was no opt-out. You can see Correa’s strong will to finish his career in San Francisco.