Carlos Correa Officially Inks Deal with Twins

FORT MEYERS, FL (KDLM) – It’s official. Carlos Correa is a Minnesota Twin.

The All-Star shortstop put pen to paper at the Twins facility in Fort Myers, Florida earlier this morning. Correa and the Twins agreed to a three-year, $105.3 million contract over the weekend in what is one of the biggest free agent splashes in team history. Correa, age 27, will make $35.1 million with the Twins this year, which makes him the fourth-highest paid player in baseball this year behind only pitcher Max Scherzer ($43.3 million) pitcher Gerrit Cole ($36 million), and outfielder Mike Trout ($35.5 million).

After signing his contract with the Twins, Correa spent the rest of his Tuesday morning familiarizing himself with team facilities, feeding ground balls to his new Twins teammates, and started mentoring his new protege, Royce Lewis.

Carlos Correa is already having a lengthy chat with Royce Lewis about shortstop defense.

Two shortstops taken No. 1 overall, five years apart, discussing the craft. pic.twitter.com/2nIBoyFF1O

— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) March 22, 2022

Correa’s contract has an opt-out after each year of the contract, which means that he could likely be in Minnesota for only one season, then pursue a long-term contract like the six-year, $140 million deal that Trevor Story got from the Boston Red Sox.

But for now, Twins fans are set to enjoy the unexpected ride of having a Gold Glove-winning, All-Star shortstop in his prime holding down the middle infield for the Twins. Correa is one of a handful of moves made by the Twins in an attempt to climb out of the AL Central cellar. The left side of the infield will now feature Correa and Gio Urshella, who was acquired with catcher/DH Gary Sanchez for Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa (who was acquired for catcher Mitch Garver). The Twins also traded for starting pitcher Sonny Gray to help bolster a Twins pitching staff that was second to last in the AL in ERA (4.83), gave up the second-most home runs (239), and gave up the fourth-most hits (1,392).