Free agent market of Carlos Correa

With free agency resuming, one key question remains unchanged since the initial market opened four months ago.

Aside from two notable developments—we know the Texas Rangers are no longer involved—Korea can pursue many of the options they had for him last fall.

Perhaps most interestingly, the Chicago Cubs are poised to play a major role in courting Korea as the baseball industry returns to life.

The Cubs were among the teams that had the largest dialogue with the Korea camp in the hours leading up to the start of the lockdown in early December, and there is every reason to believe these talks will resume.

While Cubs wasn’t a popular pick to land the superstar last fall, there is a logical consensus between the two.

The Cubs have payroll flexibility to add a large multi-year contract. Jason Hayward’s contract expires after the 2023 season, and newly signed starter Marcus Strowman is the team’s only player on contract after year 23. The Cubs’ bandwidth to add a superstar was boosted by the fact that Kris Bryant, Javier Báez and Anthony Rizzo were traded away last summer instead of extending it.

Stroman, Kyle Hendricks and Wade Miley rely on a more robust defense than many modern starting shooters do. Correa, winner of the ruling American League Platinum Glove, can affect the Cubs’ running ban as much as his lineup. Nico Horner, the top internal candidate to be the Cubs’ primary short player in 2022, started just 12 games at the center last season and might be best suited for a multi-position role.

Even after finishing fourth, the Cubs don’t seem to have started a similar rebuild to the one they started under Theo Epstein a decade ago. If anything, they expect to compete on the post-season docks for most of the next 10 seasons – a time horizon equal to the length of Korea’s hypothetical contract.

In terms of personal appeal, Correa is a keen student of the game’s history and would take the opportunity to play at Wrigley Field – the site of his best solo practice before the 2012 MLB Draft.

“I was like, ‘Wow, I’d like to play here every single day in the major leagues,'” Correa told NBC Sports Chicago’s Gordon Wittenmaier last year, thinking about this 12 workout.

Of course, the Cubs are not the only ones in pursuit of Korea. The Astros, who led Korea to the world championships last year, cannot be dismissed as a possibility and likely to remain part of the negotiations until the end.

Correa is aiming for a greater guarantee than Corey Seager’s 10-year, $325 million deal with the Texas Rangers. Both short stops are 27 years old, and Korea is coming off a healthier and statistically better season.

Another major point of reference is the proposal rejected by Korea from the Tigers late last year. As first reported by ESPN’s Buster Olney, Detroit has offered Korea a 10-year contract worth $275 million. Had Correa accepted the deal, it would have become one of the five largest free agent contracts in MLB history.

One source said the Tigers had listed at least three clauses by not participating in their show for 10 years; Half of the contract was covered by a clause under which Correa would receive a $10 million bounty every time he finished in the top five in the Most Valuable Player vote.

Correa turned down the Tigers’ offer, in part because he and his WME representatives were confident he would get a bigger contract than Seager. Correa preferred to sign after Seager, who agreed to his contract several days after Correa rejected the Tigers’ offer.

Correa, who played in Houston for Tigers manager AJ Hinch, was Detroit’s first choice among free agents. After Correa turned down their offer, the Tigers moved and reached an agreement with Bayes on a six-year contract worth $140 million.

Although many in the industry believe that Korea will have the greatest guarantee of any remaining free agent, its market may be influenced by the destination of first baseman Freddy Freeman. The Yankees are a big demand for Freeman – in case he doesn’t return to Atlanta. The Yankees have also shown an interest in Korea. They are unlikely to sign both.

Braves have evaluated the markets for several of the top free agents but it seems unlikely that Correa will sign and replace Dansby Swanson after winning the World Championship. The Braves are known to have detailed talks with Justin Verlander at a free agency before he opted to re-sign with the Astros.