Correa cashes in with Giants after rejecting Astros’ offer originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Carlos Correa bet on himself a year ago, and on Tuesday night, he won big.
The 28-year-old shortstop agreed to a massive 13-year, $350 million contract with the Giants, a source confirmed to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic.
Correa’s pact with the Giants comes 13 months after he passed on a five-year, $160 million contract offer to stay with the Houston Astros, the team that selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 MLB Draft.
Instead of returning to the Astros, Correa signed a three-year, $105.3 million contract with the Minnesota Twins that contained opt-outs after each season. Correa earned $35.1 million in 2022 and then opted out after the season, becoming a free agent again.
And as the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome points out, Correa did just fine leaving the Astros’ offer on the table.
Instead of $160 million from 2022 through the 2026 season, as he would have gotten from Houston, Correa will now earn a total of $385 between 2022 and 2035, when his contract with the Giants expires.
The Astros knew how good Correa was. After all, he won the Rookie of the Year in 2015, was an All-Star in 2017 and helped them win the World Series that year. He hit at least 20 homers in five of his seven seasons in Houston.
But they underestimated his value and the market for a cornerstone shortstop still in his late 20’s.
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For what it’s worth, the Astros replaced Correa with Jeremy Peña, who finished fifth in AL Rookie of the Year voting, won a Gold Glove and earned ALCS and World Series MVP honors as Houston beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the Fall Classic in November.
Correa bet on himself and now the Giants are betting on the Platinum Glove winner to become the new face of the franchise while leading them back to postseason glory.
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