Correa reached out to Baez about the Wrigley experience . . .

Bust

Well-known member
Joined:
Jan 5, 2020
Posts:
9,186
Liked Posts:
4,434
DID I CALL IT OR DID I CALL IT???

 

JP Hochbaum

Well-known member
Joined:
May 22, 2012
Posts:
2,011
Liked Posts:
1,280
So far we know that the Cubs won't offer 10 years and that they are looking for bargain deals. So I would put Houston as the front runner still, but we also know they won't offer 10 year either and their last offer was 5-6 years. So the Cubs would have to offer 4 years front loaded high AAV, and go at least 8 years to top the Stros.
 

CSF77

Well-known member
Joined:
Apr 16, 2013
Posts:
17,955
Liked Posts:
2,775
Location:
San Diego
So far we know that the Cubs won't offer 10 years and that they are looking for bargain deals. So I would put Houston as the front runner still, but we also know they won't offer 10 year either and their last offer was 5-6 years. So the Cubs would have to offer 4 years front loaded high AAV, and go at least 8 years to top the Stros.

Latest On Cubs’ Interest In Carlos Correa​

By Anthony Franco | December 21, 2021 at 10:00pm CDT

There’s no more impactful player remaining on the open market than Carlos Correa. MLBTR’s top free agent entering the offseason, Correa was content to sit out the pre-lockout frenzy. The star shortstop is in position to land easily the biggest deal of the post-lockout period whenever the transactions freeze comes to an end. It stands to reason he and his representatives will try to top the ten-year, $325MM deal Corey Seager landed with the Rangers last month.


Reports have linked Correa to a few teams this winter, with some perhaps unexpected suitors hopping into the mix. The incumbent Astros, Cubs, Braves, Tigers, Red Sox, Dodgers and Yankees were all linked to the two-time All-Star in some capacity. To what extent those clubs will reengage with Correa coming out of the lockout remains to be seen. The Tigers have already landed Javier Báez on a nine-figure deal. The Astros might be reluctant to go beyond six guaranteed years, and multiple reports have indicated the Yankees are content to rely on a stopgap pick-up at shortstop with a pair of well-regarded prospects (Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe) not far away from MLB readiness.


The Cubs’ reported entrance into the Correa bidding also registered as something of a surprise, given their recent spending habits. Chicago has kicked off an organizational reboot over the past few months, dropping player payroll from 2019’s franchise-record $203MM outlay (estimate via Cot’s Baseball Contracts). Early in the offseason, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer cautioned against the possibility of “winning” the offseason and expressed a desire to spend opportunistically. None of that portended an earnest pursuit of the market’s top free agent.


To their credit, the Cubs’ early offseason approach has already been fairly active. Chicago claimed Wade Miley off waivers from the Reds, taking on a $10MM salary in the process. They signed Yan Gomes to a two-year, $13MM guarantee. And in their biggest splash of the offseason to date, Chicago landed Marcus Stroman on a three-year, $71MM deal that contains an opt-out possibility after the 2023 campaign.

The Cubs’ first couple months of activity at least suggests it’s not a full rebuild, a sentiment Hoyer has expressed on a few occasions. The major league roster still looks short of immediate contention, but it also doesn’t seem the Cubs are hoping to idle near the bottom of the National League for the next few years in hopes of collecting high draft choices. Even if 2022 proves to be a down year, the front office could have their sights set on being competitive within the season or two thereafter.

There’s a case to be made for the Cubs to make a strong run at Correa, who just turned 27 in September. He’ll still be in his prime whenever the team is better prepared to contend, and one need look no further than the Rangers’ signing of Seager as an example of a current non-contender jumping early to sign an impact player to a long-term deal. A Correa mega-deal would be in a different financial stratosphere than any of the Cubs’ moves this winter, though, and it remains to be seen if the organization’s willing to make that level of commitment.

The Cubs apparently continue to have some amount of interest in that possibility. Bruce Levine of 670 The Score hears the organization may be willing to meet the $30MM+ in annual salary that Correa’s likely to command. However, he hears that the Cubs could balk at an especially long-term commitment, writing that “they’d rather not go 10 years in length.” Whether the reluctance to offer a decade’s worth of guarantees is a matter of preference or a firm organizational mandate isn’t clear, nor is the length of a proposal the front office would be more comfortable putting forth.

If the Cubs prove completely unwilling to go to ten years, it’d be difficult for Correa to top Seager’s $325MM guarantee in Chicago. Even over a nine-year term, getting to $325MM would require a $36.11MM average annual salary that’d be a record for a position player. It’s not clear whether Correa would be willing to sacrifice a year or two at the back of a deal in order to land a record-breaking AAV, although he’s reportedly already passed on offers of $160MM over five years (from the Astros) and $275MM over ten years (from the Tigers).


There’s no question he’ll have myriad options from which to choose once the sport’s business resumes. Correa is coming off a fifth-place finish in AL MVP balloting on the heels of a .279/.366/.485 line (134 wRC+) paired with Gold Glove defense. Of equal importance, he avoided the injured list (aside from a brief stay related to COVID-19) en route to 640 plate appearances over 148 games. That marked Correa’s heaviest workload since 2016, helping to assuage concerns clubs may have had after he was limited to 294 games between 2017-19 (98 per season) by thumb, back and rib issues.
 

CSF77

Well-known member
Joined:
Apr 16, 2013
Posts:
17,955
Liked Posts:
2,775
Location:
San Diego
If I had to guess:

Stores sign Story.
Cubs and Mariners get into a bidding contest.

It will come down to Tom looking at season tix sales and if they are down that would give a strong boost.

It is about the money.
 

JP Hochbaum

Well-known member
Joined:
May 22, 2012
Posts:
2,011
Liked Posts:
1,280
Reportedly the Cubs are going to try to convince Correa to do 7 years at high AAV, with multiple opt outs for both sides.
 

JP Hochbaum

Well-known member
Joined:
May 22, 2012
Posts:
2,011
Liked Posts:
1,280
And there is an interesting rumor that the Cubs are using the media to push out numbers to see if Correa responds in anyway. Interesting way to get around the lockout.
 

knoxville7

I have the stride of a gazelle
CCS Hall of Fame '22
Joined:
Jul 12, 2013
Posts:
16,529
Liked Posts:
12,953
Location:
The sewers
My favorite teams
  1. Chicago Cubs
  1. Chicago Bulls
  1. Chicago Bears
  1. Tennessee Volunteers
Reportedly the Cubs are going to try to convince Correa to do 7 years at high AAV, with multiple opt outs for both sides.
I say give him 4 or 5 years at $160-$200 mil. The duration of the contract matters a lot more than the AAV IMO
 

Bust

Well-known member
Joined:
Jan 5, 2020
Posts:
9,186
Liked Posts:
4,434
Reportedly the Cubs are going to try to convince Correa to do 7 years at high AAV, with multiple opt outs for both sides.

Jed needs to sell the full Wrigley experience playing in a big market <opportunity for side cash, endorsements, great eateries, etc.>.

I found this recent comment by the Cincinnati Bengal qb say all . . .

 

CSF77

Well-known member
Joined:
Apr 16, 2013
Posts:
17,955
Liked Posts:
2,775
Location:
San Diego
He is 27 so we are talking about 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33. 34 he hits the market again.

It is not a bad situation for him at all. But I see 35M AAV as the reality here. 245M investment and that is doable.
 

CSF77

Well-known member
Joined:
Apr 16, 2013
Posts:
17,955
Liked Posts:
2,775
Location:
San Diego
As of now:

Mets 255M
Dodgers 220M
Yankees 210M
San Diego 191.9M

Cubs 109.4M #19

Adding 35M is pittance right now. This team should be pushing 180+ per.
 

CSF77

Well-known member
Joined:
Apr 16, 2013
Posts:
17,955
Liked Posts:
2,775
Location:
San Diego
Just a speculation

Cubs sign Correa. I believe they are shy of 120M on tax. Say they want to add 80M which is realistic.

35M to Correa.
15M to Rodon
Trade Happ and Steel for Hosmer and Gore. This basically reduces the Pads payroll by 15M and adds 15M to the Cubs.

65M spent.

LF open. Push up Davis for opening day. Let Heyward build up value.

LF Davis
CF Ortega/Hoerner
RF Heyward and Frazier. Frazier starts in LF if Davis needs time.

3B Wisdom
SS Correa
2B Madrigal
1B Hosmer
C Contreras
DH Schwindel.

To leaves 15M on the table for depth players.

Staff

Stroman
Rodon
Hendricks
Miley
Gore and the rest battling for the 5.
 

JP Hochbaum

Well-known member
Joined:
May 22, 2012
Posts:
2,011
Liked Posts:
1,280
A top 50 pitching prospect? San Diego would be completely nuts to do that, would love it if they did. But Hosmer contract dump is only worth an organizational top 20 at best, not a top 50 MLB ranking player.
 

Adipost

CCS Donator
Donator
Joined:
Sep 28, 2014
Posts:
8,616
Liked Posts:
10,212
Location:
Chicago, IL
A top 50 pitching prospect? San Diego would be completely nuts to do that, would love it if they did. But Hosmer contract dump is only worth an organizational top 20 at best, not a top 50 MLB ranking player.

- Campusano’s name also was raised in a potential deal that would have sent Hosmer and a portion of his contract to the Cubs. -

This was a recent nugget from the Padres beat reporter over at the Athletic, alluding to the trade deadline. Campusano is a top 50 prospect.

Athletic mlb analyst Eno Sarris has also mentioned that getting rid of Hosmer’s contract would prove extremely expensive for the Padres, and that’s why deals like this rarely go through.
 

CSF77

Well-known member
Joined:
Apr 16, 2013
Posts:
17,955
Liked Posts:
2,775
Location:
San Diego
They are projected at 191M. 15M drop puts them at 176M which is a big deal and offloading 21am per is even a bigger deal.

Gore dropped in value. He is now their #4 and #56 on the 100. AAA he posted a ERA of 5.85 and a WHIP of 1.80. From the reports his mechanics were out of wack post lay off.

So at the moment yes the Cubs could strike here. Low value. Take on cash. Pads have a rotation of Clevenger, Snell, Darvish, Musgrove, Lamet, Paddack, Weathers. Gore is looking at 7 guys with MLB success and innings. So this is a area of strength that SD can deal from. Camp on the other hand is a top rated catcher. For the Pads this is a higher valued player due to the lack of internal positional strength.
 

CSF77

Well-known member
Joined:
Apr 16, 2013
Posts:
17,955
Liked Posts:
2,775
Location:
San Diego
On the flip. Cubs could also try the same with Darvish. Take it as a rental to get some talent. Then finish out the deal and send over 2 lower ranked guys. Darvish is on lower return value and the Pads already set his high value market.
 

CSF77

Well-known member
Joined:
Apr 16, 2013
Posts:
17,955
Liked Posts:
2,775
Location:
San Diego

Carlos Correa Had Pre-Lockout Asking Price Of At Least $330MM

By Mark Polishuk | January 19, 2022 at 10:41am CDT

It wasn’t any secret that Carlos Correa was looking to score big in free agency, and the shortstop set a very high asking price prior to the lockout. According to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter), Correa was asking for at least a $330MM contract, with an overall range of $330MM to $350MM. It is unclear whether or not this pause in the baseball offseason could impact Correa’s demands, or if his position atop the free agent market will keep him relatively immune to the lockout’s effects on the market as a whole, even though teams will have less time to negotiate prior to the start of the season.
Correa was clearly targeting a pair of other recent mega-deals for shortstops — the ten-year, $325MM pact Corey Seager signed with the Rangers just prior to the lockout, and the ten-year, $341MM extension Francisco Lindor signed with the Mets last spring. (Lindor’s contract also stands as the third-richest baseball contract ever, behind the Mike Trout and Mookie Betts extensions.) Prior to the offseason, MLB Trade Rumors projected Correa to land ten years and $320MM as the winter’s top free agent deal, though with Seager already topping that price, it stands to reason that Correa would set his sights even higher.
With Seager, Marcus Semien, and Javier Baez already landing new contracts within an extremely loaded free agent shortstop market, Correa and Trevor Story are the top shortstops remaining, and a great deal of speculation remains over whether either player will land. The uncertainty around Story mainly focuses on his comparatively average 2021 season and questions about his production away from Coors Field, while with Correa, the primary question may be which team is willing to step up and meet his contract demands.
The Rangers and Tigers have already made their big shortstop signings, though Detroit (a big pre-winter favorite to land Correa) is perhaps still a candidate if the Tigers looked to pair up both Correa and Baez within the infield. Other teams like the Dodgers, Braves, Cubs, Red Sox, Astros, and Yankees had also been in touch with Correa before the lockout, and it is always possible that a new suitor or two could emerge amidst the transactional frenzy that is sure to ensue when the lockout ends. Depending on what happens in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, an altered set of financial rules could very well bring more teams into the mix for Correa’s services.
Since Correa just hired the Boras Corporation as his new representatives yesterday, it’s probably safe to assume that he isn’t now willing to settle for a discount, given Scott Boras’ penchant for wanting top dollar for his clients. Just within this shortstop market alone, Boras represented both Seager and Semien as they combined for $500MM from the Rangers. Between deferrals, opt-out clauses, “swellopts,” and other contractual language, Boras has used any number of creative tactics over the years to get his clients their desired salary, while also making teams feel more comfortable about their financial outlay.
 

Top