NEWSLETTER
As soon as Francisco Lindor signed a monster 10-year, $341 million extension before last season, it was impossible not to look ahead to upcoming shortstop free agencies and think: that’s what they’re going to try to beat, isn’t it?
That’s just how these things work in baseball signings, and it’s totally understandable. Not only do you probably want the sense, for yourself, that you’re worth more than the last guy, but you also want to keep moving deals forward for players that come after. As league revenues grow, you want total player salaries to grow, too.
But I gotta tell you: when that deal went down, it *felt* like a new owner who was desperate for an early “win” in his tenure, and having just traded for the perceived top shortstop on the coming market, he wanted lock that guy down no matter what. I never thought any of the current shortstops would come close to Lindor’s deal (which certainly doesn’t look any better a year into it, by the way).
Still, now we’ve got word, according to multiple reports, the Lindor deal is indeed what Carlos Correa is hoping to top in free agency. Say … 10 years and $342 million?
I really don’t see it happening for Correa, despite his youth, his huge bat, and his increasingly impressive defense. While I could see a $300 million deal, including an opt out or two, I just think that teams will draw the line at NOT moving the ball forward past the Lindor deal. Instead, what you might see is a team or two trying to convince Correa to take a shorter deal with a slightly higher-AAV, so it still can be described as a “better” deal.
Then again, the premium end of free agency surprises us every year. I mean, the old truism I used to drop is that if you wanted to guess on the top guy’s contract, you take the years and AAV that you think are kinda silly … and then add another year and a few million to the AAV. It was certainly true last year for Gerrit Cole, whose nine-year, $324 million deal with the Yankees was nowhere close to what I thought was a BIG deal for him. He blew a BIG deal away.
Maybe Correa will do the same. And you can’t do it if you don’t start there with the ask.
