NEWSLETTER
Even as he was reporting that Xander Bogaerts was their current priority, Bob Nightengale indicated the Cubs were still in on Carlos Correa. You have to have options, right?
With the uptick in connections between the Cubs and Bogaerts, and the Cubs and Dansby Swanson, it’s been easy to feel like there’s some kind of stepping back on Correa. But you have to remember, all we have right now are the reports that make it out into the wild, and those aren’t always a perfect reflection of what is going on behind the scenes. Heck, sometimes they are intentionally not that.
Which is to say, I sometimes have to re-set myself and remember that all the reasons that Carlos Correa made SO MUCH SENSE for the Cubs back in October are all still true today. I’m not saying the other shortstops don’t make sense – they all do to varying degrees and in different ways – but I am saying that it’s still the case, for me, that Correa is the best on-paper fit. The age, the glove, the consistent offense, the lack of draft pick compensation, the leadership, etc. Correa is the guy I would choose out of the four, if it were entirely up to me. It isn’t, of course – Correa has a say in it … – so I gladly evaluate WHATEVER the Cubs do through an optimistic lens, as is my nature. But, yeah, Correa is still the guy I want.
The latest on that front is another reminder, like with Nightengale’s, that yes, the Cubs are still in on Correa. In a discussion about the shortstop market generally, Jon Heyman’s earliest mention of Correa’s market focuses on two teams: “The incumbent Twins are going hard to try to keep Correa, who’s also drawing interest from the surprising Cubs and many others.”
Now, are the Cubs named specifically there because that carries market weight? Because Scott Boras wants to make sure other teams see the Cubs’ name included?
Well, maybe. But remember, the Cubs WERE INVOLVED with Correa at this time last year before the lockout began. We know they are legitimately interested, so there is no reason Correa wouldn’t be said to be “drawing interest” from the Cubs now. I wouldn’t even call it a “surprise.”
None of that means the Cubs are a finalist on Correa, or anything so dramatic as that. It means only that, a couple recent reports – and the persistence of a logical fit – indicate that the Cubs are not out on Correa, even if they might also be in talks with the other shortstops. Again, you have to give yourself options.
